KOLW (97.5 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

broadcasting a

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

format branded as "97.5 Kool FM". Licensed to

Basin City, Washington Basin City () is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,092 at the 2010 census, up from 968 at the 2000 census. History The town of Basin City was laid ...

, United States, the station serves the Tri-Cities area. The station is currently owned by The Tri Cities Divestiture Trust.

History

The station was started by P-N-P Broadcasting, Inc. and was issued a construction permit as a Class A station on 97.7 MHz assigned to

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

in June, 1988. The call sign was later changed to KZLO and then to KZLN-FM. The permit was later modified to Class C3 on 97.5 MHz and signed on the air in February 1992. The station was affiliated with the ABC Pure Gold Network, and identified as "Sizzlin' Hot Oldies 97.5", serving the Columbia Basin. The station was sold to Verl Wheeler of KEYG in

Grand Coulee Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed in the U.S. state of Washington. This National Natural Landmark stretches for about 60 miles (100 km) southwest from Grand Coulee Dam to Soap Lake, being bisected by Dry Falls into the Upper and Lower ...

in 1996. The station was later sold again, and the city of license was changed to Basin City and upgraded to a Class C1 station. The call letters were changed again on January 14, 2004, to KHTO. On October 31, 2004, KHTO changed call letters to the current KOLW. On April 8, 2012, KOLW changed its branding from "Cool 97.5" to "97.5 Kool FM", tweaking its classic hits playlist from the 1960s and the 1970s into the 1970s through the 1980s. On September 19, 2013, at 3:00 p.m., KOLW flipped to Rhythmic CHR as "Hot 97.5". The first song as "Hot" was J. Cole's "

Crooked Smile "Crooked Smile" is a song by American hip hop recording artist and record producer J. Cole, released June 4, 2013, as the second official single from his second studio album, ''Born Sinner'' (2013). The song was produced by Cole himself, and El ...

". On March 1, 2019, KOLW began stunting with construction sounds and riddles in between songs, teasing a relaunch on the following Monday, March 4, at 6 a.m., with the debut of a new morning show. One of the riddles, “Of no use for one, yet absolute bliss to two,” was related to 975KissFM.com, a domain discovered by radio industry website ''RadioInsight'' in January. The domain previously led to KOLW's former website.KOLW Relaunches As 97.5 Kiss-FM
/ref> At the announced time, the stunting ended and KOLW relaunched as "97.5 Kiss FM", with the syndicated ''Brooke & Jubal in the Morning'' as its new morning show. On June 17, 2022

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

placed KOLW into The Tri Cities Divestiture Trust, as part of its acquisition of Cherry Creek Broadcasting. On July 1, 2022, KOLW flipped back to classic hits as "97.5 Kool FM", while the Rhythmic CHR format and "Kiss FM" branding were moved to newly acquired 105.3

KONA-FM KONA-FM (105.3 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) format. Licensed to Kennewick, Washington, United States, the station serves the Tri-Cities area. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and features programming from Westwo ...

Previous Logos

References

External links

{{Classic Hits Radio Stations in Washington OLW Classic hits radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1988