The license to this station was granted on July 30, 2007, as a retranslator for
KDNN, airing
traditional Hawaiian music as "Hawai’i No Ka Oi" (translated as "Indeed the Best"). Local radio personalities Lanai and Augie (previously of main KDNN station) hosted their own morning talk show Weekdays from 6 to 9 AM. On June 27, 2014, the format was replaced by the iHeartRadio EDM/Dance platform "Evolution" and switched its HD2 subchannel carrier from KDNN to KHJZ. The station follows the Dance/EDM "Evolution" format, but is customized for Honolulu with local traffic reports and liners targeting its competitors. "Hawai’i No Ka Oi" continues on KDNN's HD2 sub channel and as an iHeartRadio platform. On September 9, 2016, K256AS dropped the "Evolution" format to take
KHJZ's displaced Rhythmic AC/Classic Hip-Hop format, and rebranded as "99.1 Jamz." The move was to allow KUBT to incorporate the Dance/EDM crossovers into its relaunched Rhythmic Top 40 direction. On November 22, 2019, K256AS dropped the "Jamz" format (which continued on KUBT-HD2 and on its own iHeart stream, rebranded as "Jamz Hawaii") and flipped to an Asian
CHR format as
PoP! 99.1. The station's new format predominantly features
K-pop (including collaborations with U.S. artists), as well as other
Chinese,
Filipino, and
Japanese acts. On May 16, 2023, iHeartMedia announced that KUCD and K256AS/KUCD-HD2 would swap formats at 10 AM the following Thursday, the 18th, with K256AS set to inherit the
alternative rock format of 101.9 as "Star 99.1". ==References==