and
Seolhyun, hosts of 2016 KBS Song Festival The program was first broadcast in 1965 by the
Tongyang Broadcasting Company (TBC), where it was known as the
TBC Broadcast Music Awards (). In 1981, the South Korean government
forced TBC to merge with the
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS). Following the merger, the program's name was changed to the
KBS Music Awards (). It aired on
KBS1 every year on 30 December until 1994, when the program moved to
KBS2. In 2005,
Kim Jong-kook became the last singer to win the KBS Music Award. The event has always taken place at KBS Hall, with two exceptions. In 2015, the event was held in
Gocheok Sky Dome and for the 2019 event, it was held in
KINTEX. The
2018 KBS Song Festival with the theme, "A Huge Fantastical Party", was held at the KBS Hall on 28 December 2018. In 2023, the usual Song Festival was replaced by "
Music Bank Global Festival", with the event held in both
Saitama, Japan and Seoul, South Korea respectively. ==Hosts==