The station signed on the air on April 20, 1951, before Hawaii was a state. Its original
call sign was
KIKI and it was powered at only 250 watts. Its studios were at 320 Ward Avenue. In the 1960s and 70s, KIKI had a
Top 40 format and was an affiliate of the
ABC Contemporary Network. The original KHVH 990 signed on the air in 1957. The call letters KHVH stand for Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel in
Waikiki, originally owned by
Henry J. Kaiser. Today it is the
Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel. KHVH 990 had its studios at the hotel. The KHVH transmitting tower still stands atop the Hilton's Kalia Tower. In 1986 KIKI 830 flipped to
oldies while the Top 40 hit radio format moved to its FM sister station, the former
KMAI-FM. It became KIKI-FM, known as "I94" (now co-owned "93.9 The Beat"). From 1986 through 1990, each year KIKI added an additional year to its repertoire; e.g., if it were playing songs from artists up until 1960, beginning January 1, it would then add songs from 1961, maintaining its oldies format. In 1993, KIKI and KHVH swapped signals when the outlets became
sister stations, owned by
Clear Channel Communications based in
San Antonio. The oldies format and KIKI call letters moved to 990 AM, while the talk format and KHVH call sign moved to 830 AM. The station once broadcast in
AM stereo using the
C-QUAM system. In 2014, Clear Channel switched its corporate name to iHeartMedia, Inc. ==Logo history==