KKCV signed on the air on January 7, 1994, and aired a
country format branded as "The Hog." The station would later rebrand as "K98.5." On September 22, 2003, the country formats of KKCV and KOEL-FM were merged on the 98.5 FM frequency, along with the KOEL-FM call letters, as the latter flipped to
Top 40/
CHR format as "Q92.3." On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which
Townsquare Media would acquire 53 Cumulus stations, including the then-KOEL-FM, for $238 million. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of
Dial Global; Townsquare and Dial Global are both controlled by
Oaktree Capital Management. The sale to Townsquare was completed on November 14, 2013; KOEL-FM was one of three stations (along with
KCRR and
KKHQ-FM) that were placed in a divestiture trust for eventual resale within two years. In December 2016, the
Federal Communications Commission approved Townsquare's request to reacquire the stations from the divestiture trust. On December 9, 2020, KOEL-FM and KKHQ-FM swapped frequencies, bringing the KOEL-FM call letters and the country format back to 92.3 FM after 17 years. In return, KKHQ-FM's Top 40/CHR format moved to 98.5 and rebranded as "Q98.5". ==References==