The station began life at 99.3 FM as KOSN in
Thief River Falls, Minnesota in 1976. KOSN broadcast only 3,000 watts. The station changed call letters to KSNR in 1983 as it flipped to an
oldies format, concentrating on 50s and 60s "Golden Oldies" format. After upgrading to 100,000 watts at 100.3 FM in 1987, the station attracted listeners in
Grand Forks, North Dakota, since the signal could be heard on most radios and KSNR was the only oldies station in the area until 1990. KSNR later became "Kool 100.3" in 1995 from studios in Grand Forks after
KNOX-FM flipped from
Oldies as "Kool 94.7" to
Classic Country as "Real Country 94.7", and KSNR as "Kool 100.3" also began playing 1970s era music after being sold. KSNR also played
Christmas music from
Thanksgiving Day to
Christmas Day annually until the format change in 2005. In 2000,
Clear Channel Communications bought out KSNR and several other stations, and the format was changed to play 1960s and 1970s era music. It also became the
flagship station for
University of North Dakota basketball play-by-play broadcasts. Kool 100.3 switched to
country music as "Cat Country" in October 2005, competing with
Leighton Broadcasting's
heritage country station
KYCK and
classic country station
KNOX-FM "Rooster 94.7". In 2006, sister station
classic rock KQHT "96.1 The Fox" began shifting towards to an updated
classic hits version of the former "Kool 100.3"
oldies format. In 2005, KSNR changed its
city of license from
Thief River Falls to
Fisher, which would allow it to move its transmitter tower closer to
Grand Forks in the future. In the fall of 2012, all local personalities were removed from Cat Country in favor of
Bobby Bones Show in the morning and
Premium Choice radio personalities in all other dayparts. The previous local morning show was moved to sister station
KQHT "96.1 The Fox", which carries an updated
classic hits version of the former "Kool 100.3"
oldies format. In 2016, Cat Country brought back some local personalities previously heard on the station. On October 29, 2018, it was announced that, as
iHeartMedia would lose its grandfathered ownership limits in the
Brunswick and Grand Forks markets as part of its bankruptcy restructuring, the company would place KSNR and
WHFX into the newly formed Sun & Snow Station Trust, under the oversight of former Backyard Broadcasting CEO Barry Drake, as preparation for an eventual sale of the signals. On December 23, 2020, iHeart filed to reclaim KSNR from the Sun & Snow Station Trust; the re-assignment of the license was consummated on March 29, 2021. ==References==