KFFQ and KLKM The station first
signed on in 1984 as KFFQ at 104.7, broadcasting
country music. It was originally
licensed to
Llano and was owned by Duane Fox. In 1988, KFFQ was acquired by Maxagrid Broadcasting, which moved the station to 104.9 and switched to a
beautiful music format as KLKM. In 2000, the station changed its
city of license to
Dripping Springs, Texas and rebranded to "Digital 104.9" under a new call sign, KXXS.
104.9 The Beat In February 2007, "Digital 104.9" moved to 92.5, to make room for
rhythmic contemporary station KXBT as "Beat 104.9". This was the third incarnation of "The Beat", which originally launched on 104.3 in 1998 as KQBT. The staff and lineup from 104.3 "The Beat" remained intact. A new call sign of KXBT was assigned to 104.9 some six months after the re-brand. On September 29, 2008, KXBT became a simulcast of KXXS. This allowed the station to be heard around
Greater Austin, with KXBT serving the western portion and KXXS covering the eastern part of the market. The simulcast was called "Digital 104.9 y 92.5". The "Digital" simulcast was broken up in mid-2009, when 104.9 flipped to
Regional Mexican. The Spanish Contemporary format was retained on 92.5. "The Beat" would later air on
KFMK and later
KPEZ.
The Horn On November 2, 2009, the format changed to
all-sports, branded as "104.9 The Horn". The brand is a nod to the
Texas Longhorns. Initially, KTXX-FM aired local sports programming during the day and carried
ESPN Radio programming at nights and on weekends. On January 2, 2014, ESPN Radio programming was dropped, with KTXX-FM shifting to a hybrid of sports talk and
classic hits. Morning and afternoon
drive time, as well as the noon hour, remained local sports talk, while other non-sports hours aired classic hits. On May 5, 2014, additional sports talk was added. The schedule had sports talk from 6am to 7pm and classic hits the remainder of the time, unless a sporting event or specialty program was being broadcast. In February 2015, The Horn dropped the classic hits portion of its schedule and began airing sports full-time with
NBC Sports Radio programming heard at night and on weekends, and NBC Sports updates during the day. NBC Sports was later replaced with
SB Nation Radio (now SportsMap), based in
Houston. KTXX-FM's
city of license also moved to
Bee Cave, Texas, although its studios and transmitter remain in Austin. On June 16, 2015, KTXX-FM became the
flagship station of the
Texas Longhorns. On July 12, 2023, owner Genuine Austin Radio announced that KTXX-FM would drop the sports format on August 1, though it would continue on
KTAE and FM translator K270CO (101.9 FM). The Longhorns announced a partnership with
iHeartMedia stations
KVET and
KVET-FM the following day. On August 2, Norsan Media announced that it had acquired KTXX-FM and K287FG, making the station a sister to Spanish-language
KZNX. KTXX-FM began simulcasting KZNX, while K287FG began airing a Spanish-language
CHR format. ==HD Radio==