107.9 FM signed in 1980 as KWKS, an adult contemporary station licensed to and serving Winfield. It changed its call letters to KSOK-FM in 1995. The station was sold to Sherman Broadcasting, with hopes of bringing an urban-formatted station to Kansas and to compete against KDGS.
"107-9 Jamz"
The 107-9 Jamz format debuted in 2000 with the call letters KSJM and an Urban AC format. The station's first song was "Got To Be Real" by Cheryl Lynn. The station was the Wichita affiliate of the Tom Joyner Morning Show. In 2002, the station started adding Jazz into its programming after the demise of Smooth Jazz station KWSJ 98.7. The station's first studios were located in the Equity Bank building at Kellogg and Rock in East Wichita. A few years later, the station relocated its studios to the Carriage Parkway shopping center near Central and Edgemoor. In 2004, KSJM added hip hop to the playlist, shifting towards an Urban Contemporary format. The station also picked up Doug Banks for morning drive. Banks' morning show was later replaced by a local morning show. In 2007, KSJM's local morning show was replaced by Steve Harvey. KSJM was co-owned through a joint partnership with Sherman Broadcasting and Carter Broadcast Group. Though the station was noted for serving a niche audience to the market near Wichita, the station had moderate to low ratings due to the location of its transmitter being situated near Winfield, which is over 50 miles from Wichita.
"US 107.9."
On October 10, 2007, the two companies sold the station to Larry Steckline's AG Network Group due to declining financial revenues. On January 15, 2008, AG Network announced that KSJM would flip from Urban to Country as KWLS "US-107.9." . The station switched formats on January 19, 2008. KWLS got its call letters from an AM station in Pratt, Kansas that was formerly owned by Steckline in the 1980s & 1990's. Currently, no AM station has the KWLS call; hence the 107.9 FM does not have to use the -FM suffix. In 2020, an attempted sale of the station faltered. March 2, 2020, in Sedgwick CountyDistrict Court, Larry Steckline, via his LS Media, sued Mike and Tina Andra, owners of "Wichita Union Stockyards," for an alleged failure to make agreed installment payments to buy the station. Steckline claimed that the Andras, along with their "Giddyup Radio, LLC," were supposed to pay $2.125 million, over five years, in installments, but had stopped paying the previous year.
