KSNI-FM

The station was first signed on in 1960 as KSMA-FM by James M. Hagerman and John I. Groom.[1] It simulcast the full service format of its AM sister station KSMA (1240 AM), airing a mix of news, sports, and middle of the road music.[2] Stereophonic sound broadcasts began in 1970.[3]

In January 1980, Hagerman and Nona M. Groom sold KSMA-AM-FM to Bayliss Broadcasting Company for $1.4 million. The company was owned by John Bayliss, who resigned from his position as president of Gannett Company's radio division to manage the Santa Maria stations.[4] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the sale on May 12.[5]

Upon the change in ownership, Bayliss ended KSMA-FM's simulcast of KSMA after two decades and programmed it separately as a beautiful music outlet.[6] The FM station changed its call sign to KSNI-FM in August 1980.[7] The format lasted only three years as the station flipped to country music in 1983,[8] adopting the branding "Sunny Country".

On March 1, 1989, the transmitters for KSNI-FM and three other stations in Santa Maria were knocked off the air due to acts of vandalism. Around 1 a.m., two males, ages 18 and 15, broke into the transmitters' circuit breakers and switched them off; the signals were restored within an hour. That same day at 9:14 p.m., the towers fell as guy wires supporting the structures had been severed. Total damage was estimated to be $100,000.[9][10]

In August 1999, Bayliss Broadcasting sold KSNI-FM and KSMA to Fresno, California-based Mondosphere Broadcasting for $3.75 million.[11][12] The new owner took possession of the combo on September 30.[13]

KSNI-FM changed hands twice in the 2000s. In September 2000, Mondosphere sold 11 stations throughout Central California, including KSNI-FM, plus a construction permit for a twelfth station, to Clear Channel Communications for $45 million.[14] In July 2007, KSNI-FM was one of 16 stations in California and Arizona which Clear Channel sold to El Dorado Broadcasters for $40 million.[15]

During the week of January 18, 2010, a storm in the Santa Maria area triggered a power outage that knocked KSNI-FM and several other stations off the air. The station resumed broadcasting under generator power after two hours of silence.[16]

From April 2012 to April 2016, KSNI-FM was simulcast on sister station KSLY-FM (96.1 FM) in the adjacent San Luis Obispo market. The two stations co-branded as "Sunny Country 102.5 & 96.1".[17]

In early 2016, El Dorado began selling off its stations on the Central Coast of California. KSNI-FM and KSMA constituted the first of these divestments as, on February 26, American General Media purchased the pair for $1.5 million.[18][19] The close of the transaction in April ended the simulcast of Sunny Country on KSLY-FM, which remained with El Dorado and launched a competing country format.[20]