KSTO

KSTO began operations on August 15, 1973.^[2] The original owner of KSTO was the Marianas Broadcasting Corporation. "Stereo 95" was a full-service radio station, promoting a music mix "where McCartney meets Mantovani", and just the second FM station for the island. After a Federal Communications Commission inspection found that the station was missing meters on the transmitter control panel—a technical violation—the station briefly went silent on February 6, 1974, to rectify the problem.^[3]

The station's four-week silence ended on March 4,^[4] but just days later, KSTO went silent—this time for 15 months—in a financial cloud. Steve Spears, the principal of Marianas, left the island on March 9. His wife, Sandy, told the station's employees that she was driving him to the airport—she did, and she left Guam as well along with their two children.^[5] Back on Guam, station employees and others were left to contend with the $60,000 in debt he left behind.^[6] Most of that debt was to the First National City Bank, which lent Spears $25,000; in February, a judge issued a restraining order against Marianas to ensure that First National City's loan was repaid. The station was also in debt to Guam Publications, the owner of the Pacific Daily News, and the Guam Power Authority,^[5] as well as the telephone company, accounting and law firms, and its 15 former employees.^[6] An anonymous former employee of KSTO told the Daily News that the financial situation of the venture was a "successfully screwed up mess".^[6] With the radio station off the air, vandals stole most of its equipment from the building in Barrigada.^[6]

A receiver, Claude F. Shouse, was appointed for the station and tried to get it back in working order, though he still had to chase down stolen equipment and creditors;^[7] however, Shouse did not put the station back on air immediately, as he sought to relocate it to a new site above Barrigada Heights, and he could not obtain a business license for the residential area where the station had been built.^[8]

Inter-Island Communications, Inc., compró la estación en una subasta por $39,000 en enero de 1975. ^{[ 8 ]} El presidente de Inter-Island era Edward H. Poppe, de 32 años, empleado de la NASA . ^{[ 8 ]} La estación pudo volver a emitir el 20 de junio. ^{[ 9 ]} La nueva K-Stereo operaba como la única estación de radio de 24 horas en Guam. ^{[ 10 ]} Sin embargo, la mala suerte volvió a golpear cuando el tifón Pamela azotó Guam en mayo de 1976 y destruyó el sitio de Barrigada; al no tener seguro, las instalaciones fueron declaradas pérdida total. ^{[ 11 ]} Una vez más, los ladrones se llevaron el equipo, parte del cual fue recuperado posteriormente en un desguace local. ^{[ 12 ]} La estación pudo volver a emitir, con un transmisor reparado y nuevos estudios, el 14 de diciembre. ^{[ 13 ]}

KSTO siguió siendo una emisora ​​de música popular de amplio espectro, con noticieros locales y de ABC cada hora. ^{[ 14 ]} A mediados de la década de 1980, la estación cambió a un formato de música contemporánea para adultos, que conserva hasta hoy. ^{[ 11 ]}

Del 25 de mayo al 7 de agosto de 2023, el formato de KSTO fue transmitido por KISH (102.9 FM), de la cual era copropietaria , después de que el tifón Mawar causara grandes daños al sitio de la antena de KSTO. ^{[ 15 ]}