On January 8, 1955, the stationsigned on as KLAK. It was originally on AM 1580 and was a daytimer powered at 250 watts, required to be off the air at night. KLAK was owned by the Lakewood Broadcasting Service Company and played country music. In a few years, the station moved to AM 1600 and was powered at 1,000 watts, allowing the station to broadcast around the clock. In 1966, KLAK signed on a new transmitter, powered at 5,000 watts. It also added an FM radio station at 107.7 MHz. KLAK-AM-FM simulcast their country music format. According to the Federal Communications Commission, other call signs for this station have been KRXY and KWMX, both simulcasts of their FM counterparts on 107.5.
Country Music
In 1994, the station became KYGO. It was a mainstream country station, although separately programmed from more current-based KYGO-FM. In 1999, 1600 KYGO flipped to classic country as "16 Kicks" KCKK. The station's programming was a simulcast of KCKK-FM. When the FM station switched to smooth jazz in 2000, the classic country format was heard exclusively on AM 1600. The format would later be moved to another station in the market, KYOL, which took the KCKK call letters.
Switch to Sports
The Lincoln Financial Group acquired the station in 2006. On January 1, 2007, 1600 AM became the Denver network affiliate of ESPN Radio, with a call letter change to KEPN. In September 2012, the ESPN affiliation moved to 105.5 KJAC, with KEPN switching its programming to Fox Sports Radio. On December 8, 2014, Entercom announced it would purchase Lincoln Financial Group's entire 15-station lineup in a $106.5 million deal. Entercom would operate the outlets under a Local Marketing Agreement until the purchase was finalized. On December 22, 2014, Entercom announced that it would retain KEPN's sports format. The FCC approved the deal on June 26, 2015. However, on July 14, 2015, the Department of Justice forced Entercom to spin off KEPN, KOSI, KKFN and KYGO-FM to Bonneville International in exchange for Bonneville's KSWD in Los Angeles to meet ownership limits. Both Bonneville and Entercom began operating their new clusters via Time Brokerage Agreements on July 17, 2015, until the transaction was consummated on November 24, 2015. On January 4, 2016, KEPN reaffiliated with ESPN Radio after a three-year absence, carrying the network full-time, with KKFN simulcasting during overnights and some weekend hours. The move falls in line with Bonneville's practice of having an AM/FM Sports radio combination airing ESPN Radio on AM and local programming on FM.
