The station signed on in 1949 using the call sign KFSD-FM and simulcasting KFSD. It carried the AM station's format of Middle of the Road music with news and personalities. As one of the earliest FM stations in Southern California, it was originally powered at 100,000 watts, and even today has more power than most of its rivals, which normally are limited to 50,000 watts. As FM radios became more available, especially among the affluent and audiophiles, KFSD-FM adopted a classical music format in 1956, for which it was known for nearly four decades.
Format changes and sale (1996–2000)
KFSD-FM was sold by Lotus Communications to Nationwide Communications in 1996. The new owners decided classical music would not have enough listeners and revenue, so the format was switched to classic hits as "94.1 The Eagle" on January 16, 1997, with the call letters KXGL. KXGL was acquired in 1998 by Jacor Communications, which was later acquired by Clear Channel Communications. On August 10, 1998, KXGL dropped the classic hits music format and call letters, switching to soft adult contemporary music as KJQY, known as K-Joy 94.1 to compete with leading AC station KYXY. In 2000, KJQY changed to a new format called Soft Oldies. When Oldies station KBZT left the format in November of that year, KJQY became a mainstream oldies station.
Hot AC (2001–present)
Pre-launch poll; holiday music
On November 21, 2001, KJQY swapped formats and call letters with Mix 95.7, also owned by Clear Channel. 94.1 then began stunting with a loop of Christmas music. At the same time, the station administered a poll, asking listeners what they would like to hear, and later began informing listeners to find out the poll results at 3 p.m. on December 25, 2001.
My 94.1
The stunting continued until the advertised date and time, which at that point, the station's callsign became KMYI, flipped to its present Hot AC format and branded as My 94.1. The first song under the Hot AC format was "Breathe" by Faith Hill. For a time, KMYI was simulcast in Temecula, California on KMYT until December 2, 2004, when KMYT switched to a smooth jazz format.
On September 19, 2005, noted San Diego radio duo "Jeff and Jer" came to KMYI, and the station was rebranded as Star 94.1, picking up both the morning show and the moniker from KFMB-FM, which had switched to adult hits and joined Jack FM earlier in the year. The station adopted the "San Diego's Best Variety" slogan to reflect its broadcast area, although it has recently began using the corporate "More Music, More Variety" slogan on air. Clear Channel Communications became iHeartMedia in 2014. Through all of the changes that have occurred since becoming a hot AC station, the one constant at KMYI had taken place during the final weeks of the year: Up until 2014, KMYI had an annual tradition of playing all Christmas music, returning to its regular Hot AC format on December 26. This ended in 2015 to focus on New Year's Eve music content instead. Today, KMYI's chief rivals are KYXY, which has moved closer to a Hot AC format to gain younger listeners, and KXSN, which broadcasts a Classic Hits format and calls itself Sunny 98.1, Competition for this station is established by playing songs from the 1990s at the bottom of each hour.
Morning shows
KMYI has had many morning shows throughout the years: When the station first flipped to Hot AC in 2001, KMYI recruited Jagger and Kristi, their tenure lasted until summer 2005, when they would move to XHRM. On rebranding to "Star 94.1" in 2005, KMYI picked up the Jeff and Jer Showgram. 2005 also saw the addition of notable personality Delana, who originally came in to co-host with Jeff and Jer. On August 20, 2009, Jeff and Jer exited Star 94.1 to be replaced by AJ Machado from sister Top 40 station KHTS-FM. On August 31, 2009, "AJ in the Morning" debuted on Star 94.1 with most of the former "Playhouse" cast, with the exception of Geena The Latina, who remains at KHTS-FM. In June 2012, the morning show was replaced with Jesse Lozano, who re-located to San Diego to host mornings on KMYI. Jesse also voicetracks in afternoons on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, and is also known as Boy Toy Jesse. On August 16, 2019, it was announced that KMYI will welcome Tati, as their new morning co-host. The newly rebranded "Jesse and Tati" program debuted on August 26. This change comes as outgoing co-host Delana announced her move to the afternoon drive spot, in addition to her role on iHeart's Pride Radio network.
