station changed its moniker to "101 KLOL." KLOL achieved victory in early 1981 against format rival KILT-FM, which soon changed its format to country music. Shortly thereafter, KLOL had another rival in 97ROCK (96.5 KSRR) and one of the fiercest AOR battles of the 1980s commenced. KLOL once again won the battle as KSRR flipped to top 40 as KKHT in 1986 (and is now KHMX). KLOL mellowed somewhat in the 1980s, as did many AORs, but the playlist remained quite wide. The station's core artists were The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Led Zeppelin, Boston, The Police and Tom Petty. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, KLOL was one of the top-rated AOR stations in the United States. KLOL featured legendary morning hosts Mark Stevens and Jim Pruett and their "Stevens and Pruett Show," chalking up both high ratings and several fines from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for "offensive content." Dayna Steele anchored mid-days, and the "Steele-workers" were numerous. And in the evenings it was "Outlaw Radio", an active rock show with "a lot of attitude." KLOL was regularly in the top 3 in that time frame. Changes in ownership In 1993, Evergreen Media bought KTRH and KLOL for $49 million. Evergreen started to make changes to KLOL's sound. The station started relying heavily on either classic rock product (KLOL would be almost all classic rock from 1996 to 1998) or current product from "safe artists" who were often not that popular. KLOL virtually ignored the exploding grunge rock and alternative rock bands in the 1990s. In late 1998, KLOL began playing more current material. Some thought active rock was finally coming to Houston on KLOL. Alternative rock-formatted KTBZ-FM had moved to a more pop-alternative sound to target listeners who had previously tuned in the now defunct 102.9 KKPN, a modern AC station that is now KLTN. So the opportunity for a harder-edged station was there. But the station stopped short of going to an active rock sound. Clear Channel Communications became the owner of KLOL in 2000. For several years, Clear Channel retained the rock format. Many thought Clear Channel would bring back the classic sound of the station during the previous decades. Instead, KLOL carried on in the same vein for another four years. KLOL goes Spanish Rumors of a KLOL format change had been heard since at