the dynamic San Antonio market and becoming a part of the community". In 1987, Adams Radio bought KISS-FM for $13 million after a previous sale to Noble Broadcast Group the year before failed to close. Brief tenure with oldies The rock format was set aside for a year and a half. On the morning of July 19, 1990, KISS-FM abruptly flipped to oldies as "99.5 KISS Oldies." Adams corporate programming director B.J. Hunter stated that "very simply, this was a financial decision that we had to make". Station vice president Rick Joppie noted that the station had been underperforming since 1987, and that the parent company had success with the oldies format in other markets. Joppie added that "we are a company that needs to make money". Local outrage was fierce, with the station's phone lines jammed the day of the switch. Steve Coffman, operations manager of KFAN-FM, said that the format change was "one of the more stupid moves I've seen in corporate radio". While the new owners hoped the new format would increase the station's ratings, the opposite happened. In its last full book as a rock station, KISS held a 5.0 share, and by the summer 1990 book, the station's rating fell to a 3.0 share in the coveted 25-54 demographic. By contrast, competing oldies station KSMG was the city's number one radio station and actually increased its audience despite KISS' flip to the format, jumping from a 7.7 share in the spring book to a 9.7 in the summer book. By Memorial Day 1991, the station had changed general managers twice. Two program directors had also come and gone, one staying less than two months, and the entire inaugural full-time airstaff was out. The Rusk Corporation, which owned KSMG, began to lease KISS AM and FM from Adams in November 1991. Rusk began simulcasting KSMG on both 99.5 FM and 930 AM at 3 p.m. on November 8 as a stopgap measure while new formats were prepared for the two frequencies. KSMG general manager Caroline Devine remarked that "the new sounds will be anything but oldies". Return to rock On December 31, 1991, the rock music format returned to KISS-FM, this time with an Active Rock format. In 1997, KISS-FM was acquired by Cox Radio. As of 2012, the station's format was described as Mainstream Rock, although it has gone back to Active Rock in recent