San Diego Radio: Top Rated KIFM-FM Rebrands As SunnyFM

Entercom has rebranded its 6+ top-rated KIFM 98.FM.  Easy 98.1 has been replaced by Sunny 98.1 as of 5pm Thursday.

After playing "Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot, KIFM rebranded as "Sunny 98.1," and relaunched its adult contemporary format, this time moving in a more contemporary direction. The first song on "Sunny" was "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina & the Waves.

Running jockless for now, KIFM is promising ten song blocks around all commercials. Prior to the change, the station had led the San Diego market with a 6.2 share in the March 2016 Nielsen Audio PPM ratings, making for a rare situation where a radio station at the top of the market ratings changes formats.

KIFM 98.1 FM (26.5 kW) Red=Local Coverage Area

KIFM has been airing variations of the adult contemporary format since it signed on in 1960. In the mid-1990s, after airing a successful smooth jazz evening program called "Lights Out San Diego," KIFM went with smooth jazz around the clock as "Smooth Jazz 98.1". During smooth jazz's popularity, KIFM was one of the top rated stations in San Diego and was the 2005 winner of the Marconi Award. As the smooth jazz format began to age, KIFM shifted to smooth adult contemporary (airing mostly pop artists with R&B roots, such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Madonna and Anita Baker, with only an occasional Smooth Jazz instrumental) in the Summer of 2011. KIFM began calling itself "98.1 Smooth FM". By the fall of that year, the station shifted to Rhythmic Adult Contemporary, by playing recent and older R&B and classic soul tracks. The original smooth jazz format moved to KIFM's HD2 subchannel.

On August 19, 2013, at 10 AM, 98.1 flipped to soft AC as "Easy 98.1". The rebranding came after trailing San Diego's longtime AC leader, KYXY, in the Arbitron ratings reports. The final song on "Smooth" was "I Love You Always Forever" by Donna Lewis, while the first song on "Easy" was "Easy" by The Commodores.