Founded in 1947 as WRC-FM, 93.9 WKYS came into being as a project by NBC (the National Broadcasting Company). The idea sparked when NBC decided to build the station from the ground up alongside its new television partner, WRC-TV, to expand its media presence in the nation's capital. The original name, WRC, was chosen to represent NBC's parent company at the time, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). In 1974, the station officially changed its call letters to WKYS to stand for "Kiss-FM". Currently, the station is owned by Urban One, a major media company led by Chairman and CEO Cathy Hughes. Today, 93.9 WKYS and its website, kysdc.com, are mainly focused on urban contemporary music and community-centered news. They cover a wide variety of topics including entertainment, local events like the Cousinz Festival, and community initiatives such as youth sports clinics and empowerment workshops. They are based in the Washington, D.C. area, with studios located in Silver Spring, Maryland, and have made a name for themselves as a leading voice for culture and news across the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) region. One interesting fact: A unique fact about 93.9 WKYS is that it was once forced to drop its famous "Kiss FM" nickname in the mid-1990s. This happened because another media company, Clear Channel Communications, bought the trademark rights to the "KISS-FM" brand for the entire United States and legally challenged any other station using the name. While WKYS eventually used the name again for a short period, they later decided to stick with their official call letters, 93.9 WKYS.