KSSS was a long-running call sign on 740 AM in Colorado Springs. The facility had signed on in 1955 as KWBY and became KSSS in 1959. During parts of the 1980s and early 1990s, KSSS was closely tied to 99.9 FM KVUU.
The KVUU connection: Contemporary station directories marketed a KSSS/KVUU combination, and a 1993 Broadcasting Yearbook entry identified KSSS as duplicating KVUU’s programming. In 1993 the 740 station became KTWK.
1980s staff and programming
A first-person recollection submitted to the Colorado Radio Archive by former KSSS morning host Tony Lynn adds detail to the station’s mid-1980s air staff. Lynn says he joined KSSS in 1984 and remained through 1990, spending nearly six years in mornings.
- Tony Lynn: mornings; later Program Director after Dan Jackson moved to KVUU.
- Dick Norton: newsman on Lynn’s morning show.
- Dick Chase: middays during the period Lynn recalls.
- Dan “Captain Dan” Jackson: afternoons and programming before moving across the hall to KVUU.
- Dan Cowen: nights.
- Bill Struck: General Manager of the station operation when Lynn arrived in 1984.
The staffing changed during the decade. Contemporary directory evidence separately lists Dick Chase as KSSS Program Director in 1984, indicating that Chase’s management role and Jackson’s later programming role represent different points in the station’s evolving mid-1980s structure rather than a single static lineup.
Earliest Address Record
1957: the original KWBY 740 facility is listed as P.O. Box 764. By 1964: KSSS is listed at the Antlers Hotel Penthouse. By 1966: the station is documented at 3939 E. Marion Drive. The latter is the earliest street address located so far for the 740 operation.
Studio / Facility Timeline
- 1984–86: KSSS and KVUU are repeatedly documented at 2860 S. Circle Drive, Suite 1200, Cheyenne Center.
- By 1996: after the 740 facility had become KTWK, it was part of the KVOR/KSPZ/KVUU cluster at 2864 S. Circle Drive, Suite 150.
- Later Citadel era: the 740 lineage became part of the group operating from 6805 Corporate Drive.
Sources: Broadcasting Yearbook; Cash Box; Radio Business Report; Radio & Records; U.S. Department of Justice antitrust filings; Tony Lynn, first-person oral-history contribution to the Colorado Radio Archive, October 2026.
FROM THE TIMELINE
Moments in KSSS-AM History
KWBY signs on at 740 kHz
KWBY signed on at 740 kHz in Colorado Springs. This facility later became KSSS, then KTWK, and in 2000 acquired the KVOR call letters. It is a separate station lineage from the original KFUM/KVOR facility on 1300 kHz.
Hill-Smith acquires KWBY and station becomes KSSS
Hill-Smith Broadcasting acquired KWBY 740. During 1959 the station changed call letters to KSSS, beginning a call identity that lasted until 1993.
KSSS operates from the Antlers Hotel penthouse
KSSS 740 was operating under Hill-Smith Broadcasting from the Antlers Hotel penthouse. Period listings identify J. D. Hill, Sterling Campbell, Bill Mahoney, Charles A. Bennett, Buddy Robbins, Dan McNamara and Rod Masel.
1984: KSSS and KVUU share studios at Cheyenne Center
1984 — Industry records place KSSS and KVUU together at 2860 S. Circle Drive, Suite 1200, identified as Cheyenne Center in Colorado Springs. The shared facility documents the physical pairing of the country AM and adult-contemporary FM during the Radio Colorado Springs era.
1986: Captain Dan Jackson moves from KSSS to KVUU
1986 — Captain Dan Jackson's documented career chronology places him at KSSS from 1984-1987 and KVUU from 1986-1999, making him a bridge between the paired stations and the Bobby Irwin era and KVUU's later 1990s morning-show history.
1988–89: KSSS and KVUU move downstairs at South Circle
1988–89 — KSSS and KVUU moved within their South Circle broadcast building from the 12th floor, Suite 1200, to Suite 150 on the first floor.
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