KSCS

The station first signed on the air on March 8, 1949 as WBAP-FM.[3] It originally broadcast on 100.5 FM and was under the control of Amon G. Carter, as part of his Carter Publications Company. The station moved to 96.3 in 1955.

At first, it largely simulcast co-owned WBAP 820 AM, with some separate classical music shows at night. In the 1960s, WBAP-FM switched to all-classical music, which had been a popular format in the early days of FM radio. The classical format benefited from FM stereo, which improved the quality of music broadcasts.

WBAP 820 had much success broadcasting a classic country format known as "Country Gold," beginning in 1970. Management decided to extend the country music brand to FM. On January 15, 1973, 96.3 switched to a country format known as "Silver Country Stereo". The call letters changed to KSCS to match the slogan. The initial design behind KSCS was to play country music but with beautiful music-style FM formatics. It featured three or four songs in a row without talking. It used low-key announcers and carried a lighter commercial load, compared to AM stations. A year later, Carter Publications sold KSCS to Capital Cities. Capital Cities acquired the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1985, using that company's name.

As more people began acquiring FM radios and listening to FM for music, KSCS benefited from being the only country station on the FM dial. The rise in popularity of country music in the late 1970s led to KSCS becoming a dominant station in the ratings. It also brought competition in the form of 99.5 KPLX which entered the country music market in 1980.

KSCS was the number-one radio station overall in Dallas/Fort Worth from 1980 to 1982. The station's ratings started to sag after the Urban Cowboy era faded, and with tough competition from KPLX. In 1988, KSCS hired away KPLX's star morning host Terry Dorsey. With Dorsey's arrival, the ratings started to improve again, just as country music's popularity started to rise again. KSCS returned to the number one spot in the Dallas/Fort Worth Arbitron ratings in 1990, and stayed there for 14 consecutive ratings periods. To this day, that is still the longest winning streak in Dallas/Fort Worth ratings history.[4]

"The Big 96.3" logo used from 2008 to 2009

KSCS, along with ABC's other non-Radio Disney and ESPN Radio stations, was sold to Citadel Broadcasting in 2007. In January 2008, KSCS was re-branded as "The Big 96.3." However, in November 2009, it reverted to its legacy branding in use since the 1980s.

On January 4, 2011, at 5 PM, the station re-branded as "New Country 96-3 KSCS, Texas' Most Country Guaranteed". Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.[5] This made KSCS a sister station to its longtime rival, KPLX.

In March 2015, KSCS tried an experiment, adding pop crossover songs by Rihanna, Kanye West, Paul McCartney, Avicii, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding and a few other top 40 artists with no ties to the "New Country" format.[6] By Fall 2015, KSCS eliminated the pop crossover songs and returned to its core "New Country" artists.

In mid-July 2019, KSCS rebranded as "New Country 96.3" without the KSCS call letters in the branding.[7]