The station's studios and offices are located on Mill Street at Westport Center in Midtown Kansas City.

KBEY played big band and easy listening music, running a no-announcer broadcast automation system.

In 1971, KBEY devoted the midnight to 6 am time slot to jazz, hosted by Bobby Kline, which developed a sizable following over the next couple of years.

There was networking among similar stations, like KSHE St. Louis, and KSAN San Francisco, sharing programming content.

The "format" evolved over three years and consistently claimed 8-12% of the KC audience, a respectable share in a market with around thirty stations.

Eventually, though, progressive radio found itself fading at the same moment that San Diego's "Super Q" format was sweeping the country.

Mark Wodlinger knew it would hit Kansas City soon, and whatever station adopted the format would likely be #1 in the ratings for at least a couple of years.

He arranged the deal, made the announcement, and began a two-month KBEY-KBEQ transition process to bring in the new format with its new air staff, with the progressive rock/jazz experiment ending in August, like it started.

A "Super-Q" phone-in contest had become popular in San Diego, tying up the city's telephone network (a dangerous problem the station publicized wildly).

Previously, the only way many FM radio station owners could make a profit was to lease 10% of the signal out for a subsidiary communications authority (SCA) channel.

Up to 80 miles away, a grain elevator would hoist an antenna to the roof and pick up a constant stream of up-to-the minute commodity prices.

At first, reports came by voice on a McMartin SCA table radio, with formatted note pads included to jot prices on.

Some of the DJs during this era included Pat McKay, Bill Bailey (formerly of WLS Chicago), Mike O'Brien (one of the original Q staff, on the air on day one), Steve Garrett, Johnny Rock'n Rowlands, Bobby Ocean, Young Bobby Day, Chuck Nasty (known as Charmin' Chuck Harmon), Johnny Dare, Doug Billings, and Randy Miller.

[8] By the early 1990s, however, country music's popularity increased in Kansas City and throughout the nation, while the Top 40 format was in a state of decline.

[9] On February 1, 1993, KBEQ began running a promotion called "20 years in 20 days", playing music that was popular in their Top 40 heyday.

Kellar was on the previous morning show alongside Zeke Montana and Jillian Gregg, while Matthews joined from sister station KMXV.