[1] The permit was granted on August 4 of that year, after changing from 1260 to 1420 kHz to clear a conflict with another proposed station by Walton Foster (which started as KWFR).
[7] Pinkston sold KPEP in 1975 to Simstone Broadcasting, a venture of San Angelo native Dick Sims and Robert W. Stonestreet of Houston.
In 1979, he was sued by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), a performing rights organization, for playing ASCAP-licensed songs without paying its royalties.
[10] Three years later, KHAG sold the station to Hoss Media Inc., a firm that also owned KBIL (92.9 FM) locally and KMHT-AM-FM across the state in Marshall, for $350,000.
[14] A judge appointed a receiver at the request of Connecticut National Bank, which had loaned the KBIL stations $1.3 million in 1988 and was not being paid back with $800,000 still owing;[15][16] the Internal Revenue Service filed a tax lien for more than $16,000.
[17] While this happened, on the night of October 15, an arsonist broke into the control room of the AM transmitter site on Chadbourne Avenue and set it on fire; the building and its contents, which suffered heat and smoke damage, were not insured.