KKIN started out as a station that plays old time country music from the 1940s to the 1970s with such artists as Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams.

Around circa the mid-1990s, in spite of the increase of older people in the area, the station had switched to an adult standards format.

The station was built around 1961 by Fred Moegle, who previously had his own children's show called The Fred Moegle Show that aired for a few years in the 1950s before moving his family to Aitkin, Minnesota, and building KKIN.

In recent years, c. 2010, the format changed to feature less big bands and traditional standards, to a more or less oldies/soft adult contemporary format playing softer music that was popular from the 1960s to today that is targeted to the more mature listening audience, age 45 and older.

On September 16, 2016, Red Rock Radio announced that it would sell KKIN to R & J Broadcasting as part of an eight station deal;[4] the sale was completed on December 21, 2016.