Meruelo acquired KPWR from Emmis Communications for $82.75 million in May 2017, officially bringing the station under common ownership with KDAY, KDEY-FM and KBEH on August 1, 2017.

Not too long after Emmis bought KMGG, it immediately saw a niche to counter top 40 stations KIIS and KKHR and urban outlet KDAY, KJLH, and KACE (the latter three all signal challenged).

On January 11, 1986 at 6 p.m., KMGG dropped its adult contemporary format and became the first-ever rhythmic contemporary-formatted radio station with new call sign KPWR and branding "Power 106".

At the time of KPWR's launch, it broadcast what it announced as "72,000 Watts of Music Power...Less Talk" (mentioned in on-air station identifications by Chuck Riley and Deborah Rath), a reference to its then-actual effective radiated power (ERP) of 72 kW, allowing its signal to be heard in San Diego, Kern, and Santa Barbara counties).

The staff at the time represented the multi-cultural population of Los Angeles: Krystal Bee (Latino), DJ E Man (Filipino), and Todd the Hater (Armenian) of #TheCruzShow.

Most of the songs played on Movin' 93.9 consisted of rhythmic pop and dance hits from the 1980s and 1990s to the present day, along with classic disco and freestyle music tracks thrown in for balance.

[10][11] During an on-air interview on KPWR on November 3, 2015, singer/actress Ariana Grande criticized DJs Eric D-lux and Justin Credible over questions that she claimed were sexist, telling them, "You need a little brushing up on equality.

The announcement comes after Emmis, who exits the nation's second-largest radio market, made a deal in April with its lenders to seek $80 million worth of divestments by January 2018 to amend its credit agreement.

[17] In its first seven years, KPWR's music selection focused on a mix of dance, house, freestyle, hip hop, and urban pop, while avoiding hard rock.

[18] This would become a major issue in the music trades after the station ascended to the top spot in the Los Angeles Arbitron ratings, where both Billboard and Radio & Records had debated as to what reporting panel it would place KPWR (as well as other stations that were using the same formula), which in turn resulted in Billboard launching a Crossover chart and Radio & Records creating a CHR P1A subcategory in 1987.

[19] By 1992-93, KPWR began to focus on a mix of hip hop and R&B music, given that it gained competition from the former urban outlet KKBT and that the original KDAY signed off around that time.

By January 2005, the station had woven in non-R&B/hip-hop artists such as Natalie, Baby Bash, the Pussycat Dolls, NB Ridaz and Gwen Stefani to the mix, resulting in a return to rhythmic Top 40.

[21] In addition to playing hip hop and rhythmic pop, KPWR continued to embrace dance music tracks and even incorporated them into their daily and weekend mix shows, including the program Power Tools, produced by Gerry Meraz and hosted by Richard Vission.

However, by early 2016, KPWR has drastically reduced the amount of rhythmic pop and EDM tracks in its playlist to focus primarily on hip hop and R&B again.

Up until 2017, KPWR had also slightly increased the number of throwbacks/recurrents in its playlist, but has since refocused towards current product to reduce overlap with classic hip hop outlet KDAY.

That changed when actor, comedian, and radio veteran Jay Thomas took the helm of the show, giving the program its highest-rated numbers during his tenure.

[29][30] On July 16, 2020, Cannon took an indefinite leave from radio over fallout from antisemitic statements he made on his podcast, ending his one-year tenure at KPWR.