[8][9] In 1987, First Media announced it would sell its 11 radio stations, including KFMY-AM-FM, to a partnership of Cook Inlet Region, Inc., a company principally owned by Alaskan Eskimos, and Whitcom Partners, a group of New York investors led by the Whitney family; this gave First Media a tax break under policies that promoted minority ownership of radio stations.

[12] The slumping KZOL, however, went through a major change in 1992, precipitated as much by events at another Salt Lake City-area station as by its own poor performance.

In late 1991, 23 of the 25 disc jockeys at alternative outlet KJQN-FM (95.5), known as "KJQ", quit after the station hired a new general manager, making them question the ownership's commitment to its "modern music" format.

[13] The result was that on February 13, 1992, with the financial backing of concert promoter J. C. McNeil, many of the former KJQ airstaff, organizing as the Acme Broadcasting Company, started a new alternative rocker on the former KZOL as KXRK "X96".

In 1996, X96 underwent a major technical overhaul, moving to 96.3 MHz[18] from a transmitter on Farnsworth Peak, increasing its coverage area (particularly in Utah County).