WKCI (FM) 101.3 began broadcast operations on Monday February 10, 1969 at 3:36pm. They broadcast Monday though Saturday from 7am to 1am and 8:45am to Midnight on Sundays. The first program director was Neil I. Offen. One of the first DJs was (the late) Jack Whitten later with WADS 690 AM Ansonia, Connecticut. During this time and through the 1970s WKCI(FM) 101.3 was a beautiful music station and sister to Top 40 13 WAVZ (1300 AM.) The station was low rated while 13 WAVZ was a ratings powerhouse.

The ratings for WAVZ were usually in the top three where it battled 960 WELI. The stations were owned by Kops-Monahan Communications Inc. WAVZ had Music Research programs for many aspiring communications majors and broadcasters during the 1970s under the reign of Pete Salant. Music researchers, worked just a few yards from the jocks and had the responsibility of doing everything from pulling music to answering and screening calls for the jocks, to compiling music data that would later be published on weekly music survey's.

Toward the end of the 1970s programmers Pete Salant and Curtis W. Hansen moved WAVZ's format over to sister station 101.3 FM. The two wanted to keep the format flip a secret from other radio stations. If other local stations found out about their plans, they could either beat them to the punch with a similar format or start counter programing against WKCI. They thought about changing the call letters, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had tougher regulations in 1979. They thought by applying to the FCC for a call letter change might tip off their competitors that something was in the works. Therefore, the WKCI call letters were kept.

In July 1979, "The All New KC101" was born with a Top 40 format that leaned adult. The station played the top hits of the day while mixing in a few oldies. The energy level of the jocks during this period would almost be considered AC by today's standards. Pete Salant was the Program Director and Curt Hansen was the Assistant Program Director/Music Director.

During the early 1980s, KC101 was met ownership changes. In 1982, the station was sold to Eastern Broadcasting Corporation for $6 Million and the Noble Broadcast Group a couple of years later. A lot of original WKCI staff members left the station during the ownership changes. Pete Salant, Peter Bush, Curtis W. Hanson, Danny Lyons and Storm N. Norman all left. Hanson went up the dial with Storm N. to 107.9 and put WEBE 108 on the air. One of the early slogans was "The Best Music on FM, KC101."

By the mid-1980s, KC101 was a force to be reckoned with, as the station received better ratings and shifted to a mainstream Top 40 direction. The station slogan during the mid 80s was "Connecticut's Hottest KC101." The station held its ground with nearby CHR competitors such as WKSS (Kiss 95.7) and WTIC-FM (96TIC-FM) both out of Hartford, Connecticut.

KC 101 and DJ, Peter Bush did a tribute to John Lennon the weekend after his death on December 14, 1980.

During the early 80s, the station hired the Coach George DeMaio as the Sports Director, who did sports updates during the morning show and updates on

Saturday and Sunday mornings during the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. The station also used Shadow Traffic, based in New York City, for their traffic reports.

KC 101 also started the long running KC 101 Bridal Fair annually in January, where listeners could get everything they needed in planning for their wedding.

It was 1983 when Midday Personality Ian Roberts hosted the first of three TRIAL KC101 Saturday Night Dance Parties at Toads Place in New Haven. The Event was an instant smash hit and Ian hosted for the next four and a half years, then DJ John Trousdale mixed the music live from the "KC101 Saturday Night Dance Party" from legendary night spot Toad's Place in Downtown New Haven.

In the mid-80s, station features such as the "Top 10 at 10," and "The All Request Lunch" debuted.

The morning show's "Hozay" character (voiced by Dr. Chris) declared himself the Mayor of "Fogarea" in the '80s. "Fogarea" was actually a section of Interstate 91 in New Haven, where highway warning signs declaring a "fog area" still stand today.

In the early 1990s, the CHR Top 40 format was in trouble as stations across the country were losing ratings, KC101 was no exception. In 1993, KC101 shifted back to more of an adult Top 40 and mixed in more adult and 80's titles. The station adopted the slogan "The New Sound of KC101." The late Brian James was the voice of KC101 until the mid-'90s when Sean Caldwell became the station voice (until January 1, 2004.)

The annual KC101 "Stuff-A-Bus" Food Drive to benefit the Connecticut Food Bank was started in 1992 by the Glenn and Pat Morning Show. The event is usually held the Thursday before Thanksgiving in a grocery store parking lot. The first Stuff-A Bus was held in East Haven, near the station's North Haven studio. After the move to Hamden in 1993, subsequent food drives were held in either the Hamden Stop & Shop or Hamden Shaw's parking lots (varying year-to-year, depending on which store bought the sponsorship). KC101 listeners would donate food for the needy and try to fill up a school bus. During his years at KC101, Glenn Beck usually turned the food drive into a marathon broadcast event, spending most of the day and night at the food drive site. The station usually sets a goal to collect 1,013 turkeys to play off its frequency 101.3FM. As years went on, they would usually "stuff" more than one bus and even famous celebrities would stop by as well.

In 1993, KC101 and sister station 1300 WAVZ moved into new studios with former WAVZ competitor 960 WELI at Radio Towers Park in Hamden and 33 acres of land, where they remain to this day. Glenn Beck (along with morning show partner Pat Gray) the first personality to broadcast from the new studio in Hamden, and was instrumental in designing the famous KC101 "globe" logo (which lasted until 2004.) PD Steve Wilson and others took advantage of the 33 acres and put on a variety of concerts. Artists such as Joan Jett, 98 Degrees and Huey Lewis and the News played outdoors for KC101 listeners.

By the mid 90s, the CHR format was still in trouble but was showing signs of life in other markets. KC101 leaned in the rock direction while playing artists such as Pearl Jam and Green Day in regular rotation. By 1997, the slogan "Connecticut's Number 1 Hit Music Station, KC101" was adopted and the station started to maintain a website.

Program Notes In the early 90s, an alternative show called "Planet Zed" was launched on Sunday nights. In the mid 90s the "TRC Total Request Countdown" debuted as a play off of MTV's popular "Total Request Live" program at the time. The decade also saw the debut of an 80s music formatted show called "Sunday Night At The 80s", replacing "Planet Zed". "Sunday Night At The 80s" was first hosted by Operations Manager Mike Raub, then Samantha Stevens, then weekender Jim McNeil.

In the mid-'90s, Program Director Tony Bristol wrote a local novelty hit "Christmas In East Haven" with a little help from East Haven resident and KC101 Assistant Program Director Ed Sabatino. The song got considerable airplay for years and recently was available only on the station website.

In July 1999, KC101 hosted a "20th Anniversary Reunion Weekend" as the station celebrated 20 years on the air. During the weekend, former radio personalities were back on the air playing music and jingles from the time when they were on the station.

The 2000s would see a lot of change for WKCI both in programming and staff.

Early in the decade Danny Ocean became Program Director after spending time in programming at WJMN (Jam'n 94.5) in Boston. The station kept the rock music Top 40 lean where artists such as Michele Branch, Bon Jovi received airplay. In fact, Danny Ocean's good relations with the band brought Bon Jovi to play at Radio Towers Park for listeners.

Radio deregulation in the early part of the decade brought once fierce competitors WKSS (Kiss 95.7) and WKCI (KC101) under the same ownership via Clear Channel Communications for the first time. (Clear Channel also owned the station in the 1990s.)

The "Saturday Night Dance Party" evolved into "Party 101" which broadcast live from 9pm-1am (later 10pm-2am) from The Playwright in Downtown New Haven. The station slogan "Connecticut's Number 1 Hit Music Station, KC101" was still in use.

In 2003, Chaz Kelly became Program Director and shifted the station more towards a mainstream Top 40. One of the things she did to emphasize a mainstream format shift was to implement "Mini-Mixes" or remixes of the current songs during the night show. Gone was Sean Caldwell as the station voice, and the famous "globe" logo (replaced with the logo above). A new Friday night mix show called "Club Control" with music mixed live in studio by veteran local club DJ Ricky Smith debuted in 2004. The station slogan was shortened to "The Hit Music Station, KC101."

Under Chaz Kelly's era, the station started "Ticket To Ride" concerts held at Six Flags New England in Massachusetts. Artists that appeared at the show over the years were Fallout Boy, Sum 41, Jordan Sparks and many others.

In 2006, KC101 was recognized by the radio industry as it won "Station of the Year for Markets 101+" by industry trade magazine Radio and Records. The same year, the station was also mentioned in the WB Network drama "Gilmore Girls." "Go downstairs and turn on the radio KC101" is how the station was mentioned by an unidentified character. Following the broadcast, the station proudly proclaimed they were "Gilmore Girls' Approved" in a station liner with the TV show soundbite.

HD Radio came to KC101 in December 2004[4] as the station broadcast a digital signal listenable with an HD Radio. WKCI-FM HD1 (101.3-1) is a simulcast of KC101's regular programming, while WKCI-FM HD2 (101.3-2) is a simulcast of sister station WELI-AM.

On September 11, 2001 after the terror attacks, the station went jockless and told listeners to tune into sister AM News/Talk station 960 WELI.

New features were added to the station in 2004 and 2005 such as "The 11 At 7," "RadioActive Lunch" and the "The Next Big Thing," a 2-hour lifestyle and music show hosted by Chaz Kelly & Michael Maze.

In January 2009, station owner Clear Channel, which also owned stations in Hartford, CT started a wave of budget cuts at the station. Gone from Radio Towers Park were the station promotions department and the "KC101 Street Team," Program Director Chaz Kelly, the midday jock Ryan Smart, Brady who did nights, as well as long-time weekender Erich Bachman. Bachman was replaced by Clear Channel's Premium Choice national format feed. Smart and Brady were replaced by out of market voice-tracked jocks. Michael Maze was replaced in September 2010 by a syndicated morning show from NYC. The promotions department is now operated out of Clear Channel offices in Hartford. The new program director is Stan Priest, also based in Hartford and oversees KC101 and the Clear Channel Hartford Cluster.