The station first signed on on April 6, 1989 as KCQR, an album-oriented rock station calling itself "94 Rock". It was owned by South West Broadcasting, Inc.[3] In 1994, the station was sold to Spectacular Broadcasting, Inc. for $1.2 million.[4][5] The following year, KCQR changed its call sign to KSPE-FM[6] to match that of co-owned station KSPE (1490 AM) in Santa Barbara and began simulcasting the AM's regional Mexican music format,[5] with both stations branded "La Musical".
In October 1998, Spectacular sold KSPE-FM and its AM counterpart to Jacor Communications (later Clear Channel Communications) for $4.6 million.[7] The AM station switched its call letters to KBKO, while KSPE-FM was separately programmed as "La Preciosa", playing regional Mexican oldies.[8]
On January 11, 2007, Clear Channel sold all of its radio stations in Santa Barbara, including KSPE-FM, to Rincon Broadcasting for $17.3 million.[9][10]
KSPE-FM changed call letters in 2010, first to KIST-FM on July 19, then to KFYZ on September 10.[6] The Spanish oldies format remained until December 21, 2010, when the station flipped to top 40 with the branding "Z94.5".[11]
In September 2017, the station reverted to its previous classic regional Mexican format, this time with the call letters KSPE and branded as "La Musical".[12]