The station was known for years as KCKC and was the number-one country station in the Riverside/San Bernardino market until country station KFRG-FM came on the air in the late 1980s. In 1993, it switched to a news talk format which lasted until 1996. From 1997-1998, the station returned to a country music format, this time concentrating on classic country. The station took on the nickname "The Big Dog" during this period. Later, the station was sold to Clear Channel Communications. After brief periods as a sports-talk station and a Spanish-language station, the company changed the format to news and talk and the call letters to KEWS. In 2002, it was changed back to a classic country station and the call letters were changed to KTDD, meaning "the Toad". The name was taken from the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? in which the character Pete was thought to have been turned into a toad by blue grass singing sirens; more specifically from the line in the movie house, "We thought you was a toad!" The name was initially not intended as a take on contemporary country station "K-Frog".