The new owners installed a Smooth Jazz format on April 16, 1988, re-branded it as "The Point" and changed its call sign to KQPT. Over a seven-year period, The Point went through a couple of ownership changes and format tweaks (mostly towards album rock). Brown Broadcasting changed the branding to "The Zone" in September 1995 and the format to a wide-ranging AAA mix it promoted as "bands you've never heard of." Brown sold KQPT, KXOA (AM) and KXOA-FM (K-108) to American Radio Systems in 1996. The call letters were switched to KZZO in 1997. There was a three-way battle for rock listeners during this period between KWOD, KRXQ (93 Rock) and "The Zone."