Can someone post what format this station is currently running? Thanks.
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KAMT Channing/Amarillo
- Thread starter RadioGuy1864
- Start date
Both Wikipedia and Radio-Loactor says it's running Tejano music with the name "Blazin' 105", but the logo is "La Raza 105.1" in Streema and TuneIn websites.
I briefly consulted for this cluster back in 2016-17. It hasn't been "Blazin 105.1" since around then. The 96.1 format was moved to 104.3 in July 2018. So much I wish I could publicly say about the operation there, but I think this story sums it up nicely...
radioinsight.com
Viva Media Flips Wild 104.3 Amarillo In Middle Of Charity Remote
If there is ever an inopportune time for a format change, Viva Media found it on Saturday, July 28 as
radioinsight.com
That flip sure sounds like a cluster....
Amarillo is severely “over-radioed” with over 40 FMs in the market. Not surprising some are struggling.
AM radio in Amarillo is pretty much dead, though KGNC 710 might have a faint pulse.
When I was working with them in 2016, I concocted a plan where between full-powered signals, translators, their Franken-FM, and signals not considered part of the market, we could've had ten FM signals in the area for less than $5 million in acquisitions. But their business model was really just to filter business to some of the owner's other businesses including a concert venue, bar, and tax prep service and they just couldn't figure out how to properly monetize the non-Spanish speaking audience which was the goal of Wild 104.3 and the Classic Hits station we had ready to launch on 105.1 but never did figuring they could book those touring acts. They did a couple of Hip-Hop concerts for Wild, but for reasons I won't get into weren't really successful.
What's wild to me is that Amarillo only had two commercial FM's when I was born, and AM was the vast majority of listening. Another FM popped up there around the end of that year.
It also only had around 10 commercial radio stations at the time.
I realize the 80's saw explosive growth of FM pretty much everywhere, but I can't think of another place that added more than 30 stations by the time I graduated high school.
Amarillo historically has not been a great market as far as station values.
When I had the stations out that direction, two of our FM signals had the ability to go to a Class C1, where it would have put about 70% of the city in each 60dbu. But given that the last sale of a single 100kw FM (102.9) was right at $250,000, and the one before (96.1) was about $450,000, there was no guarantee that we'd even break even in the end. So we left it as is.
Kent is right - theres a whole lot of signals out there.
When I had the stations out that direction, two of our FM signals had the ability to go to a Class C1, where it would have put about 70% of the city in each 60dbu. But given that the last sale of a single 100kw FM (102.9) was right at $250,000, and the one before (96.1) was about $450,000, there was no guarantee that we'd even break even in the end. So we left it as is.
Kent is right - theres a whole lot of signals out there.
Ironically, Amarillo had one of the earliest FM CPs in the nation - Amarillo Broadcasting applied for 45.1 in 1940 and was granted a construction permit in Feb. 1942. The war prevented K51AM from ever signing on the air, but its successor, KFDA-FM 100.3 did sign on in Dec. 1948. It was the second FM on the air in Amarillo, following KGNC-FM 104.3, which went on Nov. 25, 1947. Like so many early FMs, KGNC-FM went dark in 1950, and KFDA-FM followed suit in 1952.
KGNC-FM was re-born in 1958 on 93.1 and was joined in 1962 by KCHO 94.1 (after a couple of years as KVII-FM, it became KDJW-FM at the end of the 60s.) Like you said, it was just those two stations on FM until 1976. Then came the boom: KQIZ (on 93.1, which had been vacated when KGNC-FM moved to 97.9 a few years prior), KWAS and KACV.
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I think KWAS and KACV might have gone on the air in 1975 IIRC. KQIZ was definitely 1976, and on Thanksgiving, also IIRC.
Those were followed by KYTX 98.7 in late 1978 and KHBQ 107.1 in early 1981. KLSF 96.9 went on in 1985 about the time I left Amarillo.
You also had KWTS 91.1 in Canyon, but it was a 10 watt Class D at the time that only got to the most southern parts of Amarillo.
Never understood why KGNC-FM went from 93.1 to 97.9. Improved signal, but what was in the way for 93.1?
Broadcasting Yearbook 1976 lists KWAS' sign on as "1975". An Amarillo Globe-Life article from Jan 16, 1976 says the station went on the air "this week." It could have been testing in late '75, but then the Yearbook 1977 updates the sign on date as March 11, 1976. The '77 Yearbook lists KACV's sign on as March 8, 1976. I tend to favor contemporary local newspaper reporting when it contradicts BY listings.
...and KBBB 104.3 in Borger which could have been caught on the NE side of town.
None of the documentation for KGNC-FM's move (which was applied for in 1971 and licensed in 1972) gave any specifics as the the "why". The 93.1 signal obviously wasn't a problem for KQIZ which hit #1 in its second survey.