https://radioinsight.com/headlines/180188/102-9-albuquerque-is-now-en-fuego/
KJFA-102.9 Has been Flipped.
KJFA-102.9 Has been Flipped.
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102.9 Albuquerque Is Now En Fuego
- Thread starter Y2kTheNewOldies
- Start date
Has this format reached a new level of popularity? This had been done a couple times before. The last time was with La Kalle 101.3 which lasted just under 4 years. Before that there was Mega 104.1 in 2005-06 but this style of music was really new at the time. But with "Despacito" and other big YouTube hits could this be something that could perform better that the previous tries?
KXOL "Mega" in LA has been the #1 Spanish language station...
Sidebar: the station is "bilingual" only that they will mix some English compatible songs and use some English in the DJ work and liners and promos.
... a number of times this year, and now has a second station competitor, KLLI, in the same format.
WXDJ and WZTU and WRTO in Miami are all in the format. KAMA in Houston, WRUM in Orlando, WXNY and (with some added library) WSKQ in New York. And many others in Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, and so on.
The format exists with 2, 3, 4 stations doing it in all the major cities of Latin America, too.
Reggaetón is the best selling Latin music genre world-wide.
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All in all, the ABQ radio offerings are quite diverse. One of the more well-rounded radio dials in the country.
Highlights include Smooth Jazz on 103.7 and the #1 rated station overall, Mainstream Rocker 94Rock: Dio, Sammy Hagar, Stone Temple Pilots and selected deep tracks FTW, literally!
Highlights include Smooth Jazz on 103.7 and the #1 rated station overall, Mainstream Rocker 94Rock: Dio, Sammy Hagar, Stone Temple Pilots and selected deep tracks FTW, literally!
Ive heard the am at night here in Laramie, wY
Not sure if it’s still the case, but, in the 90’s, Albuquerque had the most stations per capita. It was barely ahead of Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs. You can only slice the country, AC, and CHR pies so much. So, those other stations had to do something different.
Of course, Albuquerque also had the most format changes in the 90’s. So, a lot of those niche formats turned out to be either unprofitable or unsustainable over the long term.
This is likely the result of being secluded from any other metropolitan areas, so without interference issues from nearby the whole FM space is open to be filled up. Whether or not it should be is another issue. But if had to guess I'd say Reno might have more stations per capita but there could be somewhere else. The changes in the 90s were probably the result of ownership changes resulting from FCC deregulations in 1996 so in some cases former rivals would come under the same owners. Plus there were some new sign-ons and move-ins which might have had niche formats but I don't recall which ones. Of course now we have translators and LPFMs covering every last available space and sometimes creating a mess like on 102.1.
Docket 80-90 dropped a ton of stations into Albuquerque/Santa Fe. Pretty sure every FM in Santa Fe and Los Alamos except 95.5, 97.3 and 98.5 was dropped in as part of 80-90. Pretty sure the commercial FM dial in Albuquerque when I lived there (1976) was just 92.3, 93.3, 94.1, 96.3, 99.5, and 100.3. I don't think 107.9 had signed on yet, though I'm pretty sure it signed on before 1980. Of course, at that time, KQEO was huge, and I seem to remember 610 and KOB 770 did well, too.
Unless you count translators (of which Reno has a glut), Reno doesn't really have too many stations. The most per capita is probably still between Albuquerque, Salt Lake, and Colorado Springs.
The massive consolidation in the 90's may have been a contributor to the large number of format changes that decade, but Albuquerque was still near the top of that list pre-1996. The bigger problem was that the market had too many stations for many of them to be sustainable. You can only slice the AC, top-40, country and rock pies so much. Even since consolidation, the market has had plenty of format changes. KRST, 94 Rock, Magic, and KIOT are the only Albuquerque licensed commercial FM's still in the same formats they had in 1996 (though KIOT had a rebranding around 2000). I guess you could lump 107.1 in that list, too, though it's pretty much an afterthought. Even the perennial FM leader 93.3 KOB-FM has had at least three formats since 2000, though it's been CHR/Top-40 since around 2003-04. Among the Santa Fe commercial FM's, 97.3 is about the only station still in the same format it had in '96, though it was a mainstream CHR for a couple years in the late 90's before going back to rhythmic. I don't remember exactly when 98.5 went oldies/classic hits. I seem to remember it being around '97 or '98, but it could've a few years before that. Otherwise, 92.9, 94.7, 95.5, 98.1, 104.1, 105.1, 105.9 and 106.7 have had multiple formats since 1996. 105.9 actually changed in '96, but it was classic country KRZY-FM on January 1 of that year. KBAC 98.1 is running the same format it had in '96, but that format has been through several different signals and owners since.
Stations per capita winners are USVI, Key West, FL, Grand Junction, CO, Albuquerque, Boise, Traverse City, MI. There are probably more, but that is a starter.
I guess I'm learning new things here! It looks like 107.9 signed on in April 1979 as KFMG if Wikipedia is correct but no reference is given for that date. 95.1, 101.3, 102.5 and 106.3 were added in the 90s while 104.7 and probably 97.7 were moved in from the south. So that added to the flood of signals. I was using radio locator to look at some isolated metro area and Reno had 70 stations listed (ABQ had 66) but it looks like there are many translators and they might count AMs using FM translators as separate stations. So maybe not the most reliable info.
The call letters KABG were assigned on June 9, 1997 so the format likely started around that time. AGM was also able to eliminate one of its competitors on 106.7 about 3 years later when they bought that station (of course they only had a series of unsuccessful formats since then). 92.3 and 103.3 were country rivals and even 94 Rock was playing mostly alternative music before it was clustered with KTEG (then 107.9) which led to the shift to the 80s centric hard rock format that seems to have worked well since.
The Peak was also established in 1996. So both KABG and KPEK are now over 20 years old. The country format on 107.9 is almost there too and KDRF has been going almost 15 years. So a few stations have been able to become more established. 105.9 has been in Spanish since 1996 but it has still gone through several changes. I think the "Radio Free" brand on KBAC was also started in 1996. They had some kind of alternative rock format before which was closer to what you would hear on a college station. They had also used translators in Albuquerque before but since Hutton took over they don't seem to care much about reaching here. Translator K251AU has also created reception problems outside of Santa Fe as well.
Don't forget Cindy 101.3, a nice soft AC ran by the same folks that bring you the venerable Oasis at 103.7/95.9 Santa Fe.
Sounds about right for 107.9. It was rock KFMG until 1991, when it became "Mix 107.9." It kept that format until around '95, when The Edge launched. Pretty sure the allotments for 95.1, 101.3, 102.5 and 106.3 were actually added to their respective cities in the 80's but didn't get on-air until the 90's. In the days of using comparative hearings to determine how to award licenses, the process of actually getting the permit could drag on for a long time. 104.7 was moved in from Socorro around '95. I believe it started at 92.7 in Socorro. I don't remember if it ever operated at 104.7 there or if it just moved there when it moved to Bosque Farms. 97.7 was originally KARS-FM out of Belen, and it was a class A until the early to mid-90's. It was a sister station to 860 KARS, which is now 840.
As I recall, KBOM 106.7 never tried to do much in Albuquerque despite having a relatively good signal there. I don't recall it ever cracking the 1 share mark there during its days as an oldies station. It was also focused on Santa Fe and Los Alamos. KABG did some serious damage to KZKL really quickly, though. 101.7 had an okay signal in most of Albuquerque proper, but you didn't have to get too far out of town before it was gone. Pretty sure it's been a class A its entire existence, and the coverage maps on Radio Locator are extremely generous.
105.9 was also a country rival of KRST. Q106 actually went country a year or two before 103.3 as "Kolt 106" after being sold in '91. Even with CHR having the problems it was having in the early 90's, that format change surprised a lot of people. 103.3 went country as KASY after being Spanish language KIDI for roughly a couple of years. Ramar bought KIDI from the Guadalajara Chili Pepper Company and flipped it immediately. KASY and Kolt 106 were more rivals with each other than they were with KRST. Neither did much damage to 92.3. In '91, there was also another country station in KUCU 107.1, which replaced KMYI. I'm thinking KOLT 106 took it over and flipped it to smooth jazz as KNUA after a brief run as classic country "K-107." Unfortunately, KNUA suffered transmitter damage a few weeks after signing on, and the LMA was off. Ultimately, KUCU/KNUA got sold to KLYT, which took it religious. Shortly afterward, Crescent Communications bought out Commonwealth, which owned KRST, and bought KOLT-FM as well.
Sounds about right. The Peak was KHTZ "K-Hits 100.3," which played "The Greatest Hits of the 70's, for a couple of years under Bengal Communications, which owned it and KTEG 107.9. 100.3 was some derivative of easy listening, as KPAR and KKJY "K-Joy," for a few decades before launching as KHTZ in the Summer of '94. Trumper bought Bengal after the Telecom Act passed. Then, it turned around and bought KZRR/KZSS and KLSK from Sinclair.
I'm not sure when KBAC launched as "Radio Free Santa Fe." I believe, when it actually signed on in the 80's, it ran SMN's "The Wave" and flipped to AAA when SMN dumped the Wave. During and shortly after the Wave era, KBAC could be heard in Albuquerque on a translator at 105.5. I'm not sure if that translator relocated when KQRI moved in from Grants or if it just went off-air. Of course, KBAC relocated to 104.1 in the early 2000's while 98.1 became classic rock KLSK as "The Eagle." That didn't last too long. 104.1 did its own version of AAA, which also didn't last long, while Radio Free Santa Fe moved back to 98.1. KBAC covers a ton of real estate, but nobody lives there. That was one of the only FM's I could get in Santa Rosa when I last drove to Albuquerque in '05.
The FCC records for 102.5 actually go back a long way. The first construction permit was granted in 1985 and the date on the first application is from 1982 so apparently it took a really long time to get on the air since the first license application was filed in August 1994 when the KIOT call letters were transferred from an Espanola station. They might have started with some kind of AAA format but it was sold within a year and changed to classic rock and has done pretty well for nearly its entire existence. The other three were filed in the late 80s.
I remember there were a lot more country stations in the 90s. The one on 107.1 I don't seem to recall. It looks like KRST was able to eliminate their competitors by 1996 with 103.3 going classic country and 105.9 going Spanish at about the same time. There might have still been others but KRST may have been the only new country station by the end of the decade until the launch of KBQI. 101.7 is limited mostly to the metro area today. It still has an OK signal in town. 106.7 probably served Santa Fe where Kool 102 could not be heard. But KABG serves both areas and Bobby Box might have played a big role in their success too.
The 105.5 translator was K288CX and after a decade since it was ousted by KQRI it moved to 107.5 K298BY and ran KIVA for a about year and then has aired the HD2 channel from KANW with news and information from NPR and BBC. It was likely also downgraded since 105.5 seemed to have had a better signal. KBAC was also on 95.9 until March 2006 as stated here: https://alibi.com/news/14443/Albuquerque-Free-of-Radio-Free-Santa-Fe.html It also mentions a 10th anniversary and I think they celebrated a 20th in 2016 so that would put the beginning at about 1996. But the format I'm sure did go back further. Also Clear Channel claimed they were going to upgrade 98.1 but that of course never happened. AAA is one format you might hear elsewhere that is absent in Albuquerque with all its signals. It seems to take a bit of time to catch on but no one has ever had the patience to make it work. But since the translator upgrade in 2013, the KBAC signal gets disrupted by the country station only few miles out of Santa Fe down I-25. Out in the Edgewood area there is mostly static with the two signals clashing. So yes it does cover a mostly unpopulated area wherever it can be heard outside Santa Fe.
I remember there were a lot more country stations in the 90s. The one on 107.1 I don't seem to recall. It looks like KRST was able to eliminate their competitors by 1996 with 103.3 going classic country and 105.9 going Spanish at about the same time. There might have still been others but KRST may have been the only new country station by the end of the decade until the launch of KBQI. 101.7 is limited mostly to the metro area today. It still has an OK signal in town. 106.7 probably served Santa Fe where Kool 102 could not be heard. But KABG serves both areas and Bobby Box might have played a big role in their success too.
The 105.5 translator was K288CX and after a decade since it was ousted by KQRI it moved to 107.5 K298BY and ran KIVA for a about year and then has aired the HD2 channel from KANW with news and information from NPR and BBC. It was likely also downgraded since 105.5 seemed to have had a better signal. KBAC was also on 95.9 until March 2006 as stated here: https://alibi.com/news/14443/Albuquerque-Free-of-Radio-Free-Santa-Fe.html It also mentions a 10th anniversary and I think they celebrated a 20th in 2016 so that would put the beginning at about 1996. But the format I'm sure did go back further. Also Clear Channel claimed they were going to upgrade 98.1 but that of course never happened. AAA is one format you might hear elsewhere that is absent in Albuquerque with all its signals. It seems to take a bit of time to catch on but no one has ever had the patience to make it work. But since the translator upgrade in 2013, the KBAC signal gets disrupted by the country station only few miles out of Santa Fe down I-25. Out in the Edgewood area there is mostly static with the two signals clashing. So yes it does cover a mostly unpopulated area wherever it can be heard outside Santa Fe.
I'd give props to KUNM for featuring programs for so many different music genres not often heard on broadcast radio. Even if I don't listen to the majority of their programming they have something that covers just about any taste during the week! Thursday nights are excellent with reggae for 3 hours and then a great electronic music show that usually segues into reggae dub house at the start then into ambient to more up tempo tracks finishing the show. They also play folk and Americana on Saturday mornings to start the weekend and jazz at lunchtime during the week and of course the NPR shows in the morning and evening. If you want blues, world, Latin, urban, alternative, deep classic rock or even metal, they got a show for that too! Since KANW mostly serves the Hispanic community, KUNM is basically the non-com for everyone else. The biggest negative for this market is that the rest of the non-coms are all religious. Six class C FMs are owned by conservative protestant groups not to mention the AMs and translators. Does this reflect the local population? Not really. Data that I have seen shows that of those who are religious here more than half are Catholic. Plus it is suggested that about half the local population is not religious. So you have too many stations going to a small portion of the population.
Through the noon hour, it is a pretty traditional NPR station, and definitely not particularly Hispanic focused any more than NPR shows are anywhere else.
Morning is where most of the listening is.
The "New Mexico Music" segments get some listening... not bad numbers for a really fragmented market... but it's still a niche group and has a really low cume in afternoons and evenings.
Half the population as a primary target is "a small portion"?
Only one station airs Catholic programming. Evangelicals are only about 11% percent of the metro population according to this: http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/rcms2010a.asp?U=10740&T=metro&S=name&Y=2010 So that would be quite small if those other stations are mostly targeting that group.
Heard En Fuego on 840 AM tonight in Laramie, Wy.. fairly clear for 2 or 3 minutes
Stations like EMF's K-Love are not just for Evangelicals... the format is for Christians of all denominations who look for a music format that fits their lifestyle.
There are stations that fit each part of the Christian spectrum, so the potential audience certainly supports their sustainability.
This is how KJFA 840, the AM side of "En Fuego 102.9" sounds 450 miles away in Laramie, WY at night sometimes. This was recorded Thursday september 12, 2019 at 8:25pm mountain.
Here's the audio:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1epNtfK5lSmRHKEZWXNDP1RDlmBEZG0LT/view?usp=sharing
That's a fairly good 30 watts, if that's what they're really running.. and I'd be pretty sure that is what they're running.. 1800 Watts would make it here better and more often.
Here's the audio:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1epNtfK5lSmRHKEZWXNDP1RDlmBEZG0LT/view?usp=sharing
That's a fairly good 30 watts, if that's what they're really running.. and I'd be pretty sure that is what they're running.. 1800 Watts would make it here better and more often.
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