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80s on 93.7 KRKE

A

AbqAnonymous

The Regional Mexican simulcast from 106.3 has now ended on translator K229CL 93.7 in Albuquerque after they established the recently built AM 1100 Peralta as the new source station. Now it is stunting with a dance loop of popular 80s hits with about 10 second samples with each song along with a brief mention of "noon Friday" so this will be going on all week. I found the stream here: KRKE

So, it looks like they will make another attempt at an all-80s format like they did several years ago when they operated the 94.5 translator. Of course, with KABG rating in the top 5 for much of the last two years after iHeart divested 104.7 it might make sense to try get a piece of that pie. However, the former KABQ 104.7 was a jukebox that only got about a 1.0 average and if recall the old "80s channel" did not do that well either. KABG has both personalities and contests and even KDRF now has Greg Beharrell so I wonder if this new format will also have personalities or other features rather than being an on-air Spotify playlist. I guess we'll find out soon enough. Interestingly Vanguard will have a classic hits station for the east mountains and an 80s hits station for Albuquerque. Maybe they could sell them as a combo.
 
"I guess we'll find out soon enough. Interestingly Vanguard will have a classic hits station for the east mountains and an 80s hits station for Albuquerque. Maybe they could sell them as a combo."

Actually, does, and has had for a while (1080 and 102.1 translator). They do, however, play oldies on the weekend.
 
So, it is the return of the eighties channel that was done previously. It launched at noon with an announcement from owner Don Davis recalling the last run from May 2014 until September 2015 and that there is still "a need for a station that plays nothing but the best music from the 1980s … the decade with the most memorable hits of music history." Then it launched with the predictable "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles followed by "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" by Journey, "Call Me Al" by Paul Simon, "Raspberry Beret" by Prince, "Gimme All Your Lovin'" by ZZ Top which should give a good idea of what they're doing. The article here: The 80s Channel Returns In Albuquerque - RadioInsight also mentions "The new “Eighties Channel” on KRKE will feature an hourly “Forgotten 45s” feature as well as a Saturday night New Wave/Classic Alternative show hosted by former KROQ Los Angeles personality Freddy Snakeskin." So that could be interesting on Saturday nights. The first "eighties channel" actually did that most of the time while this one is mainly KABG without the 70s.

So now the newly built AM is up and running (although I did not really pick up anything on 1100 AM) with its own format feeding 93.7 that they can now sell. It's also a totally new addition to this already crowded market. We'll see how it does against KABG and maybe KDRF in the coming months.
 
When I checked out the 1100 signal when it was first up and running, I could not get it on my car radio any further north than Rio Bravo.
 
It's run by our own K.M. Richards. Best luck to him!
 
K.M. Richards is a true genius. My genius was in keeping our friendship alive and well and having K.M. singlehandedly create and manage programming The Eighties Channel. K.M. has full remote access of the on-air automation and our file management system. He generates the daily music log and is constantly coming up with format tweaks to bring the format home. I would have done the format when I bought 101.3, but at the time IHeart was still running 104.7. It's a great run!
 
Don, it's great to have you here. I still love 103.7 The Oasis, even 1100 miles away in WA state. Hard to believe it has been just over *eleven* years since that station launched! As always, keep up the good work. BTW, Jeff Young is a great morning host. No-frills, more music, less talk.

*back to the topic at hand...
 
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