RGV Radio in the early 80's

[radiodog2]

Just curious if anyone remembers what RGV radio was like in the early 80's, particularly FM Radio? Things like what format was on what frequency and what call letters those stations had.

 

[fredcantu]

This is all based on the best of my recollection
There weren't that many FMs on the air at the time.
94.5 KELT was doing country as K-Frog
96.1 KIWW was riding the rising Tejano tide
96.9 KVMV was doing the same Christian music format it's doing today
98.5 KQXX was still easy listening (IIRC) but would go country when 94.5 goes rock
99.5 KRIX automated rock sister of top 40 KRIO
100.3 KDUV Easy listening went country K-Tex in 1983?
104.1 KBFM KB104 Top 40
105.5 KTJX Tejano/Country/Pop hybrid targetting younger Tejano fans
107.9 KVLY had just given up beautiful music as KESI in favor of AC.
BTW-- 105.5 was a partial market signal, a class A licensed to Mission. And 99.5 was 100kw but had it's tower in Brownsville back then, so it struggled to reach the upper valley. All the others were full market signals.

 

[radiodog2]

This is all based on the best of my recollection
There weren't that many FMs on the air at the time.
94.5 KELT was doing country as K-Frog
96.1 KIWW was riding the rising Tejano tide
96.9 KVMV was doing the same Christian music format it's doing today
98.5 KQXX was still easy listening (IIRC) but would go country when 94.5 goes rock
99.5 KRIX automated rock sister of top 40 KRIO
100.3 KDUV Easy listening went country K-Tex in 1983?
104.1 KBFM KB104 Top 40
105.5 KTJX Tejano/Country/Pop hybrid targetting younger Tejano fans
107.9 KVLY had just given up beautiful music as KESI in favor of AC.


BTW-- 105.5 was a partial market signal, a class A licensed to Mission. And 99.5 was 100kw but had it's tower in Brownsville back then, so it struggled to reach the upper valley. All the others were full market signals.

Thanks Fred. Although I could have sworn sometime in the mid to late 80's that 94.5 was some sort of AC formatted station called K-Lite . I also remember that K-Frog came after the K-Lite format sometime around 91 or 92. Also did KDUV have a moniker like Dove or K-Dove something similar?

 

[Kent]

Thanks Fred. Although I could have sworn sometime in the mid to late 80's that 94.5 was some sort of AC formatted station called K-Lite . I also remember that K-Frog came after the K-Lite format sometime around 91 or 92. Also did KDUV have a moniker like Dove or K-Dove something similar?

You're both right. While I'm not sure about the moniker it used, KELT was country in 1980 and eventually switched to AC as "K-Lite." In '92, it went country as KFRQ "K-Frog 94.5" and ran that format for about three years before giving way to rock Q-94.5. K-Frog may very well have been an attempt to go back to the future, though the name was pretty much unheard of in the early 80's. It became popular when KQLH "Lite Hits Q-95.1" in Riverside, CA became KFRG in either '89 or '90.

 

[fredcantu]

I recall KQXX 98.5 being easy listening with an excellent evening Spanish easy listening program.
They went country after 94.5 dropped country.

I also recall the early days of XHMLS "La Chica Musical" in Matamoros. The station played nothing but easy listening instrumentals from "El Organo Melodico de Juan Torres." They apparently were a free Muzak service because they were only on the air from 8am to 8pm. I recall them being on 98.1 and when KQXX upgraded they moved to 101.5. Now they're Spanish Top 40 "Exa FM" on 91.3. Sorry I can't give you a time line on the changes.

 

[fredcantu]

Another KQXX footnote. IIRC 98.5 really came alive in the early 1980s when it went up on about the 1,000-foot level of KVEO-TV's 1,500-foot tower.

 

[radiodog2]

I recall KQXX 98.5 being easy listening with an excellent evening Spanish easy listening program.
They went country after 94.5 dropped country.

I also recall the early days of XHMLS "La Chica Musical" in Matamoros. The station played nothing but easy listening instrumentals from "El Organo Melodico de Juan Torres." They apparently were a free Muzak service because they were only on the air from 8am to 8pm. I recall them being on 98.1 and when KQXX upgraded they moved to 101.5. Now they're Spanish Top 40 "Exa FM" on 91.3. Sorry I can't give you a time line on the changes.

Thank you for all this great info. It is really cool to look back and see how different RGV radio was back then and how all the RGV FM's have evolved to now.