Santa Fe and Taos

[Mark Roberts]

he focus of this post is on the stations that reflect the distinctive nature of Santa Fe and Taos, where I recently spent some time.

Santa Fe likes to call itself the "city different". It's a pretentious phrase, but it's not entirely off the mark. The full-power class C FM stations from Albuquerque can be received; their city-grade contours just miss Santa Fe.

But Santa Fe is really its own market, with its own stations. There are stations licensed to Santa Fe that also cover Albuquerque. Since they are more mainstream in nature, I'm not covering them in this post. There are stations covering just Santa Fe and nearby areas. Those are the stations I cover in this post.

One such broadcaster, locally based, is Hutton. While it has an FM station that's aimed toward Albuquerque with a so-called rhythmic AC format, it has others targeted toward Santa Fe and nearby cities such as Las Vegas, Los Alamos, and Española.

One of Hutton's AMs, KTRC, features that rarest of radio formats, liberal talk. That matches the general political complexion of Santa Fe. Stale, bombastic right-wing talk typical of AM radio simply would not work in Santa Fe. Besides, a variant of that is available from KKOB, either on FM or its AM booster in Santa Fe. Santa Fe has a liberal tradition, and KTRC programs to the resulting audience.

The other Hutton AM, KVSF, is a repeater for ESPN sports programming. Both AMs have translators that cover the city moderately well.

On FM, Hutton has "Radio Free Santa Fe", KBAC, a AAA station. Such stations can be hard to classify, which is just fine since program directors' tendency to reduce their understanding of any station to formulaic format descriptions has not exactly helped radio in recent years. For KBAC, though, I think it can be said that the station veers toward the eclectic more than most AAA stations nowadays. Still, the occasional familiar rock tune makes it in. KBAC definitely isn't dogmatic about its music selection. There are local personalities during the day, and plenty of commercials for local businesses.

Another Hutton FM is KVSF-FM, which can be difficult to receive in Santa Fe. I was west of the Plaza in the center of the city and had a hard time receiving the station. It's a commercial all-jazz station, something even rarer than a liberal talk station.

Both KVSF-FM and KBAC are licensed to other cities...Pecos and Las Vegas, respectively...but have boosters licensed to Santa Fe. However, given difficult reception of KVSF-FM and the sometimes fragile reception of KBAC at certain locations, even in central Santa Fe, I have to wonder if they're operating. If they are, they don't seem to be effective.

Another local broadcaster, on a smaller scale, is KSWV, Qué Suave. Owned by the Gonzales family, the AM station primarily relies on its FM translator at 99.9. For years, it had featured New Mexico Spanish music but, currently, there's Spanish music from 9 to 11 am with the rest of the day being features or classic hits. The translator covers Santa Fe well. KSWV has a very local feel to its programming, even when it's running classic hits.

Classical music is provided by a non-profit foundation set up by the American General Media chain. KHFM actually originated in Albuquerque in 1954. When Citadel bought the frequency in 2001, it transferred the KHFM intellectual property to AGM, which put the classical programming on one of its Santa Fe signals (95.5).

The move weakened KHFM's presence in Albuquerque, causing the type of adverse public reaction found in cities where the classical format was lost altogether. But given Santa Fe's reputation as a center for the arts, Santa Fe may have been a more natural home for KHFM. Still, the arrangement seemed unusual, even with the attempts to demonstrate an arms-length relationship.

The KHFM license was transferred to the foundation in 2017 and began operating noncommercially, soliciting donations. The station is programmed locally, with local announcers, except for overnights. The station has translators in Roswell, Ruidoso, and Taos. The KHFM studios and offices are in Albuquerque.

Local radio news, once the primary domain of KVSF, is now handled by community station KSFR. KSFR was once at 90.7 but K-Love (as it's now known) worked out a swap, which enabled K-Love to move 90.7 to Albuquerque's Sandia Crest transmission site with a much stronger signal. KSFR got a stronger signal out of the deal as well, from a site west of Los Alamos, but reception can be patchy in parts of Santa Fe. While some KSFR programs are produced by volunteers, the station also carries "Democracy Now" and programs from PRX and the BBC. KSFR also airs Santa Fe city council meetings live. The station has a repeater at Questa, in the vicinity of Taos, but that repeater's signal misses Taos by a few miles.

(continued in next post)

 

[Mark Roberts]

I mentioned KKOB at the start of this post. The FM signal is certainly available in Santa Fe. Well before that simulcast started, KKOB(AM)'s nighttime directional pattern significantly weakened the AM station's coverage in Santa Fe. Thirty-nine years ago, KKOB was one of several AM stations with experimental authorization for synchronous boosters. KKOB's booster may be the only one still in operation. On previous trips to Santa Fe, I found that the booster worked well and actually gave KKOB a stronger nighttime signal in Santa Fe than the usual daytime signal.

All of that said, after the demolition of its longtime transmitter site and waiting for its new site to become available, KKOB is broadcasting from a temporary antenna with 1 kilowatt. There's no way that signal is going to reach Santa Fe. Yet, KKOB comes in quite well in Santa Fe. Hmmmm....

I ran a recording of KKOB(AM) one evening during my visit to see if I could detect any difference in reception at 8 pm, local sunset time. I couldn't detect any change. The only explanation I can think of is that the booster may be running full-time. I've seen no filings to that effect, but I have to keep in mind that the booster is still running under an experimental permit. (That's a long experiment.) Notification procedures could be more informal as a result. Cumulus seems to be a company that has taken regulatory compliance seriously, and has documented the ongoing situation with the main station in Albuquerque with the FCC. I don't want to leap to conclusions about the booster, but this what I observed: KKOB(AM) still has a good signal within Santa Fe.

Albuquerque's three public radio services are represented in Santa Fe, though one of them definitely needs improvement. The Albuquerque Public Schools' KANW and the University of New Mexico's KUNM both can be picked up in Santa Fe with good quality. Both stations also operate repeaters throughout northern and central New Mexico.

Because KANW broadcasts New Mexico Spanish music for most of the day, with NPR programming only in the morning, it operates a separate service called KANW-2. KANW-2 carries many NPR, PRX, and American Public Media programs on KANW's HD-2 channel, a translator in Albuquerque, another in Grants, and two full-power stations.

In Santa Fe, I suspect the KANW HD-2 channel is somewhat difficult to receive. I didn't bring along an HD-equipped radio on this trip, so I can't say for sure. There's no way the Albuquerque translator is going to be received in Santa Fe. There was a translator in Española that provided some coverage; that translator has been upgraded to a full-power station, KAQW. But, somehow, the signal seems worse now than it did when I was in Santa Fe three years ago, when the translator was still in use.

I did notice that the translator is still licensed, with a CP to move to 90.3 from 91.1 (where KAQW is now). That translator doesn't appear to be in operation currently. Nor is it identified along with the other two translators when those legal IDs are aired.

I heard a faint KANW-2 signal at 90.3, but I believe that was the other KANW-2 full-power repeater, KANM on Mt. Taylor, licensed to Grants. KANM has fringe coverage in Albuquerque (I heard it there three years ago) and apparently manages to waft in, weakly, every once in a while to Santa Fe.

KAQW is probably shadowed in Santa Fe by a ridge that's north of the city, about where the Santa Fe Opera is located. I asked KANW about the reception situation in Santa Fe; they said they were aware of it and were working on improvements. They didn't refer specifically to the 90.3 translator CP, but I think that would be the most likely change.

Back to the main KANW programming schedule: the station still airs classical music on Sunday mornings. The host is now Alan Pettit, who was a newsman at KOB radio for many years. It was good to hear his voice again on promos for the program.

On to Taos... (in the next post)

 

[Mark Roberts]

Seventy miles to the north-northeast of Santa Fe, Taos has a distinct radio environment of its own. The Taos area has a little more than a tenth of the population of the Santa Fe area, but remains a regional trade center as it has for centuries.

Albuquerque stations don't reach Taos. Of the Albuquerque public-radio networks, only KUNM has a repeater in Taos, KRRT, as well as a translator, probably for areas where KRRT doesn't cover well.

Even including KRRT (KUNM), public radio in Taos is not what you might expect elsewhere. KUNM airs Morning Edition and All Things Considered, but also "Democracy Now", "Native America Calling", and volunteer-hosted programs and blocks of "freeform" programming. The freeform programming pre-dates KUNM's time as an NPR member station, and there was controversy when KUNM started adding NPR programs to its schedule. But that's long in the past.

The other noncommercial station of note is KCEI, "Cultural Energy". While KCEI's offices are in central Taos, its transmitter site doesn't seem to be in a good location to reach the town. KCEI's signal in Taos is spotty at best. That was noticeable, even though I was listening just about two blocks away from the KCEI offices and studios. KCEI programming mostly comes from Pacifica, with an hour or so a day of local programming. It's probably as close as you can come to KPFA without actually being in Berkeley.

Up in the commercial part of the dial, there's KNCE, "True Taos Radio", with volunteer-run block programming. When a volunteer isn't available, automated alternative rock is played. Its studios are in an Airstream trailer near the Taos airport. Sounds like a listener-supported, noncommercial station like quite a few others, right?

Nope. It's commercial. And actually runs commercials. It also asks for financial support from listeners, but its website notes that those contributions are not tax-deductible. With changes in the tax laws in the past few years, not having tax-deductible status may be less important than it used to be, but I've not seen that twist on the community-broadcasting model before.

A somewhat more conventional operation is AAA KTAO, "K-Taos", which has been around since the 1970s. It was originally established by the Lee family, longtime owners of WXRT in Chicago, and its call letters once were KXRT. The station split off from WXRT in 1986 and became KTAO. KTAO is proud of its solar-powered transmitter installation on Picuris Peak, which it considers the world's largest. During KTAO's six-hour morning show, the host, Paddy Mac, mixes in music with service elements such as news, birthday announcements, and "Lost & Hound" lost-pet notices. There's also a Monday evening show, "Moccasin Wire", for the community at the Taos Pueblo, including contemporary and traditional Native music. The genre of contemporary Native American music is one that can be heard more often in New Mexico than in many other places; KUNM also has shows devoted to it.

KTAO also owns an adult-contemporary station, KLNN, "Luna", which is mostly automated. KLNN is licensed to Questa, but has a transltor for coverage in Taos. While adult-contemporary is a mainstream format, Luna seems to have an unusually wide-ranging playlist.

There is no talk station in Taos. The most likely candidate for such a thing might have been the lone AM station, KVOT, which also has an FM translator. But KVOT is programming contemporary Christian music, with the slogan "The Voice of Truth". It seems out of sync with the general atmosphere of Taos.

Mainstream choices are available as well, all locally based from LMNOC Broadcasting, including country and "regional Mexican" (and KVOT); the one LMNOC station I listened to for any length of time was classic-rock KTRZ.

Oddly, New Mexico Spanish music isn't available on over-the-air signals in the Taos area, though it's close to the heartland of the Spanish-American population. It's possible that KDCE(AM) from Española or even KNMX(AM) from Las Vegas could be picked up on a good AM receiver, but I didn't try AM radio while in Taos, since I was in the middle of town in a rustic, but still urban environment.

I think the most likely candidate for bringing the Spanish-music format to the Taos area would be Albuquerque's KANW, via a translator or repeater. But I don't know of any plans for that to happen in the near future.

If you've read this far, congratulations. Northern New Mexico has a unique culture and history. It requires explaining some context in order to understand it. That's why this piece was so long. The isolation and relatively small population of the region present challenges to broadcasters. I think it's interesting to see how they've met those challenges, especially when they haven't resorted to the same old played-out formulas that radio stations in any community are now struggling with. At least some New Mexico stations have tried to adapt to their communities, with results worth listening to and documenting.

 

[ted chittenden]

Thanks for your descriptions of the Santa Fe and Taos radio markets. I would only add three notes, not having visited there myself, and both having to do with Taos:

1) With the exception of KLNN, all of the stations, both AM and FM, in Taos stream;

2) KVOT did, in fact, run both liberal and conservative talk programming during the early 2000s before going Christian contempory;

3) The most likely candidate to play New Mexico music is KXMT at 99.1 mHz. It's licensed to Taos but its transmitter is 40 miles to the north. (In fact, it's possible that the transmitter is actually located in southern Colorado.) The current format listed for that station is regional Mexican music [I don't know the flavor, I'm sorry to say] but it wouldn't surprise me if I learned that it also aired some New Mexico spanish music from time to time.

Also, I'm curious if it was possible with a good antenna to pick up Colorado's KRZA, licensed to Alamosa at 88.7 mHz but with its transmitter a good deal away south and west of that town (in fact, I think KRZA's transmitter is located at the same site as KXMT's transmitter but with a little less power.) Anyway, I've seen this public radio station's being listed as a good DX catch in Taos and I'd like to read your response to that.

Anyway, thanks again for providing current radio listening information for both of these markets.

 

[K6JHU]

KHFM (Classical) has a translator in Taos.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Thanks for your descriptions of the Santa Fe and Taos radio markets.

Thanks for reading, Ted! It took me two days to write that thing; it was a hard piece to start.

2) KVOT did, in fact, run both liberal and conservative talk programming during the early 2000s before going Christian contempory;

Yes, that's true (this isn't the first time I've been to Taos) but I was focusing on the present-day situation.

3) The most likely candidate to play New Mexico music is KXMT at 99.1 mHz. It's licensed to Taos but its transmitter is 40 miles to the north. (In fact, it's possible that the transmitter is actually located in southern Colorado.)

It's on San Antonio Mountain, which is barely in New Mexico.

The current format listed for that station is regional Mexican music [I don't know the flavor, I'm sorry to say] but it wouldn't surprise me if I learned that it also aired some New Mexico spanish music from time to time.

LMNOC is heavily into automated formats and I think Spanish music is a format that needs some personality behind it. Taos and Taos County have had more outside influences for a longer period of time than Rio Arriba County, too.

Also, I'm curious if it was possible with a good antenna to pick up Colorado's KRZA, licensed to Alamosa at 88.7 mHz but with its transmitter a good deal away south and west of that town (in fact, I think KRZA's transmitter is located at the same site as KXMT's transmitter but with a little less power.) Anyway, I've seen this public radio station's being listed as a good DX catch in Taos and I'd like to read your response to that.

I had my Qodosen DX-286 with me, which, as you probably know, is an excellent receiver. So I had some advantage, comparable to how a good car radio would perform. The KRZA signal was there but I suspect it wouldn't have been as listenable on a lesser-quality receiver. I left it out of the piece because it programs primarily to southern Colorado. You may not be able to read the KRZA programming grid on its website, or your screen reader may be scrambling it, but I'll say that it's similar to KUNM: Morning Edition, Democracy Now, All Things Considered, with various national and local volunteer-hosted programs filling out the schedule. One thing that's different is that KRZA runs Classical 24 overnights. It also runs a few Colorado-specific programs, including Colorado Public Radio's "Colorado Matters" at 1 pm weekdays. (CPR News runs it at 9 am). I didn't realize that CPR syndicates "Colorado Matters" to any other station, but I guess it does! "Colorado Playlist" is another show that other Colorado public stations carry.

To make a long story short, KRZA certainly covers that part of New Mexico, but seems more oriented toward Colorado. Taos listeners have a similar public radio option in KRRT (KUNM), one that's based in New Mexico. But you might not be able to get KRRT in, say, Tierra Amarilla, so KRZA could be a very viable choice there.

 

[Mark Roberts]

KHFM (Classical) has a translator in Taos.

Which I mentioned in part 1. Its coverage in central Taos was so-so at best; rather noisy in stereo.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

KTRC 1260 is heard often at night here in SE WY