KABQ-FM

KABQ-FM

City of license	Bosque Farms, New Mexico
Broadcast area	Albuquerque and central New Mexico
Branding	"The New 104.7"
Slogan	Albuquerque's Classic Country
Frequency	104.7 (MHz) (also on HD Radio) 104.7 HD-2 for Adult Album Alternative
First air date	1985
Format	Classic Country
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	257 meters (844 feet)
Class	C1
Facility ID	65704
Transmitter coordinates	34°46′12″N 106°51′42″W
Callsign meaning	AlBuQerque
Former callsigns	KTEG (2000-2007) KEXT (1995-2000) KMXQ (1987-1995) KHBN (1985-1987)
Owner	Clear Channel Communications (Aloha Station Trust, LLC)
Sister stations	KABQ, KBQI, KPEK, KSYU, KTEG, KZRR
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	classiccountry1047.com

KABQ-FM (104.7 FM, "The New 104.7") is a radio station broadcasting a Classic Country format. Licensed to the suburb of Bosque Farms, New Mexico, it serves the Albuquerque metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1985 under the call sign KHBN. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications.

History

104.7 history

This station originated in the Socorro area. It was first assigned the KHBN call sign on January 9, 1985. On October 5, 1987 the call sign was then changed to KMXQ and had a country music format which still airs in Socorro on 92.9 FM. By 1995, it had changed its license to Bosque Farms and moved into the Albuquerque market and on March 6, 1995 the call sign was again changed to KEXT with a Regional Mexican format as "Radio Exitos". KEXT was owned by Contenental Communications and was sold to Clear Channel in early 2000 along with AM stations KXKS 1190 (which they later sold) and KABQ 1350.

KTEG "The Edge"

Main article: KTEG

KTEG logo 2000-2007

On July 25, 2000 the KTEG call sign and Modern rock format that had been launched on 107.9 FM (now KBQI) was moved to 104.7 FM to replace KEXT. In this era of "The Edge", the station started playing heavier rock music from bands that it had not previously played including Metallica and Pantera while dropping bands such as U2 and No Doubt that were frequently heard on the previous frequency. On December 13, 2007, the KTEG call sign and Modern rock format was again moved to 104.1 FM and the KABQ-FM call sign and Smooth Jazz format was moved to 104.7 FM.

Smooth Jazz 104.7

KABQ logo from 12/07-05/09

A new format playing smooth jazz music programmed by satellite from Broadcast Architecture had launched on September 29, 2006 on 104.1 FM. On December 13, 2007, the station relocated from 104.1 FM to 104.7, a weaker signal in the Albuquerque market. The format lasted until May 2, 2009.

KABQ-FM history

When the KABQ-FM call sign was originally assigned to 104.1 FM on December 15, 2003, the format was Adult Album Alternative called "World Class Rock". In February 2005 it changed to Hispanic rhythmic as "Mega 104.1". On September 29, 2006, the format was changed to the Smooth Jazz format which was later moved to 104.7 FM along with the KABQ-FM call sign.

The callsign KABQ has also been used by its AM sister station 1350 for several decades.

Smooth Jazz radio in Albuquerque/Santa Fe

The first station in Albuquerque to adopt the smooth jazz format was KRZN-FM 101.3 "The Horizon" in 1994, launched just weeks before the areas' long time easy listening station KKJY-FM "K-Joy" switched to a classic hits format. In 1997, KRZN would move to 105.1 making the format available in Santa Fe, but after two years it would switch to a top 40 format, leaving the market without a smooth jazz outlet much to the dismay of its fans. However on Christmas Day 2000, The Horizon would return to the airwaves on 101.3 and would once again get another shot on 105.1 in late 2001 and changing its callsign to KAJZ-FM. But by 2004 it would be dropped to the weaker 101.7 frequency and would be cut back to just two personalities and running a mostly automated format before it was axed. Ever since Univision's former smooth jazz station KAJZ (101.7 FM, now known as KQBT) changed to a rhythmic oldies (now Sports talk) format in October 2005, the Albuquerque market was left without a smooth jazz radio station for about a year. American General Media intended on launching a smooth jazz station on 106.7 FM KZNM (now KDLW), however, they were beaten to the market by Clear Channel. American General Media had briefly run a smooth jazz format on KBOM-FM 94.7 in Santa Fe in 2004-2005 a few months after KAJZ moved to 101.7 which only covers Albuquerque.

In April 2005, Clear Channel launched a smooth jazz station for the Santa Fe market on KSFQ (now KQLV) 101.1 FM. KSFQ has been since been sold to the Educational Media Foundation. KSFQ covers much less of the Albuquerque market than KABQ, and is intended to be a station solely for the Santa Fe market. After Clear Channel went private in November 2006, they intended on selling all radio stations outside of the top 100 Arbitron markets, including KSFQ. KSFR-FM (owned by the Santa Fe Community College) is currently simulcasting on their original 90.7 frequency and on KSFQ's 101.1 frequency. KSFQ will then broadcast on the 90.7 frequency, most likely under the K-Love religious network.

External links

• Smooth Jazz 104.7 - Official website
• BA website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KABQ
• Radio-Locator information on KABQ
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for KABQ