KBMB
 | |
| Broadcast area | Phoenix, Arizona |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 710 kHz |
| Branding | José 710 AM |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Spanish |
| Format | Regional Mexican |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | November 23, 1981 |
Former call signs | KUET (1981-2003) KMIA (2003-2010) |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 63147 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 22,000 watts (day) 3,900 watts (night) |
Transmitter coordinates | 34°4′50″N 112°9′13″W / 34.08056°N 112.15361°W |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
KBMB (710 AM, "José 710 AM") is a radio station licensed to Black Canyon City, Arizona. Owned by Entravision Communications, it broadcasts norteño and ranchera music.
History
KUET went on the air November 23, 1981.[1] The first station for Black Canyon City, KUET broadcast a full-service format. The station, a 500-watt daytimer, was owned by the Black Canyon Broadcasting Company (William Ledbetter and John Gates) and had studios at Metrocenter. However, KUET struggled to find an audience in Phoenix, and on November 7, 1984, it went dark when Harris Corporation repossessed its transmission equipment.[2]
KUET's license was sold to Statewide Broadcasters, Inc., in 1985. Statewide set about the task of increasing KUET's power to 50,000 watts day and adding nighttime service. Statewide's application was put into comparative hearing with a bid from Tucson's KVOI to move from 690 to 700 kHz and increase its power, but KUET won out. However, KUET would remain off the air throughout the 1990s. The station was sold in 1997 to Z-Spanish Media Group. Z-Spanish claimed KUET's original 351-foot (107 m) towers, on federal land, were inadequate, and the group proposed to erect an array of seven 197-foot (60 m) towers in a move that drew local opposition. Residents gathered signatures to put the construction of the new towers to referendum.[3] While Yavapai County Superior Court ruled that no referendum was necessary in a win for Z-Spanish,[4] the Arizona Court of Appeals overturned the verdict and found that signatures gathered by circulators from outside Yavapai County were valid.[5] In the midst of the fighting, Z-Spanish was absorbed by Entravision Communications.
Ultimately, the 7-tower setup was approved, and on January 18, 2002, KUET received program test authority to begin broadcasting for the first time since 1984 as an English-language oldies station. The new KUET also became the carrier of Arizona State Sun Devils women's basketball and baseball in the fall of 2002 under a three-year deal.[6] However, on January 7, 2003, KUET became a Spanish oldies station with new KMIA call letters, and the ASU sports migrated elsewhere. Sports would return to KMIA in February 2006 when the station became a carrier of the new ESPN Deportes Radio network.
The station's transmitter was vandalized on March 4, 2006, when a person burned the steel support rods on four of the seven towers with a torch, causing them to crash to the ground.[7] The station had returned to the air by the end of March 2006, but at severely reduced power.[8] In 2007, another tower problem arose when the FCC fined KMIA for failing to maintain the lights on five towers.[9] KMIA became KBMB on July 9, 2010;[10] the call letters had previously belonged to an Entravision-owned FM outlet in Sacramento that became KHHM two weeks earlier.
In September 2019, with the looming shutdown of the ESPN Deportes Radio network, all Entravision-owned affiliates flipped to Jose—a format featuring norteño and ranchera music.[11]
References
- ^ Wilkinson, Bud (November 23, 1981). "Black Canyon City gets AM station". Arizona Republic. p. B15. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- ^ Wilkinson, Bud (December 12, 1984). "KLZI morning man to let contract lapse". Arizona Republic. p. 84. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- ^ "Community divided over radio towers". Arizona Republic. July 14, 1999. p. 3. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- ^ Whiting, Brent (November 20, 1999). "Tower foes face further troubles". Arizona Republic. p. 9. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- ^ Whiting, Brent (December 8, 2000). "Court gives static to radio station". Arizona Republic. p. 1. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- ^ "Sun Devils, KUET-AM strike radio deal". Arizona Republic. May 22, 2002. p. C7. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- ^ Brent Whiting (March 30, 2006). "Vandals bump Spanish station off the air; 4 radio towers toppled". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- ^ DX Listening Digest 6-055, edited by Glenn Hauser, worldofradio.com, March 31, 2006.
- ^ "KUET License Company LLC, Black Canyon City, AZ". Federal Communications Commission. July 25, 2007. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- ^ "KBMB Call Sign History". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
- ^ "Entravision Flips Its Six ESPN Deportes Affiliates". RadioInsight. September 3, 2019. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
External links
- Facility details for Facility ID KBMB ({{{2}}}) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- {{{2}}} in Nielsen Audio's AM station database