KCSF (1300 AM, "Xtra Sports 1300") is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

serving the

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

area with a

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

format. It is under ownership of

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

. The station features

Infinity Sports Network Infinity Sports Network is an American sports radio network. It debuted as CBS Sports Radio with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013. Infinity Sports Network is programmed by Audacy, In ...

, as well as Dan Patrick from

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. The Avalanche compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Con ...

, and

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC is a professional Association football, soccer team based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 2014, the team is a member of the Western Conference (USL Championship), Western Conference in the USL Champions ...

History

Early years

On September 22, 1922, Colorado Springs' first commercial radio station, KFUM ("Known For Unsurpassed Mountain scenery"), was licensed. Its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

changed to KVOR ("Voice of the Rockies") when the station was purchased by the Reynolds Radio Co., founded by

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

radio pioneer Dr. William "Doc" Reynolds. As of 1933, the studio and transmitter were both located at th
Mining Exchange Building
During the

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

, KVOR was a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate, airing its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports,

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

s and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

broadcasts. It broadcast on 1270

kilocycle The cycle per second is a once-common English name for the unit of frequency now known as the ''hertz'' (Hz). Cycles per second may be denoted by c.p.s., c/s, or, ambiguously, just "cycles" (Cyc., Cy., C, or c). The term comes from repetitive ph ...

s, at 1,000 watts of power, with studios in the Antlers Hotel. In the 1940s, it moved to 1300 kHz. In 1960, it added an FM

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

, KVOR-FM (now

KKPK KKPK (92.9 MHz "92.9 Peak FM") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Colorado Springs, Colorado and serving the Colorado Springs and Pueblo metropolitan areas. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs an adult contemporary music radio for ...

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

ing the AM station's programming. In 1968, KVOR received permission from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

to boost its daytime power to 5,000 watts.

Middle of the road

In the 1960s, as network programming shifted to television, KVOR switched to a middle of the road format of popular music, news and sports, still as a CBS affiliate. By the 1980s, as music listening switched to FM, KVOR began adding talk programming to its line up, using

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's Talknet service at night.

Switch to talk

By 1984, KVOR had completed the switch to all-talk programming, with its FM station moving to an

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

format as KSPZ, "Z93". KVOR picked up talk shows from the ABC TalkRadio network and added

ABC Radio News ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five-minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-p ...

, replacing CBS as its network.Broadcasting Yearbook 1984 page B41
/ref> In 1996, KVOR and KSPZ (now

) were acquired by Triathlon Broadcasting of Colorado Springs, which also owned KVUU and KSSS (later KTWK). During this time, advertising time on these stations was controlled by Citadel Broadcasting through a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

(LMA), while the actual broadcast operations were under the control of Triathlon.

Citadel Broadcasting ownership

In 1999, Citadel Broadcasting fully acquired KVOR, KSPZ and KTWK by exchanging KKLI with Triathlon (now merged with iHeartMedia, Inc.), thus ending the LMA. In March 2000, KVOR switched frequencies with then-KTWK on AM 740. The format became Classic country in December 2000, when the station changed calls to KUBL (standing for 'The Bull'). The station adopted a progressive talk format in 2002, and adopted the call letters KBZC, calling itself 'The Buzz 1300'.

Switch to sports

In 2004, the format changed again to a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

format, calling itself "Sports Animal 1300" and adopting the call letters KKML. The station signed on as an affiliate of

then signed on with

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

in 2007.

Return to classic country

In July 2008,

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company founded and developed by Larry Wilson. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the count ...

abandoned the sports format in favor of a 'Classic Country' format as "KCS 1300 AM" to complement its sister Mainstream Country station

KATC-FM KATC-FM (95.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The station has been broadcasting a country music format since 2006 and its on-air moniker is "Cat Country 95.1". The station is owned and operated by Cumulus Media ...

and to pay homage to the former "KCS Country" station (see KCS History). This format change also brought

Don Imus John Donald Imus Jr. ( ; July 23, 1940 – December 27, 2019), also known as Imus, was an American radio personality, television show host, recording artist, and author. His radio show '' Imus in the Morning'' was aired on various stations and di ...

into the Colorado Springs Market, and used Jones Radio Networks Classic Country Satellite Programming as its lineup. The Jones format was changed in mid-2009 to Citadel Media's in-house

Real Country Real Country is a 24-hour radio format produced by Westwood One. Real Country is marketed at the demographic of men aged 35 to 64. Its programming consists of a fairly broad playlist of "Today's Stars and the Legends." Classic country is the ...

format, featuring a mix of classic country and country currents.

Return to sports/Cumulus ownership

The most recent change of 1300's format back to

took effect on November 5, 2009, with returning 'Sports Animal 1300' to Colorado Springs. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.

KCS history

KKCS-FM went on the air in Colorado Springs on September 12, 1979, broadcasting a country music format. The station was known as "The Most Country KCS 102". KKCS remained a major competitor in the market for country until purchased by Bustos Media in 2005. After being purchased, KKCS moved frequencies from 101.9 FM to 104.5 FM (taking that frequency from Canon City, Colorado country station KSTY). With the 104.5 transmitter being located in Canon City, the signal of KCS was severely limited to Colorado Springs. In 2006, the station let go of all personnel and played all music before going dark in 2007. The country format on that frequency has since returned to Canon City with KSTY.

References

External links

* * ( Guide to reading History Cards) * {{Cumulus Media CSF Sports radio stations in the United States Cumulus Media radio stations Radio stations established in 1979 1979 establishments in Colorado Infinity Sports Network stations