KBNO (1280 AM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

broadcasting a

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mex ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

Licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, it serves the

Denver metropolitan area Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U.S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six central counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. The Denver ...

. The station is currently owned by Latino Communications, LLC. It uses the moniker "Que Bueno" (How Good). Programming is also heard in Denver and its adjacent communities on FM translator station 97.7 K249EX.

History

On May 16, 1948, the station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...

the air as KTLN on 990 kHz. It was owned by

Alfred M. Landon Alfred Mossman Landon (September 9, 1887October 12, 1987) was an American oilman and politician who served as the 26th governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 1936 presidential e ...

, former governor of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

and one-time Republican presidential candidate. It moved to 1150 kHz in 1951. It moved to its current 1280 frequency in 1954. On July 1, 1969, the call letters were changed to KTLK for "K-Talk." KTLK began with a mix of youth oriented telephone talk and top 40 music, eventually dropping the talk to take on top-rated top 40 station

KIMN KIMN (100.3 FM) is a commercial radio station in Denver, Colorado. The station is owned by Stan Kroenke's KSE Radio Ventures and airs a Hot AC radio format. Studios and offices are located on Colorado Boulevard in Glendale, and the transmitter ...

. KTLK evolved to a disco format in the late 1970s before changing to country KBRQ ("K-Bar-Q") in 1981. The station joined in a long-term

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/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, simult ...

with then-

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 ...

KBRQ (including its flip to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as wel ...

in 1987), which would last until August 1, 1996. At that time, AM 1280 flipped to a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format as "Ralph 1280" (which would later be renamed "1280 The X"). On March 21, 1999, the station returned to a simulcast with now- KXKL. Two months later, 1280 became the third home of Denver's heritage classical station

KVOD KVOD (88.1 MHz) is a public radio station broadcasting a classical music format. Licensed to Lakewood, Colorado, it serves the Denver metropolitan area. The station is owned by Public Broadcasting Of Colorado. Its programming is broadcast ...

. In September 2000, Latino Communications, owned by Zee Ferrufino, bought KVOD from Clear Channel for a reported $3.3 million. Ferrufino announced plans to rename the station to KBNO (which was formerly on 1220 AM), and said that he planned to rehire numerous former KBNO personalities to play what he called "Mexican regional music," among other styles. The following month,

Colorado Public Radio Colorado Public Radio (CPR) is a public radio state network based in Denver, Colorado that broadcasts three services: news, classical music and Indie 102.3, which plays adult album alternative music. CPR airs its programming on 15 full-power s ...

acquired the KVOD intellectual properties, call letters and music library (the deal would be completed in March 2001). KVOD would cease independent operations after 43 years on December 15, 2000."Radio Que Bueno returning with 5,000 watts of optimism", ''The Denver Post'', December 28, 2000. CPR then moved the classical format to 90.1 FM.

References

Original call letters and planned debut date

Date of call letter change to KTLK: July 1, 196

External links

FCC History Cards for KBNO
{{Denver Radio Mexican-American culture in Colorado BNO Regional Mexican radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1980