KBQI (107.9 FM, "Big I 107.9") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 ...

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. It carries a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. It carries two syndicated shows on weekdays, '' The Bobby Bones Show'' in morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

and '' After Midnite with Granger Smith'' overnight. The studios are on Masthead Street in northeast Albuquerque. KBQI is a Class C station with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 22,500

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

is atop Sandia Crest east of the city. KBQI broadcasts using

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

technology. It airs a classic country format on its HD-2

subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...

, "The Bull," which feeds

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

K251AU at 98.1 MHz.

History

KFMG

This station signed on the air on . The original

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 ...

was KFMG and it aired an album oriented rock (AOR) format programmed by Frank Felix. KFMG featured a tight

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player, either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs that can be played once or in a loop. ...

of about 250 titles, the most popular researched songs. Felix wanted to create a more mass appeal rock sound as proven by the success of 106.7 KBPI in

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 ...

. Rock programmer Carey Curelop later assumed program director duties. The station became the top rated station among its target audience. KFMG, branded as "Rock 108", continued to be one of Albuquerque's top rock stations for much of the 1980s. In May 1985, KFMG and its AM

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 ...

KAMX 1520 were sold to Coastal Communications for $2,125,000. By the end of the 1980s, KFMG experienced declining ratings falling further behind rival KZRR "94 Rock". In 1990, it faced a new competitor, KRBL 98.5 (now

KABG KABG (98.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Alamos, New Mexico, and serving the Santa Fe and Albuquerque radio markets. It is owned by American General Media and airs a classic hits radio format, playing Top 40 hits mostly ...

). KRBL edged past KFMG in the Fall 1990

Arbitron ratings Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

KAMX-FM

In early March 1991, KFMG flipped to a

hot adult contemporary 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, soul ...

format with most of the rock airstaff let go. With the switch to Hot AC, the station changed its call letters to KAMX-FM, branded as "Mix 107.9". Mix was not be a strong performer in the market. In June 1994, Coastal Communications sold KAMX-AM-FM to Bengal Communications for $750,000. Bengal also purchased

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

outlet KKJY 100.3 (now KPEK) for $1.5 million. On October 17, 1994, KAMX-FM began stunting with a gag format made up of

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

KTEG

On October 19 at 5pm, KAMX-FM switched to

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

. Meanwhile, KAMX 1520 discontinued its simulcast. A month later, the FM station's call letters changed to KTEG and it branded as "107.9 The Edge, Albuquerque's New Rock Alternative." The new format quickly improved ratings for the station, putting in the top 10 while becoming the leading rock station in the market for a while. In March 1996, Bengal sold KTEG, KDZZ 1520 and KHTZ 100.3 to Trumper Communications for $7.4 million. In June of that year, Trumper also purchased KZRR 94.1 and AM simulcast KZSS 610, along with

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

outlet KLSK 104.1. While KTEG's modern rock sound was unchanged, KZRR shifted to a mainstream rock format. In addition, Trumper flipped 100.3 to a

modern adult contemporary 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, soul ...

format. That consequentially created fragmentation in the alternative format.

KBQI

In August 1999, Trumper sold its the Albuquerque cluster (which now included 95.1 added earlier in the year). The buyer was

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

-based

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

and the price tag was $55.5 million. After entering the Albuquerque radio market, Clear Channel decided to challenge the top-rated station country station, 92.3

KRST KRST (92.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a country music radio format. The radio studios and offices are located in Downtown Albuquerqu ...

. It launched a new country sound on 107.9 FM. In July 2000, KTEG was moved to 104.7 (recently purchased from Continental Communications) to make way for a new station on 107.9 FM, KBQI. KBQI took its branding, ''"Big I 107-9"'', from the I-40 and

I-25 Interstate 25 (I-25), also known as the Pan-American Freeway, is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States. It is primarily a north–south highway, serving as the main route through New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. I-25 st ...

interchange near downtown Albuquerque that is locally known as "the

Big I The Big I is a freeway interchange where Interstate 25 and Interstate 40 intersect northeast of downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. Description The Big I is a complex stack interchange located in central Albuquerque, New Mexico. Th ...

". At the time of the station's launch, the "Big I" was at the start of a major reconstruction project which finished in May 2002. To kick off the country music format, former 92.3 KRST morning personalities Tony Lynn and Myles Copeland began hosting the morning shift on KBQI. This helped to make KBQI competitive with KRST, which had once dominated the country format in the Albuquerque market. Tony and Myles were the wake-up team for 11 years until they were let go in October 2011. They were replaced by the syndicated ''Bobby Bones Show'', which airs on most iHeart country stations.

HD Radio

In February 2006, the station began broadcasting in the

format. On its HD-2

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

, it launched a country variety sound. On June 21, 2013, the HD-2 subchannel started airing a classic country music format. The classic country sound began re-broadcasting on

K251AU at 98.1 FM.http://www.hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=70 HD Radio Guide for Albuquerque

Previous formats

References

External links

KBQI official website
* * {{coord, 35.212, N, 106.450, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Country radio stations in the United States BQI Radio stations established in 1979 1979 establishments in New Mexico IHeartMedia radio stations