KQKZ (92.1 FM) 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 ...

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...

. It airs a

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

gold-based

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 Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

branded as "Retro 92.1" and is owned by

Lotus Communications Lotus Communications Corporation is a media company that owns numerous radio stations and a few TV stations, and is one of the largest privately owned radio station groups in the United States. Headquarters are located in Los Angeles, and the co ...

. Its studios and offices are on Commerce Drive in southwest Bakersfield near the

Kern River The Kern River is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between ...

. KQKZ is a Class A FM 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 4,200

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. Its

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 ...

is on Round Mountain Road in Choctaw Valley, northeast of Bakersfield.Radio-Locator.com/KQKZ-FM
/REF> KQKZ 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.

History

Classical, Concierto and Classic Hits

The station received its

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

in 1985, and

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

as KIWI in . In 1999, Lotus Communications acquired the station. The sale was consummated on August 24 of that year. KIWI was co-owned with KWAC

1490 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1490 kHz: 1490 AM is a Regional ( Class B) outside the coterminous 48 United States (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico & U.S. Virgin Islands), and a Local ( Class C) frequency within the cont ...

. For much of its early years, it played

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

.''Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1990'' page . Retrieved Dec. 10, 2025
/REF> On January 21, 2003, the station changed 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 ...

to KPSL-FM. Over the years, the station would become a

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

station with the ''Concierto'' branding. On September 8, 2011, KPSL-FM swapped call signs and formats with KVMX. With the format swap, it became a classic hits station branded as "The New 92-1 Max-FM".

Country and Classic Ranchera

On May 6, 2013, KVMX flipped to

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 ...

, branded as "KiX 92.1". During this time, KVMX carried

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

programming from

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It is th ...

. Mornings featured ''

The Bobby Bones Show ''The Bobby Bones Show'' is an American, nationally syndicated country music radio show aired during the morning hours. The Bobby Bones Show, which originally aired from Austin, Texas, now broadcasts from studios at WSIX-FM in Nashville. Premie ...

'' from

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Weekends included '' The Bobby Bones Country Top 30 Countdown'' on Sunday Morning. ''

American Country Countdown ''American Country Countdown'', also known as ''ACC'', is a weekly internationally syndicated radio program which counts down the top 30 country songs of the previous week, from No. 30 to No. 1, according to the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard ...

'' with

Kix Brooks Leon Eric Brooks III, better known by his stage name Kix Brooks (born May 12, 1955), is an American country music artist, actor, and film producer best known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn and host of radio's ''American Country Cou ...

was heard on Sunday evenings. The country format lasted for slightly over 3 years. On July 1, 2016, KVMX broke away from country programming and began simulcasting KCHJ 1010 AM. That included KCHJ's "El Gallito" branding and Classic

Ranchera music Ranchera () or canción ranchera is a genre of traditional music of Mexico. It dates to before the years of the Mexican Revolution. Rancheras today are played in the vast majority of regional Mexican music styles. Drawing on rural traditional fol ...

format. With the simulcast, Lotus changed the call sign to KCHJ-FM.

Rhythmic CHR

On July 5, 2019, published reports indicated KCHJ-FM would return to English language programming. In the report, a launch date of July 15 was stated, with the planned change of branding to ''Q92.1''. On July 11, Lotus confirmed the rumors, and formally announced the format change to

Rhythmic CHR Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 20, Rhythmic Top 30, Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and upbeat R&B hits. ...

, with the launch date later being pushed back to July 22, in order to allow more time to construct its social media and web pages. As part of the upcoming format change, the station's call sign became KQKZ on July 15. KQKZ officially flipped to the new format at 6:00 a.m. on July 22, with its present "Q92.1" branding, patterned after co-owned rhythmic station

KSEQ KSEQ (97.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Visalia, California, and broadcasting to the Central California communities of Fresno, California, Fresno, Hanford, California, Hanford ...

97.1 in Visalia. KQKZ also used KSEQ's on-air personalities in key dayparts, but included Bakersfield advertisements, news, traffic and weather.

Return to Classic Hits

On August 5, 2020, KQKZ suffered an external glitch, that resulted in the station playing classic hits music for nearly two hours. Normal programming was restored at 1:00 p.m. that day. Media watchdogs had suggested possible plans for the station to drop the rhythmic format after 13 months during the affected period. KQKZ had a mere 0.1 share in the June 2020 Nielsen Audio ratings. Shortly after normal programming resumed, the web link on KQKZ's social pages was changed to KSEQ's website. Nearly a month later, on September 2, the airstaff (voicetracking from KSEQ) said farewell to its Bakersfield listeners via Instagram in advance of the planned changes. At midnight on September 3, after playing "

Blinding Lights "Blinding Lights" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd, from his fourth studio album, '' After Hours'' (2020). The song was released through XO and Republic Records on November 29, 2019, as the album's second single. It is a synt ...

" by

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

, KQKZ flipped back to classic hits. It kept the "Q92.1" branding (with the glitch turning out to be a brief preview of the forthcoming change). The first song under the classic hits format was " Dance with Me" by Orleans. The format change marked a return of the format to the San Joaquin valley area, as KQKZ previously broadcast the format as KVMX from 2011 to 2013. On September 8, 2020, KQKZ welcomed new moring host Danny Spank, coming from 106.1

KRAB Krab or KRAB may refer to: * Krab (surname) * Crab stick, or krab, processed seafood * Russian submarine ''Krab'' * AHS Krab, a Polish 155 mm self-propelled howitzer * KRAB, a radio station in Greenacres, California, U.S. * KRAB, a former r ...

From classic to "Retro"

On April 1, 2024, KQKZ changed to a bilingual

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

-leaning

format. It is branded as "Retro FM 92.1". The change came as "Q92.1" failed to revive the station's ratings, leaving with a mere 0.7, barely an improvement from the previous format, in the February 2024 Nielsen Audio market ratings.KQKZ Moves to Bilingual Gold AC
/ref> The sound mirrors similar Spanish-English AC stations that have become popular since the launch of

WMIA-FM WMIA-FM (93.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to Miami Beach, Florida. Owned and operated by iHeartMedia, the station carries a Spanish-language format featuring a mixture of Latin pop and English-language adult contemporary hits. Its studios ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

WOEX WOEX (96.5 FM broadcasting, FM, "Hits 96.5") is a commercial broadcasting, commercial radio station in Orlando, Florida. It is owned by Cox Media Group and airs an bilingual adult contemporary radio format. WOEX's studios and offices are ...

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

and WZJZ

Fort Myers A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

have switched to the sound in the past year.

References

External links

Retro 92.1 Official website
* {{Lotus Communications Radio stations established in 1987 QKZ 1987 establishments in California Lotus Communications stations