KRZY (AM)
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KRZY (1450 AM) is a radio station licensed to
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 ...
, United States, serving the
Albuquerque metropolitan area The Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area, sometimes referred to as Tiguex (named after the Southern Tiwa), is a metropolitan area in central New Mexico centered on the city of Albuquerque. The metro comprises four counties: Bernalillo, Sa ...
. The station is owned by
Entravision Communications Entravision Communications Corporation is an American media company based in Santa Monica, California. Entravision primarily caters to the Spanish language in the United States, Spanish-speaking Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic community ...
. KRZY broadcasts a Spanish-language
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.


History


Early years as KLOS

On February 24, 1956, E. Boyd Whitney and D. K. McGregor, doing business as B and M Broadcasters, obtained a construction permit for a new radio station at 1450 kHz in Albuquerque, which would broadcast with 250 watts. ( Guide to reading History Cards) With a country music format, KLOS began broadcasting on May 9. Ownership shifted several times in the station's first few years on the air, and by 1960, the station was owned by Whitney and George Oliver.


Going KRZY

On August 2, 1964, Whitney and Oliver's KLOS—by this point airing
Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
—traded frequencies and facilities with KRZY, a country music station owned by Burroughs Broadcasting, a company owned by former governor
John Burroughs John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the conservation movement in the United States. The first of his essay collections was ''Wake-Robin'' in 1871. In the words of his bi ...
. For $50,500, Burroughs paid to move KRZY's programming from 1580 kHz to 1450 kHz, where it could broadcast at night; KLOS became a daytime-only station on 1580. In its first fall on 1450 kHz, KRZY got into a heated dispute over the rights to broadcast University of New Mexico football games. After KRZY had broadcast coverage of a game against the
University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...
, the UNM Board of Regents had awarded an exclusive three-year contract for Lobos football and basketball to KOB—a move KRZY contested, claiming that, as a public institution, the university could not award exclusive rights to cover games. Undeterred, station manager Ray Moran and a salesman traveled to Provo, where the Lobos would play the
BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the Big 12 C ...
. Moran and a salesman set up shop in a nearby motel, while the announcers—one wearing a BYU sweatshirt and sitting in the BYU student section—brought equipment, covered by a blanket, into the stadium and relayed their commentary using wireless microphones to the motel, where it was sent by telephone back to Albuquerque. In response, the university and KOB obtained an order against the station, blocking it from any further game broadcasts. Beyond the controversial football broadcasts, Burrough set out to improve the new KRZY. A new circular studio building was constructed at 2401 Quincy NE late in 1964, and a companion FM station,
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 ...
92.3, was launched the next year, from a transmitter atop
Sandia Crest Sandia Crest, also known locally as Sandia Peak or simply as the Crest, is a mountain ridge that, at , is the highpoint of the Sandia–Manzano Mountains, and is located in the Sandia Mountains of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United State ...
. While KRST changed formats to
album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...
in 1968, KRZY remained a country station throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, adding CBS Radio programming in 1974. By Burroughs's death in 1978, KRZY and KRST were his last remaining radio properties.


Ratings decline and sales

In 1980, at the height of the "
Urban Cowboy ''Urban Cowboy'' is a 1980 American romantic Western film directed by James Bridges. The plot concerns the love-hate relationship between Buford "Bud" Davis (John Travolta) and Sissy ( Debra Winger). The film's success was credited for spurri ...
" trend, Burroughs flipped KRST to country. KRZY differentiated itself from its FM sister by playing a more traditional mix of country music. KRZY's ratings steadily slid during the course of the decade, going from a 6.4 percent share of the market in 1980 to a 2.4 in 1987—even as KRST became one of the market's top radio stations. It was not until 1987, nearly a decade after the death of John Burroughs, that Burroughs Broadcasting sold KRZY and KRST to Wagontrain Communications, owner of the
Drake-Chenault Drake-Chenault Enterprises (originally American Independent Radio Inc.) was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake ...
syndication company, acquiring the pair for $5.25 million. Wagontrain owned the stations for a year, selling them for $8.1 million to Commonwealth Broadcasting of
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
in late 1988.


"The Sports Animal"

After 30 years of country music on 1450 AM, a new format launched on the frequency in 1994. The station became known as "Sports Radio 1450 AM" and added several new sports talk programs and
Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...
baseball. On July 1, the station went all-sports and adopted a now-familiar moniker in Albuquerque radio: "The Sports Animal". In addition to several local shows, KRZY was the Albuquerque home for ''
Imus in the Morning ''Imus in the Morning'' was a long-running radio show hosted by Don Imus. The show originated on June 2, 1968, on various stations in the Western United States and Cleveland, Ohio, before settling on WNBC radio in New York City in 1971. In Octo ...
'' and
Jim Rome James Phillip Rome (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports radio host. His talk show, '' The Jim Rome Show'', is syndicated by Westwood One. Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, California, Rome hosts ''The Jim Rome Show'' on r ...
; the station made an attempt to pursue UNM athletics rights, which were still held by KOB. Rapid consolidation in the broadcasting industry in the mid-1990s would see KRZY get several new owners. In 1995, Commonwealth sold its two Albuquerque stations and an FM outlet in the
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
market to Crescent Communications for $25.73 million. In 1996,
Citadel Communications Citadel Communications Ltd. was an American private broadcasting company. It was based in Bronxville, New York and most recently owned 1 low-power television station on which it operated a regional 24-hour cable news channel. The company wa ...
acquired Crescent's three New Mexico properties—KRZY, KRST, and KRZY-FM 105.9—in a $23 million transaction. For Citadel, the prize was KRST, which had become Albuquerque's top-rated and top-billing station in the 1990s. Citadel did not want or need KRZY-AM-FM, and it could not keep them, because KRST alone pushed the company past the eight-station limit in the Albuquerque market, and at least one FM needed to be divested.


Spanish-language era

Citadel's immediate spin-off of KRZY-AM-FM brought as its buyer EXCL Communications of California, marking its first purchase of broadcasting properties in the state of New Mexico. EXCL programmed exclusively Spanish-language stations and immediately announced plans to flip its purchases to Hispanic-oriented formats. Citadel retained the Sports Animal format and name and moved it to KHFN (1050 AM), which changed call letters to KNML, on October 9, 1996. When EXCL took over, KRZY AM became "Radio Tricolor", airing a
Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...
format. Entravision acquired EXCL in 2000. In 2002, Radio Tricolor moved to KRZY-FM, and KRZY AM took on a Spanish oldies format as "La Consentida". The 2002 format changes also brought with them more extensive use of satellite-fed formats from Entravision, replacing local DJs and news updates. The station then shifted to "Radio Visa", a talk-based format. In 2005, KRZY AM was one of five Entravision stations that adopted the then-new José format, a Spanish-language version of adult hits. "La Tricolor" returned to 1450 in November 2008, when the station swapped formats with KRZY-FM, and was replaced three years later with
ESPN Deportes Radio ESPN Deportes Radio was an American Spanish language sports radio network created and produced by Disney-owned ESPN. Programming included call-in talk shows and commentary from hosts about a full range of sporting events, including soccer, ...
, including Spanish-language play-by-play of UNM athletics. In September 2019, with the looming shutdown of the ESPN Deportes Radio network, all six of its Entravision-owned affiliates flipped to José—the brand having been recycled for a format of norteño and
ranchera 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 fo ...
music. KRZY has since returned to Spanish-language sports programming with programming from
TUDN Radio TUDN Radio (formerly Univision Deportes Radio) is a U.S. Spanish-language sports radio network operated by Uforia Audio Network, a division of TelevisaUnivision (United States), TelevisaUnivision. It launched on March 15, 2017 on ten AM broadca ...
as of August 2020.


References


External links


Entravision Radio Stations
{{TUDN Radio Mexican-American culture in Albuquerque, New Mexico RZY Entravision Communications stations RZY Sports radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1956 1956 establishments in New Mexico