KABQ-FM is a radio station licensed to the suburb of Bosque Farms, New Mexico, it serves the Albuquerque metropolitan area. The station is currently operated by iHeartMedia. It is licensed to the Aloha Station Trust since iHeartMedia owns five other full-powered FM stations in the area. Its studios are located in Northeast Albuquerque. KABQ-FM broadcasts a 100,000-watt signal from a site close to Belen, New Mexico nearly 35 miles south of Albuquerque sending a signal that is a bit weak with some static on many radios in much of the city. KABQ-FM airs an '80s' hits format branded as "104-7 KABQ The '80s station". KABQ-FM broadcasts in HD.
History
104.7 history
This station originated in the Socorro area. It was first assigned the KHBN call sign onJanuary 9, 1985. On October 5, 1987 the call sign was then changed to KMXQ and had a country music format which still airs in Socorro on 92.9 FM. By 1995, it had changed its license to Bosque Farms and moved into the Albuquerque market and on March 6, 1995 the call sign was again changed to KEXT with a Regional Mexican format as "Radio Exitos". KEXT was owned by Continental Communications and was sold to Clear Channel in early 2000 along with AM stationsKXKS 1190 and KABQ 1350.
KTEG "The Edge"
On July 25, 2000 the KTEG call sign and Modern rock format that had been launched on 107.9 FM was moved to 104.7 FM to replace KEXT. In this era of "The Edge", the station started playing heavier rock music from bands that it had not previously played including Metallica and Pantera while dropping bands such as U2 and No Doubt that were frequently heard on the previous frequency. On December 13, 2007, the KTEG call sign and Modern rock format was again moved to 104.1 FM and the KABQ-FM call sign and Smooth Jazz format was moved to 104.7 FM.
Smooth Jazz 104.7
A new format playing smooth jazz music programmed by satellite from Broadcast Architecture had launched on September 29, 2006 on 104.1 FM. On December 13, 2007, the station relocated from 104.1 FM to 104.7, a weaker signal in the Albuquerque market. The format lasted until May 2, 2009.
Classic country
On May 2, 2009 KABQ-FM flipped to a new format playing classic country with music mainly from the 1980s. The station featured several personalities that were voice-tracked from outside the market. On June 21, 2013 the format moved to an HD subchannel of KBQI 107.9 that will be rebroadcast on FM translatorK251AU at the 98.1 frequency at 165 watts from atop Sandia Crest.
On July 2, 2013, KABQ-FM flipped to classic hits, branded as "104-7 KABQ Albuquerque's Classic Hits", and featuring music from the 1960s, '70s and '80s. The format did not feature any on-air personalities and had low ratings. On May 2, 2016, KABQ-FM shifted to an all-80's hits format. With the change, Mitch Craig, who had previously been the voice of KRQE, became the official voiceover talent for the station. This brings the all-80's format back to the Albuquerque market after KRKE 94.5 ended the format in late September 2015 in preparation of a sale of that station.
KABQ-FM history
When the KABQ-FM call sign was originally assigned to 104.1 FM on December 15, 2003, the format was Adult Album Alternative called "World Class Rock". In February 2005 it changed to Hispanic rhythmic as "Mega 104.1". On September 29, 2006, the format was changed to the smooth jazz format which was later moved to 104.7 FM along with the KABQ-FM call sign. The callsign KABQ has also been used by its AM sister station 1350 for several decades.
