On September 22, 1922, Colorado Springs' first commercial radio station, KFUM, was licensed. Its call sign changed to KVOR when the station was purchased by the Reynolds Radio Co., founded by Denver radio pioneer Dr. William "Doc" Reynolds. As of 1933, the studio and transmitter were both located at the . During the Golden Age of Radio, KVOR was a CBS affiliate, airing its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts. It broadcast on 1270 kilocycles, at 1,000 watts of power, with studios in the Antlers Hotel. In the 1940s, it moved to 1300 kHz. In 1960, it added an FMsister station, 92.9 KVOR-FM, simulcasting the AM station's programming. In 1968, 1300 KVOR received permission from the Federal Communications Commission to boost its daytime power to 5,000 watts.
In the 1960s, as network programming shifted to television, KVOR switched to a middle of the road format of popular music, news and sports, still as a CBS affiliate. By the 1980s, as music listening switched to FM, KVOR began adding talk programming to its line up, using NBC's Talknet service at night.
Switch to Talk
By 1984, KVOR had completed the switch to all-talk programming, with its FM station moving to an adult contemporary music format as KSPZ, "Z93." KVOR picked up talk shows from the ABC TalkRadio network and added ABC Radio News, replacing CBS as its network. In 1996, KVOR and KSPZ were acquired by Triathlon Broadcasting Of Colorado Springs, which also owned 99.9 KVUU and 740 KSSS. During this time, advertising time on these stations was controlled by Citadel Broadcasting through a local marketing agreement, while the actual broadcast operations were under the control of Triathlon. In 1999, Citadel Broadcasting fully acquired KVOR, KSPZ and KTWK by exchanging 106.3 KKLI with Triathlon thus ending the LMA. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011. In March 2000 when KVOR switched frequencies with then-KTWK on AM 740. The format became Classic country in December 2000 when the station changed calls to KUBL. The station adopted a progressive talk format in 2002 and adopted the call letters KBZC, calling itself 'The Buzz 1300' In 2004, the format changed again to a sports radio format, calling itself "Sports Animal 1300" and adopting the call letters KKML. The station signed on as an affiliate of Fox Sports Radio then signed on with ESPN Radio in 2007. In July 2008, Citadel Broadcasting abandoned the sports format in favor of a 'Classic Country' format as "KCS 1300 AM" to complement its sister Mainstream Country station KATC-FM and to pay homage to the former "KCS Country" station. This format change also brought Don Imus into the Colorado Springs Market, and used Jones Radio NetworksClassic Country Satellite Programming as its lineup. The Jones format was changed in mid 2009 to Citadel Media's in-house Real Country format, featuring a mix of classic country and country currents. The most recent change of 1300's format back to sports radio took effect on November 5, 2009, with returning 'Sports Animal 1300' to Colorado Springs. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.
KCS history
KKCS-FM went on the air in Colorado Springs on September 12, 1979 broadcasting a country music format. The station was known as "The Most Country KCS 102." KKCS remained a major competitor in the market for country until purchased by Bustos Media in 2005. After being purchased, KKCS moved frequencies from 101.9 FM to 104.5 FM. With the 104.5 transmitter being located in Canon City, the signal of KCS was severely limited to Colorado Springs. In 2006, the station let go of all personnel and played all music before going dark in 2007. The country format on that frequency has since returned to Canon City with KSTY.
