96.3 launched in November 1954 as the second FM and first commercial FM station in Albuquerque. It was the longtime home of classical music station KHFM for over 46 years. Citadel Broadcasting acquired KHFM and sister station KHFN 1050 AM for 5.75 million dollars in March 1996. In March 2001, Citadel made an agreement with American General Media to move the format to its current home on 95.5 FM while Citadel would continue to handle advertising for the station. That agreement ended in 2005, and KHFM is now fully operated by American General Media. 96.3 became a classic rock station branded as "The Buzzard" which started in early April 2001. The callsign would change to KBZU. The Buzzard had challenged area rock radio rivals KIOT and KZRR. The station used the slogan which claimed to play "Real Classic Rock," featuring a mix that was somewhat harder than most classic rock stations at the time by avoiding "y" songs, but also played only classic bands and no modern rock that it dubbed as "weird." That format also included Bob & Tom in the morning and in late 2006 it added Opie and Anthony in the afternoon. Nights with Alice Cooper also aired on The Buzzard at night in the last couple of years. Some local personalities had also been featured as well throughout its run. But over the years, the station consistently lagged behind its competitors in the Arbitron ratings. The Buzzard ran until February 12, 2007. The station aired a Hot Talk format, titled "96.3 The Buzz", from February 12, 2007 until August 2, 2008. The talk format featured Bob & Tom in morning and Opie and Anthony in the afternoon, along with Dennis Miller, Mike O'Meara, and Tom Leykis. The station also featured locally produced programs, including the morning "zu", featuring "Chad" and "The Weezle". Citadel Broadcasting also divested KBZU to Last Bastion Station Trust on June 12, 2007, but it was reclaimed by the now-Cumulus Media effective April 30, 2013. 96.3 aired a Spanish languagesports talk format broadcasting the national ESPN Deportes Radio network from August 2, 2008 until May 15, 2009. This format generated no Arbitron ratings at all during its nine-month run. On May 22, 2009, KBZU returned to a classic rock music format branded as "96-3 The Mountain" with the slogan "Duke City's Classic Rock". All music and disc jockeys came from a satellite feed of The Classic Rock Experience, which was provided by Citadel Media. There was not any local content, excluding commercials.
On August 15, 2014, at 5 pm, KBZU became one of the first affiliates of the new "Nash Icons" network as 96.3 Nash Icon. KBZU was one of thirteen stations Cumulus had flipped to the new format. "96.3 Nash Icon" aired country music, mostly from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. The station shared the "Nash" brand with current-based country sister station KRST until it dropped the "Nash" brand in June 2019. "Nash Icon" was developed by Cumulus Media, used on numerous Cumulus stations across the country as well as some non-Cumulus stations. Described as a "Hot AC for Country", the format focuses on popular country hits from the mid-1980s to early 2000s from the biggest artists of that time such as Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Shania Twain and Alan Jackson along with some new material to be released on the new "Nash Icon" record label. Nash Icon plays about 25-40% new material, without some current trends such as "Bro-country" heard on current based country stations. In April 2015, Tony Lynn, who had been a long time morning host at KRST in the 1990s and KBQI from 2000-2011, returned to the air on KBZU in the afternoon. Other personalities included Kris Abrams in mornings, Paul Bailey in middays and Johnboy Crenshaw during nights.
Switch to KKOB
The call letters KKOB-FM had long been assigned to co-owned 93.3, which has a mainstream CHR/Top 40 format that was branded as "KOB-FM" for many years. On November 15, 2019, that station rebranded as "93.3 The Q" and changed call letters to KOBQ. Initially, it was believed that this was done to avoid confusion with KKOB, which had broadcast on translator K233CG since September 2016. However, the KKOB-FM call letters were in fact being reassigned to 96.3 to simulcast the heritage news and talk format from KKOB. The simulcast began at 9:00 a.m. on January 6, 2020, along with the change in call letters to KKOB-FM.
