KLAQ


KLAQ is a commercial FM radio station licensed to El Paso, Texas and airing a mainstream rock radio format. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and has studios and offices on North Mesa Street in northwest El Paso.
KLAQ's transmitter is located in the Franklin Mountains, off Scenic Drive in El Paso. The station has an effective radiated power of 88,000 watts. The signal extends north to Las Cruces, New Mexico and south through Ciudad Juárez and the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

Programming

KLAQ calls itself "El Paso's Best Rock," and frequently hosts largest events and concerts in El Paso. The station is home to the Buzz Adams Morning Show, which is syndicated to other Texas rock stations. The show is heard weekdays, with a "Best of" show on Saturday mornings. Sunday evenings feature "Q Connected - The New Music Show." KLAQ also carries Dallas Cowboys football

History

On September 15, 1978, the station first signed on. It was owned by Rex Broadcasting, along with AM 600 KROD. When it was still a construction permit issued by the Federal Communications Commission, the unbuilt station used the call sign KUOE. But throughout its on-air history, the station's call letters have always been KLAQ and it has always carried a rock format, originally album rock.
93.9 KPAS, owned by the El Paso Broadcasting Coroporation, was El Paso's original FM rock station. So KLAQ's sign-on put it in competition with KPAS. But with the shift in contemporary music listening from AM radio to the FM band, KPAS switched to a Top 40 format in 1981. That made KLAQ the sole rock outlet in El Paso. In the early 2000s, Mexican radio station XHEPR-FM 99.1 MHz, licensed to Ciudad Juárez, aired an English-language classic rock format, targeting the El Paso radio market. But that only lasted a few years.
In 1989, KLAQ and KROD were acquired by D & F Broadcasting. KLAQ joined the ABC Rock Radio Network.
The stations changed hands again in 1997, going to New Wave Broadcasting L.P. In the 2010s, KLAQ was acquired by Townsquare Media, along with AM 600 KROD.