KABG
| |
City | Los Alamos, New Mexico |
---|---|
Broadcast area |
Albuquerque, New Mexico Santa Fe, New Mexico |
Branding | Big 98.5 |
Slogan | New Mexico's Greatest Hits |
Frequency | 98.5 MHz |
First air date | 1956 (as KRSN) |
Format | Classic Hits |
ERP | 100,000 watts |
HAAT | 581 meters |
Class | C |
Facility ID | 44000 |
Transmitter coordinates | 35°46′48″N 106°31′41″W / 35.780°N 106.528°WCoordinates: 35°46′48″N 106°31′41″W / 35.780°N 106.528°W |
Callsign meaning | KA BiG |
Former callsigns |
KRSN (1956-1986) KKBR (1986-1990) KRBL (1990-1993) KTMN (1993-1997) |
Owner | American General Media |
Sister stations | KHFM, KIOT, KJFA, KJFA-FM, KKRG-FM, KKSS, KLVO |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | big985.com |
KABG (98.5 MHz) is an American radio station licensed to Los Alamos, New Mexico serving the Santa Fe and Albuquerque radio markets. It is owned by American General Media and has a classic hits format playing top 40 hits mostly from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Its studios are located in Northeast Albuquerque and the transmitter tower is located west of Los Alamos, New Mexico.
History
This station signed on in 1956 as KRSN-FM.
In 1986 it changed to KKBR and broadcast a 50s and 60s oldies format called "K-Bear". In March 1990 the oldies format moved to KBOM 106.7 and 98.5 would change to KRBL with an Album-oriented rock format called "The Rebel Rocker". Following the Z-Rock network move to an FM frequency in late 1991, KRBL would move to pick up the mainstream CHR/Top 40 format rebranding as "Lazer 98.5" in June 1992. After more than a year the format would be dropped and would not return to the market for about six years. In November 1993 the station changed to KTMN and would air a Classic Rock format called "The Mountain". After KIOT dropped Adult Album Alternative for classic rock in Fall of 1995, KTMN shifted its programming to fill the AAA void while continuing to use "The Mountain" brand. In 1997 the station was sold to American General Media who would then change the format to oldies and call letters to KABG in June.
KABG launched in Summer 1997 as "Big Oldies 98.5". It then went on to overcome two other long running oldies stations in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe markets, KBOM 106.7 (moved to 94.7 in 2000, both frequencies which AGM had later purchased) in Santa Fe and KZKL (later changed to KQEO) 101.7 in Albuquerque which dropped the format in 2002 making KABG the only FM oldies station in both markets until its format change in 2007. Local radio veteran Bobby Box would host the morning shift for several years helping to make the station popular with its target audience.
For many years the station had been known as "Big Oldies" but in 2007 it rebranded to just "Big 98.5" phasing out the word "oldies" as it has followed most other oldies stations across the country in shifting to a more 1970s focused "classic hits" format in order to improve its audience in the 25-54 age range demographic. It had also changed its website. Despite this, the station still played a small amount of 1950s/early 1960s oldies for a few more years. Today the format is mostly focused on music from the 1980s with a small amount of music from the 1990s added.
External links
- Query the FCC's FM station database for KABG
- Radio-Locator information on KABG
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for KABG