KDLW

KDLW is a commercial radio station located in Los Lunas, New Mexico, broadcasting to the Albuquerque, New Mexico area on 106.3 FM.

KDLW broadcasts at 100,000 watts from a site near Los Lunas and covers Albuquerque from the south, and also serves communities in Valencia County and Central New Mexico. KDLW is owned by Vanguard Media and airs a Regional Mexican format branded as "Exitos 106.3".

History[]

Beginnings[]

An original construction permit for this station was granted in September 1990 under call sign KZPY.^[1] It was licensed to Patricia Komorowski and would be launched by Guardian Communications under an LMA in January 1995 along with an upgrade to 97.7 KLVO.^[2] In March 1995 Guardian would purchase the station for $210,000.^[3][4]

Prior to the construction of this facility, the 106.3 frequency in Albuquerque was used by translator K292EN owned by Double Eagle Broadcasting of Cordova, Tennessee^[5] which had initially aired KMXQ in Socorro^[6] but by about the Spring of 1992, 106.3 FM would simulcast KZRQ FM 105.1 an affiliate of the "Z-Rock" network, and aired an active rock format.

Rhythm Driven 106-3[]

In January 1995, 106.3 would launch with a "Dance and Romance" format with the calls KDNR. The format would become CHR-Dance, branded as "Rhythm Driven 106-3", a few months later. In September 1996 Guardian Communications of Cincinnati, Ohio announced the sale of its stations including the Albuquerque cluster of FMs KDNR and KLVO 97.7 and AMs KKIM 1000 and KARS 860.^[7] The stations were sold to American General Media for $5.5 million in early 1998 shortly after changing formats to Rhythmic Top 40.^[8]

Wild 106[]

In the summer of 1997, 106.3 took the calls KYLZ-FM, which were previously used by KSQL in Santa Cruz, California from 1994-1996 and using the same moniker and format as "Wild 107-7", however there is no evidence that there was ever any connection between the two stations. The new station was branded as "Wild 106", and went head-to-head with KKSS, which had been very popular with local youth for much of the 1990s. The two stations would often be in a fierce battle for hip-hop listeners over the next seven years. KKSS had shifted to mainstream top 40 in early 2001, making KYLZ the lone rhythmic contemporary station for nearly two years.^[9] However, KKSS returned to rhythmic in late 2002 after changing ownership, putting the two stations in direct competition once again with KKSS eventually reclaiming the top spot in the format. In late 2004, American General Media (AGM) had opted to challenge the markets' top rated station 770 KKOB after morning host Larry Ahrens had signed with the company. 106.3 was selected as the station to house the new news/talk format; therefore, "Wild 106" came to an end in February 2005. ("Wild" was revived in December 2007 as KDLW on 97.7 FM, but had not been an effective competitor with KKSS as KYLZ was. After 106.3 launched a new hip-hop format in July 2009, Wild 97.7 became known as "OMG! Radio" on August 24, 2009 with a mainstream top 40 format.)

Talk FM[]

In March 2005, 106.3 became KAGM with a news and talk format that started with the departure of Larry Ahrens from top rated 770 KKOB in December 2004. Ahrens had been KKOB's morning show host for nearly 25 years. He had soon signed with American General Media with the intent of challenging his former station. Other local hosts who would be featured on KAGM were Dianne Anderson, who had just left her TV news anchor job at KOAT.^[10] She would host an afternoon talk show on 106.3, later joined by her husband Mark Mathis. The late afternoon "drive time" featured Chris Jackson, who was 770 KKOB's afternoon host during the late 1990s. Jackson co-hosted the show with Phil "The Bean" Sisneros. Sisneros was formerly the longtime morning show host on KKOB-FM until late 2002, at the time of that station's switch to mainstream top 40. National talk radio hosts Glenn Beck and Rusty Humphries originally filled the midday and nighttime slots, but the station had numerous line-up changes during its run. However, the station achieved low Arbitron ratings and appeared to have little or no impact on KKOB-AM. In 2006, Jackson and Sisneros were let go and replaced with a couple of previously unknown hosts, while Dianne Anderson joined Larry Ahrens in the morning shift, but later returned to television, taking a new anchor job at KRQE. The format ended on September 29, 2006, and was replaced with a temporary simulcast of sister station KZNM's Spanish-language oldies format.^[11]

The Range[]

KAGM signed on with a classic country format on October 4, 2006. It used "The Range" branding that two other stations had previously used in recent years. The earlier versions of "The Range" had decent 12+ Arbitron ratings, but did not last for very long.

"The Range" branding was originally used in Albuquerque on KKRG-FM when Simmons media launched a classic country station on the 101.3 FM frequency in December 2001. After a little less than a year, Simmons had sold the station, along with four other FM stations, to Hispanic Broadcasting (now Univision Radio) and changed the format to Regional Mexican. The Range got another shot in April 2004 on the 105.1 frequency, but in March 2006, Univision dropped The Range in favor of its "Recuerdo" Mexican Oldies format.

Power 106[]

On July 20, 2009, at 1:06 p.m., KAGM flipped formats to Rhythmic CHR and adopted the "Power 106" moniker. With this move, AGM had two Rhythmic outlets in the same radio market, the other being KDLW; this arrangement temporarily lasted until that August 24, when it switched directions to Mainstream Top 40/CHR. In late 2010, "Power" began to mix current rhythmic hits with old-school hip hop/R&B using a new slogan "Today and Back in the Day". Mornings originally featured the syndicated Big Boy's Neighborhood. However, in October 2011, KAGM replaced Big Boy with Double J to take over the morning show. As of July 2012, "Power" has begun to mix more urban material into their library.

On March 28, 2013, it was announced that "Power" was moving from 106.3 to 106.7. This occurred on April 1, 2013 at 8 a.m..The 106.7 frequency covers Albuquerque from the north and makes this station available in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico. With the switch, the station was rebranded as "Power 106.7".^[12]

Z106.3[]

At the same time as the move of "Power" to 106.7, 106.3 took over KDLW's Top 40/CHR format and relaunched it as "Z106.3, Hit Music Now." (However, despite a banner on its webpage leading up to the switchover, KDLW did not do any announcements or promotions towards the switch, and in the hours before, they were running jockless.)^[13] On April 4, 2013, KAGM and KDLW swapped call letters. For three months after the launch, the station had no social media presence and its webpage only featured a white background with standard lettering with a link to its web stream. The station continued to run sweepers telling "Power" listeners to tune in to 106.7 for many months. By early July 2013, it had updated its webpage and revived the "OMG!" Facebook page with the updated logo.

The "Z" format was a successor to the former "OMG! Radio" that aired from 2009-2011 on 97.7 and on 106.7 from 2011-2013. The "OMG!" airstaff, however, were not moved to the new station, which had been running jockless for the first year. It later added personalities which included Ashley V (now at KKSS), Rico Rich and k-dawg (now at KOBQ). In February 2016, the syndicated Johnjay & Rich morning show was added.^[14]

On June 14, 2017, AGM announced that it would acquire Univision's entire Albuquerque cluster (which includes rival KKSS, as well as KKRG and KIOT). To meet ownership limits set by the Federal Communications Commission, AGM would spin off KDLW to BB Broadcasting.^[15] BB Broadcasting is owned by Tom Bozzuto of the Bozzuto Group, a real estate developer based in Greenbelt, Maryland. The sale price of the station was $750,000. Following acquisition, the station would be programmed by Vanguard Media, owners of contemporary jazz station KOAZ and newly acquired KJFA-FM (now KRKE-FM, branded as "Cindy 101.3"), via a time brokerage agreement.^[16] The sale was consummated on September 1, 2017.

On April 29, 2019, Vanguard Media turned the time brokerage agreement into a purchase of the station for $850,000.^[17] The purchase was consummated on June 25, 2019.

La Zeta 106.3[]

On May 4, 2020, KDLW dropped the Top 40/CHR format and began stunting with sweepers coinciding with Cinco de Mayo. The next day, KDLW flipped to Regional Mexican, branded as "Zeta 106.3".^[18] The station was programmed by Michelle Romero and focused on being "100% local" while featuring a variety of Regional Mexican music genres.^[19]

On September 1, 2020, KDLW expanded its broadcast to KSFE 96.7 in Grants and translator K240EC 95.9 in Santa Fe replacing smooth jazz KOAZ "The Oasis".^[20]

On January 3, 2022, KDLW rebranded as "Exitos 106.3", described as "Regional Mexican CHR".^[21] The simulcast on KSFE was also discontinued.

Former logos[]

References[]

External links[]

• KDLW in the FCC FM station database
• KDLW on Radio-Locator
• KDLW in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• K229CL in the FCC FM station database
• K229CL on Radio-Locator
• K229CL in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• K240EC in the FCC FM station database
• K240EC on Radio-Locator
• K240EC in Nielsen Audio's FM station database

Coordinates: 34°47′56″N 106°49′01″W / 34.799°N 106.817°W / 34.799; -106.817