KQBU (AM)

KQBU

City	El Paso, Texas
Frequency	920 kHz
Branding	Lone Star Sports 920
Programming
Format	Sports
Affiliations	CBS Sports Radio
Ownership
Owner	Grupo Radio Centro (97.5 Licensee TX, LLC)
Sister stations	KAMA, KBNA-FM, XHTO-FM (operated from the US), other GRC stations in Ciudad Juárez
History
First air date	1947 (as KELP)
Former call signs	KELP (1947-1982) KYSR (1982-1985) KDXX (1985-1987) KBNA (1987-2002) KZMR (2002) KAJZ (2002) KBNA (2002-2004) KLTO (2004) KBNA (2004-2007)[1]
Technical information
Facility ID	67065
Class	B
Power	1,000 watts (day) 360 watts (night)
Transmitter coordinates	31°44′09″N 106°22′24″W / 31.73583°N 106.37333°W / 31.73583; -106.37333
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	lonestarsports920am.com

KQBU (920 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve El Paso, Texas, United States. The station is owned by 97.5 Licensee TX, LLC, an American subsidiary of Grupo Radio Centro (GRC).

History[]

KWBU received its first license, as KELP, and signed on in 1947 as a 1,000 watt daytime-only station. After ownership by Paso Broadcasting Company and Trinity Broadcasting Corporation, it was sold to Gordon McLendon in 1954. McLendon added a couple of transmission towers in order to add night authority with 500 watts power, as well as to add an antenna for a new TV station, KILT. The old tower site was 4530 Delta Drive on the property used for the city of El Paso sewage treatment plant.

In 1957, KELP and its TV station were sold to KELP Radio Corporation, which changed the TV station's calls to KELP-TV. Sales of KELP-AM-TV to Northern Pacific Radio Corporation (in 1961) and John B. Walton (in 1966), and of the AM station to Clear Channel Communications (in 1977), followed.

On August 20, 1982, KELP became KYSR. In 1987 the station became KBNA, marking its first Spanish-language format.

The station was relocated to its current site in 1989-1990 by then-station engineer David Stewart and then-director of Engineering Marvin Fiedler. The phasing equipment was designed by Harry Seabrooke at Silliman and Silliman, and built by Fiedler and Stewart.

Expanded Band assignment[]

On March 17, 1997 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that eighty-eight stations had been given permission to move to newly available "Expanded Band" transmitting frequencies, ranging from 1610 to 1700 kHz, with KBNA authorized to move from 920 to 1680 kHz.^[2] However, the station never procured the Construction Permit needed to implement the authorization, so the expanded band station was never built.

Later history[]

Univision Radio would come into owning KBNA as well as KBNA-FM 97.5 and KAMA on 750 AM. In January 2009, Univision partnered with El Paso Media Group to provide an English language morning talk radio format, known as TalkBack Radio. Infighting between competing factions resulted in a host lineup change in early April 2009 and Univision canceling the talk radio format on April 15, 2009.^{[citation needed]}

The station was assigned the KQBU call sign on December 11, 2007.^[1] By 2016, KQBU was airing national programs from the Univisión América talk network.

In 2016, Univision Radio exited El Paso by selling its stations to affiliates of Mexican radio broadcaster Grupo Radio Centro for $2 million, with GRC taking over operations via LMA on November 8.^[3] Rafael Márquez, a United States citizen, owns 75 percent of the licensee, 97.5 Licensee TX, LLC, with the remainder being owned by Grupo Radio Centro TX, LLC. Under GRC ownership, KQBU has been a simulcast of KBNA-FM.

On September 13, 2018, KQBU dropped the KBNA-FM simulcast and changed their format to sports, branded as "Lone Star Sports 920".^[4]

References[]

External links[]

• KQBU in the FCC AM station database
• KQBU on Radio-Locator
• KQBU in Nielsen Audio's AM station database

• FCC History Cards for KQBU (covering 1946-1980 as KELP)
• KQBU TalkBack Radio launch announcement
• Radio shenanigans over