93-Q Changes call letters.

The venerable KKBQ-FM has changed. Not all that much, though. They are now simply KKBQ. I guess the return of 79-Q isn't going to happen.

From what I gather from what I saw on the FCC Call Letters release for May, the AM call letters (790) will no longer be KKBQ. The FCC requires FM to be added to KKBQ with there is an AM with the same call letters. That change is what was KKBQ FM is now simply KKBQ. I haven't checked the calls for 790 yet.

b-turner said:

From what I gather from what I saw on the FCC Call Letters release for May, the AM call letters (790) will no longer be KKBQ. The FCC requires FM to be added to KKBQ with there is an AM with the same call letters. That change is what was KKBQ FM is now simply KKBQ. I haven't checked the calls for 790 yet.

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The call for 790 is KBME, Bill. Changed from KKBQ in '98. Call stood for "Best Music Ever" during the Standards period, after splitting from the FM. That lasted until Christmas 2004, when the "Sports Animal" took its place on 790.

Ol' Closeau threw us an old fashioned curve ball here. I thought 93Q had actually lost their collective minds and literally changed the longtime call. Dropping the -FM suffix is not nearly the same thing.

Yep, I looked that up. I remember when 790 became KBME, my brain was hanging out somewhere else. Yep, lost my mind but the darn thing found me again.

Seems odd the drop of FM would happen now. That made me wonder if there had been a KKBQ somewhere on the AM dial. Then again, I remember when KFAN in Fredericksburg, Texas and the Sports Talk KFAN 1270 in Minnesota, not co-owned. As I recall KFAN 107.9 never had to use the FM add on.

Just thinking, if KKBQ ever changed, would that mean it would no longer be "New"? How many years now has it been the New 93-Q? I know at least 23 years or longer.

24. It became "the new 93Q Country" in 1992. Hard to imagine that Cox really thinks it still needs to differentiate the station from its CHR roots after all this time. I mean, think about it. 93Q was CHR for only 9 years. It's been country for 25; reverting back to "93Q" after the first year as "Easy Country 92-9".

Of course, 106-9 The Point was still "new" until 2010, 10 yeara after its debut, and "the new K-Hits" kept right on being "new" right up until Deam & Rog cracked the microphone that first Monday morning at 5:30am, launching "the new 107-5 The Eagle". That lasted until KHPT was brought under the Eagle's wing, and everything was dropped including the frequency, resulting in just "The Eagle" imaging standing on its own.

Cox Radio Houston sure has a knack for "keeping things new".

rageradio said:

Interesting but I can't tell you the last time I heard the FM suffix in one of their legal IDs. It's always been KKBQ Pasadena

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Likely 1998, when it was still paired with 790. IDed back then as KKBQ-FM Pasadena/Houston, KKBQ Houston. I literally have hundreds of airchecks with that particular identification.

b-turner said:

Seems odd the drop of FM would happen now. That made me wonder if there had been a KKBQ somewhere on the AM dial. Then again, I remember when KFAN in Fredericksburg, Texas and the Sports Talk KFAN 1270 in Minnesota, not co-owned. As I recall KFAN 107.9 never had to use the FM add on.

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KFAN-FM 107.9 has always had the "-FM" suffix on the calls. The original KFAN 101.1 never used the suffix. When KONO/KSRR-FM took over 101.1 and changed the calls, WDGY 1130 out of Minneapolis jumped on the KFAN calls before the Fritzes got a chance to launch them on 107.9.