KKOB

KKOB-AM Logo

KKOB-AM is an AM radio station operating out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, the oldest in the state. It operates on 770 kHz with 50,000 watts of power and is owned by Citadel Broadcasting Corporation. The station's format is talk radio. Its brand is "News Radio 770 KKOB."

KKOB-FM Logo

KKOB-FM, an FM station also based in Albuquerque, is also owned by Citadel Broadcasting Corporation. It broadcasts on 93.3 MHz and has a Top 40 format in competition with Rhythmic Top 40 rival KKSS for listeners in that market. Its brand is "93.3 KOB-FM - The Pop Music Channel."

Both stations' callsigns were KOB before October 28, 1986. KOB-TV, also in Albuquerque, is still commonly confused with the two radio stations because it was co-owned with them for many years. KKOB-AM currently has a news partnership with KOB-TV.

KKOB-AM also broadcasts University of New Mexico basketball and football games. Their play-by-play team is longtime broadcaster Mike Roberts and Joe O'Neill (who only does play-by-play for baksetball games).

History

The station was founded at the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now New Mexico State University) by Ralph Willis Goddard, and began broadcasting tests in 1919 under the call letters 5XD. On April 5, 1922 the station began regular operation as KOB. New Mexico A&M sold the station after Goddard was electrocuted while adjusting the transmitter on December 31, 1928. In 1933 the station moved to Albuquerque, and were later bought by the Albuquerque Journal.

In 1948, Tom Pepperday, owner and publisher of the Journal, signed on KOB-TV, the first television station between the Mississippi River and the West Coast. The stations passed to Time-Life in 1952 and to Hubbard Broadcasting in 1957. Hubbard Broadcasting sold the radio stations in 1986. In order to trade on the well-known KOB calls, the new owners simply added an extra "K" to the radio station's call letters.

KOB was involved in a 38-year-long dispute with New York City station WABC (originally WJZ) over the use of the 770 kHz frequency. KOB was moved there from 1030 to make room for WBZ in Boston. While the Federal Communications Commission had requested that WJZ install a directional antenna to allow the stations to interoperate over large areas, the station refused to comply, encroaching on the range KOB was intended to receive. Only after reaching the U.S. Supreme Court was the issue settled, when the FCC assigned KOB to a new license class.

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