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KQPS (103.1 FM) is a
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
that is licensed to
Palm Desert, California Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has bee ...
, United States, and serves the
Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by lan ...
Coachella Valley , map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg , map_caption = Coachella Valley , location = California, United States , coordinates = , width = , boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacin ...
radio market. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. KQPS's
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to ...
is off Varner Road in
Cathedral City Cathedral city is a city status in the United Kingdom. Cathedral city may also refer to: * Cathedral City, California, a city in Southern California, United States * Cathedral City Cheddar, a brand of Cheddar cheese * Cathedral City High Sch ...
, amid other Palm Springs-area FM and TV towers. KQPS is the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...
station of "
Channel Q Channel Q (stylized as CHANNEL Q) is an LGBT lifestyle talk and EDM top 40 radio network created, owned, and operated by Audacy, Inc. The network airs on the Audacy internet radio service, as well as on Audacy-owned terrestrial radio stati ...
", a national
talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...
/
EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstra ...
network targeted to the LGBTQ community. In addition to the local Palm Springs signal, Channel Q is heard on a number of Audacy's
HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
subchannels across the country as well as on the
Audacy Audacy, previously known as Radio.com, is a free broadcast and Internet radio platform owned by the namesake company Audacy, Inc. (formerly known as Entercom). The Audacy platform functions as a music recommender system and is the national umb ...
internet radio platform. Network hosts include Jai Rodriguez, John Duran, and
Shira Lazar Shira Lazar (born May 6, 1983) is a Canadian television personality, actress, writer, and video blogger who currently resides and works in Los Angeles. Lazar's writing has been featured on Hollywood.com, CBSNEWS.com, MSN.com, and others, and s ...
.


History


Classical KCMS

The station at 103.1 FM first
signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...
November 27, 1977, as KCMS, playing classical music. The station was founded by broadcast engineer Paul Posen under his company, Classic Broadcasting. The original studios were located in
Indio, California Indio ( Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, east of Los Angeles, 148 mil ...
. Its relays were KCBI (97.3 FM), when it was affiliated with
CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broa ...
, and KECI (97.7 FM), broadcasting into the
Imperial Valley , photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg , photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image. , map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg , map_caption = Map of Imperial ...
. In October 1983, the station changed its
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assig ...
to KEZN. By 1987, the studios were moved to a new facility in
Palm Desert Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has bee ...
.


Switch to soft AC

In the early 1990s, the station switched to the
nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States wher ...
"Format 41"
soft adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...
service of the Unistar Radio Network. In 1994, KEZN became the only AC station in the Palm Springs market when KPLM flipped to a
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...
format. Noted
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
broadcaster Russ O'Hara teamed with local personality Kayla Stone for the ''Russ and Kayla''
morning drive Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cla ...
show, as the station eliminated the Format 41 service to go with local programming. Another local
disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
, Debra Kaye Ahlers, occupied the midday shift, while program director Dale Berg, a noted personality from
Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...
, handled afternoon drive. Later, former Nashville Network announcer Dan McGrath took over morning drive, while former KCLB personality John O (John Ostrum) assumed the afternoon slot. In 1996, Gary Bell arrived from
KCBS-FM KCBS-FM (93.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts an adult hits music format branded as "93.1 Jack FM". Unlike most radio stations airing th ...
in Los Angeles. Ryan Yamanaka also served as an on-air personality from 2000 to 2001 working the overnight shift. He was also the last personality to drive KEZN's "Mr. Frosty". The early personalities helped propel KEZN to be among the top rated stations in Palm Springs.


CBS ownership

In June 1998, Posen sold his interest in the station to
CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broa ...
(which would later merge with
Infinity Broadcasting Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus ...
, and would rename under the Infinity banner). Through the early 2000s, the station's format was moved from soft AC to mainstream
adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
. Each year from mid-November to December 25, KEZN switched to all-
Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject m ...
. Infinity would be renamed CBS Radio in December 2005. On December 26, 2014, after its annual Christmas format wrapped up, KEZN rebranded as "103.1 Sunny FM", with no other changes. During its Sunny FM years, the station aired the syndicated program ''America's Greatest Hits'', hosted by
Scott Shannon Michael Scott Shannon (born July 25, 1947) is an American radio disc jockey who hosted the morning show for WCBS-FM in New York City from 2014 to 2022 as well as ''Scott Shannon Presents America's Greatest Hits'' which is syndicated nationally wi ...
, on weekends.


Entercom ownership

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with
Entercom Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...
. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17. Also in 2017, KEZN relocated to the old R&R Broadcast building in Palm Springs, located on Tahquitz Canyon Way. On November 1, 2018, KEZN flipped to Entercom's
LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...
-targeted
talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...
/
EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstra ...
network branded as "
Channel Q Channel Q (stylized as CHANNEL Q) is an LGBT lifestyle talk and EDM top 40 radio network created, owned, and operated by Audacy, Inc. The network airs on the Audacy internet radio service, as well as on Audacy-owned terrestrial radio stati ...
", marking the first analog FM station adopting the format. (Channel Q is carried on
HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
subchannels of Entercom-owned radio stations in many cities including Los Angeles,
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, Phoenix, and
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
, the last of these broadcasting on an
FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tra ...
). The next day, KEZN changed call letters to KQPS.FCC.org/KQPS
/ref> The station is a reporter in ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
's''
Dance/Mix Show Airplay Dance/Mix Show Airplay (formerly Hot Dance Airplay) is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. History The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic ...
panel.


References


External links

* * {{Entercom LGBT-related radio stations QPS Radio stations established in 1978 Dance radio stations 1978 establishments in California Audacy, Inc. radio stations