KQTM (101.7 FM, "The Team") is a

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 radio ...

serving the

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, area. They are owned by Team Broadcasting and its

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

Rio Rancho, New Mexico Rio Rancho ( es, Río Rancho) is the most populous and only city in Sandoval County, New Mexico, Sandoval County, part of the expansive Albuquerque metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of New Mexico. A small portion of the city extends into north ...

. The station broadcasts with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

of 3 kW. The station broadcasts a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

format as "The Team" as of August 1, 2008.

History

101.7 signed on the air in 1984 as talk outlet KZIA-FM, a sister to news station 1580 KZIA. KZIA-FM featured the ABC Talkradio network lineup which included

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

(English Accented talk show host not musician) Owen Spann, Ira Fistell, Ray Briem. In 1989 it became KZKL-FM with a 1950s and 1960s

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

format branded as "Kool 102". The station became very popular for much of the 1990s and would last for more than a decade. In 2000 it had rebranded as KQEO, a callsign that had once been used by a local AM top 40 station during the 60's until about the early 1990s. However, by that time it was battling KABG-FM 98.5. After 13 years, in May 2002, KZKL flipped to

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 sto ...

as KOSZ "Cozy 101.7". However, the format lasted just five months as the result of Simmons Media Group selling its FM stations to Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. The deal closed that November, at which time 101.7 flipped to a Spanish adult contemporary format called "Viva 101.7" under new call letters KVVF. After underperforming, "Viva" was dropped in April 2004, and

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

outlet KAJZ "The Horizon", which was broadcasting on 105.1, was moved to 101.7 to make way for a new

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

format on that frequency. But in October 2005, The Horizon was dropped and changed to KQBT. Initially, KQBT had a

rhythmic oldies Rhythmic oldies is a radio format that concentrates on the rhythmic, R&B, disco, or dance genres of music. Playlists can span from the 1960s through the 2000s and, depending on market conditions, may be designed for African-American or Hispanic a ...

format as "101.7 The Beat" but shifted to

rhythmic adult contemporary Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adult ...

(AC) in the summer of 2006 and re-branding as "B 101.7" adding current rhythmic hits and phasing out most of the pre-1980 songs it had previously played after the format generated low ratings. However it had since returned to playing mostly 1970s and 1980s rhythmic hits and continued to generate low ratings. The slogan used was "Albuquerque JAMZ from back in the day!". The KQBT call letters originated on an

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

radio station now called

KUTX KUTX (98.9 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Leander, Texas and serving the greater Austin, Texas area with an Adult album alternative format. The station is owned by University of Texas at Austin with headquarters at the Belo Ce ...

, also nicknamed "The Beat". On May 15, 2008, KQBT was sold to Team Communications, which replaced the rhythmic AC format with

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

after the deal was completed in August.

Programming

KQTM is an affiliate of the

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

network. It is also the local affiliate for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

(on the

Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network The Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network is a network that consists of 27 radio stations that air Major League Baseball games of the Los Angeles Dodgers in parts of seven states and one U.S. territory and in three languages. , 20 stations broadcast ga ...

), the

New Mexico State Aggies The New Mexico State University teams are called the Aggies, a nickname derived from the university's agricultural beginnings. The mascot is known as " Pistol Pete". NMSU's colors are crimson and white. Since 2005 the Aggies have competed in the ...

New Mexico Lobos baseball New Mexico Lobos baseball is a college baseball program of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Lobos have won three conference tournaments, finished first in regular season conference play eight times, and appeared in the ...

, and APS Athletics (local high school). The station broadcasts

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

games as a member of the ESPN Radio network. As of spring 2010, the station began broadcasting University of New Mexico baseball games. KQTM is home to Bob Brown and former

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

sports broadcaster Mike Roberts.

References

External links

* {{coord, 35.193, N, 106.471, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Sports radio stations in the United States QTM Radio stations established in 1984 1984 establishments in New Mexico