KRQN (107.1
FM) is a
radio station broadcasting a
Regional Mexican
Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mexico ...
format. Licensed to
Vinton, Iowa, United States, the station serves the
Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...
area. The station is owned by George S. Flinn, Jr., and is programmed by Gorilla Broadcasting Company. KRQN's transmitter is located east of Vinton near Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area.
History
Prior to September 2011, KRQN aired a
classic hits format. On September 9, 2011, at 1:07 p.m., after stunting with clips of top 40 music and liners promoting that "the clock is ticking" and to "lock in a preset" and listen at said time, along with bell tolling sounds and people saying "I", 107.1 flipped to
Top 40/CHR as ''i107.1'', launching with ''
Party Rock Anthem'' by
LMFAO. With this move, KRQN took on the market's more established Top 40/CHR,
KZIA, and later,
KOSY-FM upon that station's debut in August 2014.
On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which
Townsquare Media would acquire 53
Cumulus Media stations, including the
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
for KRQN, for $238 million. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of
Dial Global; Townsquare and Dial Global were both controlled by
Oaktree Capital Management.
The sale to Townsquare was completed on November 14, 2013.
On May 1, 2021, KRQN dropped its top 40/CHR format and flipped to
conservative talk, supplied by
USA Radio Networks, as a result of its LMA with Townsquare Media ending.
On November 18, 2022, KRQN changed its format from conservative talk to Regional Mexican, branded as "El Gallo 107.1". The change came after Gorilla Broadcasting Company (controlled by Steven Lara) began programming the station; Gorilla's other stations (
WNMB in
North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and a local marketing agreement with
WLEL in
Ellaville, Georgia) also utilize this format and branding.
References
External links
*
KRQN on RadioMixer
RQN
Regional Mexican radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 2005
2005 establishments in Iowa
{{Iowa-radio-station-stub