KRTO (97.1 FM) is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Santa Maria, California, United States and broadcasts to the

Central Coast of California The Central Coast is an area of California, roughly spanning the coastal region between Point Mugu and Monterey Bay. It lies northwest of Los Angeles County and south of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and includes the rugged, undeveloped ...

from

Paso Robles Paso Robles ( ), officially El Paso de Robles (Spanish for "The Pass of Oaks"), is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River approximately north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot ...

to the Santa Ynez Valley. KRTO's studios are located in Santa Maria and its transmitter is near

Point Sal Point Sal State Beach is a beach on the Pacific coast of California, located near the city of Guadalupe, in the northwestern part of Santa Barbara County. There are approximately of property with of ocean frontage. The rocks around the headland ...

just outside of Guadalupe. The station is owned by Emerald Wave Media and airs a bilingual English—Spanish rhythmic format.

History

The station originated in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

issued in 1988 to Armando Garcia for a new station in Guadalupe, California. Originally holding the call letters KOHD, it signed on in 1992 as KIDI-FM at the 105.5 MHz frequency with new owner Spanish TV 59. The following year, Spanish TV 59 principal Leo Kesselman merged KIDI-FM with

KTAP KTAP (1600 AM, "Radio Ranchito") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Santa Maria, California and serves the Santa Maria—Lompoc area. The station is owned by Emerald Wave Media and broadcasts a regional Mexican radio format. KTAP i ...

of Santa Maria into a new entity, Boardwalk Broadcasting Company. In March 1996, Boardwalk Broadcasting announced a sale of KIDI-FM and KTAP to Hispanic Radio Partners L.P. for $550,000; however, just eight months later in November, Boardwalk sold the combo to Emerald Wave Media for $475,000. KIDI-FM aired 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 at the time. In 2006, the station aired a Spanish top 40 format known as "Concierto" (Spanish for "concert"); the call letters were changed to KRTO to reflect this branding. In 2007, Emerald Wave Media relocated La Buena from the 105.5 FM frequency to 105.1 FM. This was done to send a cleaner signal towards the Santa Ynez Valley, avoiding interference with Ventura-based KFYV (also at 105.5 FM). However, the KRTO calls were moved to 97.1 FM. In mid-2008, Emerald Wave Media flipped the format of 97.1 FM from country music as "Colt 97.1" to rhythmic oldies as "Mega 97.1". Mega is a continuation of the format that aired on KPAT from 1999 to 2004, when it was known as "Mega 95.7" under the ownership of American General Media. On January 18, 2010, high winds in the

area caused a power outage that knocked the transmitter for KRTO,

KIDI-FM KIDI-FM (105.1 FM, "La Buena") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Lompoc, California and serves the area. The station is owned by Emerald Wave Media and broadcasts a Spanish contemporary radio format. History The station first si ...

(105.1 FM), and

(1600 AM) off the air. Power to the transmitter and the signals of the sister stations were restored the same day; however, KRTO remained silent for several days following the outage. In July 2019, KRTO changed their format from rhythmic oldies to

rhythmic contemporary Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip hop and upbeat R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary never uses ...

, branded as "Mega Hits 97.1". On January 4, 2021, KRTO changed their format from rhythmic contemporary to bilingual rhythmic, branded as "Fuego 97.1".KRTO Goes En Fuego
RadioInsight - January 8, 2021

References

External links

* {{Rhythmic Contemporary Radio Stations in California RTO Santa Barbara County, California Radio stations established in 1992 1992 establishments in California Rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the United States Spanish-language radio stations in California