KKOB (AM)

Infobox Radio station
name = KKOB


city = Albuquerque, New Mexico
area = Albuquerque, New Mexico
branding = "770 KKOB-AM"
slogan = "The Talk Monster"
airdate = April 5, 1922
frequency = 770 kHz
format = News/Talk
power = 50,000 watts
erp =
class = B
facility_id = 11251
callsign_meaning = Extra K to KOB
former_callsigns =
owner = Citadel Broadcasting
webcast = [http://www.770kkob.com/article.asp?id=506130 Listen Live]
website = [http://www.770kkob.com/ 770kkob.com]
affiliations = ABC News
sister_stations = KTBL, KNML, KKOB-FM, KRST, KMGA, KDRF

KKOB (770 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." The station's callsign was KOB before October 28, 1986.

Other stations called KKOB

KKOB-FM is one of its sister stations in the Albuquerque radio market. KOB-TV, also in Albuquerque, is still commonly confused with the two radio stations because it was co-owned with them for many years. Despite their different ownership, KKOB-AM currently has a news partnership with KOB-TV.

Programming

KKOB is the local outlet for nationally syndicated talk radio hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and Coast to Coast AM as well as Paul Harvey. It also features local hosts Bob Clark in the morning and Jim "Noochie" Villanucci in the afternoon and a sports talk program with Scott Stiegler in the evening. It also provides local news and weather updates every half hour 24-hours a day and national news updates from ABC News hourly. 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 basketball games). Some other Lobo sports can also be heard on its sister sports station KNML-AM 610.

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 cover. Only after reaching the U.S. Supreme Court was the issue settled, when the FCC assigned KOB to a new license class. Interestingly KKOB and WABC are both owned by Citadel since its purchase of ABC Radio was finalized in 2007.

External links

* [http://www.770kkob.com/ KKOB-AM home page]
*AM station data|KKOB