History
Early years
The station, originally on 99.1 MHz, first signed on in 1982. Its call sign was KQKZ and it broadcast a soft adult contemporary format. [3] [4] On November 1, 1984, the station changed its call letters to KJCY-FM to match that of its AM sister station (1240 AM, now KMHI), then to KLVJ-FM on June 1, 1989. [5]
In August 1992, Media Venture Management Inc., headed by Randolph George, sold KLVJ-FM and its AM counterpart KLVJ to William Konopnicki for $78,000. Both stations were silent at the time of the sale. [6] In April 1995, Konopnicki sold the combo to station manager Jack Jensen, doing business as Valley Mountain Broadcasting Inc., for $310,000; the FM station aired a country music format. [7]
In November 1996, Jensen sold KLVJ-AM-FM to Wendell Starke's FM Idaho Company for $475,500. [8] FM Idaho changed the FM station's call letters to KTPZ on January 7, 1997. [5]
Contemporary hits
In October 2000, FM Idaho sold six stations, including contemporary hit radio outlet KTPZ, to Horizon Broadcasting Group LLC for $10 million. [9] The station became KTPD on March 30, 2007, then KTMB on June 28, 2007. [5]
In 2008, then-owner Impact Radio Group acquired KTMB and moved the KQLZ call sign to the 99.1 FM frequency from 100.7 FM. [5] The pre-existing talk radio format on 99.1 flipped to oldies, featuring programing from ABC Radio Network's The True Oldies Channel. [10] (The KQLZ call letters previously resided at a station in Los Angeles which, like the satellite-delivered True Oldies Channel, was programmed by Scott Shannon.) [11] )
Modern Rock and Talk
On September 4, 2009, at Noon, KQLZ ended three days of stunting with "Thriller" by Michael Jackson to become country music-formatted "99.1 The Bronco". [12] The move came after the demise of True Oldies and the subsequent retirement of longtime Boise radio voice "Big" Jack Armstrong. [13] However, the country format lasted only a few hours; that same day at 3:49 p.m., KQLZ flipped to modern rock as "99.1 The Virus". [14] [15] Questions arose about the new name as it shared that of an XM Satellite Radio talk channel, The Virus. However, the general manager of Impact Radio didn't "consider it a problem". [16] Since the original launch, the station dropped the Virus name and rebranded as "V99.1 FM". [17] [18]
On August 8, 2011, KQLZ flipped to a news/talk format as a simulcast of KINF (730 AM, now dark). A week later, on August 15, the station changed its call sign to KINF-FM. [5] On January 1, 2013, the KINF simulcast ended with the AM station becoming an ESPN Radio affiliate; KINF-FM retained the news/talk format.
Regional Mexican
On November 26, 2013, KPDA swapped frequencies with KINF-FM, moving the former station's regional Mexican format known as "La Poderosa" from 99.1 to 100.7 FM. The 100.7 frequency adopted the KPDA call letters the following day. [19] On February 12, 2014, the call sign changed again to KQBL; [5] two days later, on February 14, the station changed its format to country, branded as "100.7 The Bull". [20]
On February 11, 2015, KQBL reverted to the KPDA call sign; [5] the next day, JLD Media, LLC consummated the purchase of KPDA from Impact Radio Group, at a purchase price of $200,000. [21] KPDA restored the former "La Poderosa" regional Mexican format on March 1. On March 27, owner Kevin Terry transferred KPDA's license to Radio Rancho, LLC. [22]