KKLY

KKLY is a radio station broadcasting on 89.5 FM in El Paso, Texas, United States. It is owned and operated by the Educational Media Foundation as a transmitter in its K-Love network, airing contemporary Christian music.

KKLY
CityEl Paso, Texas
Broadcast areaEl Paso metropolitan area
Frequency89.5 MHz
Programming
FormatContemporary Christian music
NetworkK-Love
Ownership
OwnerEducational Media Foundation
History
First air date
May 1985 (1985-05)
Former call signs
KXCR (1985–2006)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID19786
ClassC2
ERP3,500 watts
HAAT369 m (1,211 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
31°47′42.4″N 106°28′53″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.klove.com

Prior to being sold to EMF, the station was KXCR, a public, bilingual jazz music radio station, between 1985 and 2002.

History

On October 19, 1983, the Federal Communications Commission granted a construction permit to ETCOM (Empowerment Through Communication) for a new, 126-watt noncommercial radio station on 89.5 MHz in El Paso. ETCOM had been seeking a bilingual radio station for El Paso since 1976, when it was founded by the Metropolitan Board of Missions, and had already produced public radio programming for NPR,[1] including feature capsules and a radio drama on the life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.[2]

The new station went on the air in May 1985[3] as KXCR, a station with an emphasis on local and community programs, mostly in English but with some output in Spanish.[4] The young station was chosen to house the Latin American News Service, a Corporation for Public Broadcasting-supported news agency providing bilingual reporting on Latin America to as many as 77 public radio stations.[3][5] The news service closed in 1989 due to a failure to secure funding sources beyond the CPB.[5]

By 1989, KXCR's primary musical format was jazz.[5] The station was struggling for funding in a rare market with two separate public radio operations and had nearly gone off the air in 1988.[5] The jazz and world music programming was supplemented by additional spoken-word fare, such as the public radio program The World, in 1996.[6] It added alternative music at night in 1998, seeking to reach a youth audience.[7] Beginning in April 1995, one particularly unusual feature produced at KXCR—distributed to 185 stations in the United States and beyond—was Universo, the Spanish-language version of StarDate.[8] (KXCR itself did not air the program, which station executives believed to be the only syndicated radio program originating from El Paso.[9])

In April 2002, KXCR ceased to air most of its programming, with the temporary exception of its youth shows, and was leased out to the Educational Media Foundation, which immediately began airing K-Love.[10][11] EMF closed on the $1 million purchase of the station in January 2003.[12] The studios were purchased by the Self Reliance Border Media Project after the EMF takeover.[13]

References
  1. Rentería, Ramón (December 19, 1982). "El Paso production has national impact". El Paso Times. pp. 1A, 6A. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  2. Davis, Mary Margaret (September 20, 1983). "Nostalgic benefit uses radio's past for group's future". El Paso Times. p. 1D. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  3. Landis, David (December 8, 1985). "News of Latin America to be beamed from El Paso". El Paso Times. pp. 1B, 3B. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  4. Ross, Phil (April 8, 1985). "Non-commercial station hopes to nurture ties to community". El Paso Times. p. 3-E. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  5. Crowder, David (January 6, 1989). "Public radio station loses manager, news service". El Paso Times. p. 2B. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  6. Rentería, Ramón (November 19, 1996). "88.5 [sic] blends jazz music with global news shows". El Paso Times. p. 1D. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  7. Chong Warson, Skipper (September 26, 1998). "Alternative wave: KXCR strikes a chord with youth". El Paso Times. p. 3D. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  8. Roberts, Chris (May 4, 2002). "Spanish astronomy program growing in popularity". The Monitor. Associated Press. p. 8C. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  9. Rentería, Ramón (April 25, 1999). "KXCR-FM's 'Universo' delivers cosmos en español". El Paso Times. pp. 1F, 6F. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  10. "KXCR-FM radio changes format". El Paso Times. April 5, 2002. p. 12B. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  11. Hernandez, Michael D. (May 17, 2002). "New radio format uses divine intervention". El Paso Times. p. 1D. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  12. "EMF closes in on El Paso". RBR Morning E-Paper. January 14, 2003. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  13. "Universo radio program celebrates 10 years, brings astronomy & skylore to Spanish-speaking audience". McDonald Observatory. March 1, 2005. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
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