KKSE (AM)

KKSE (950 kHz, "Altitude Sports AM 950") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Parker, Colorado, and serving the Denver metropolitan area. The station is owned by Stan Kroenke's KSE Radio Ventures.[1][2] It mostly simulcasts co-owned KKSE-FM 92.5.

KKSE
CityParker, Colorado
Broadcast areaDenver-Boulder-metropolitan area
Frequency950 kHz
BrandingAltitude Sports AM 950
SloganDenver's Original Sports Station
Programming
FormatSports
AffiliationsDenver Nuggets
Colorado Avalanche
Colorado Rapids
Colorado Mammoth
Fox Sports Radio
Altitude
Ownership
OwnerKroenke Sports & Entertainment
(KSE Radio Ventures, LLC)
Sister stationsKIMN, KKSE-FM, KXKL
History
First air date1923 (as KFEL)
Former call signsKFEL (1923-1954)
KIMN (1954-1988)
KYGO (1988-1994)
KKFN (1994-2008)
KRWZ (2008-2016)
Call sign meaningKolorado Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
Technical information
Facility ID30839
ClassB
Power5,000 watts unlimited
Transmitter coordinates39°52′30″N 104°56′0″W
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitealtitudesportsradio.com

KKSE-AM-FM air a sports talk radio format branded as "Altitude Sports 92.5 FM." KKSE-AM-FM have studios on South Colorado Boulevard in Glendale, with the AM transmitter located off Riverdale Road in Denver.[3] KSE Radio Ventures also owns sister stations 100.3 KIMN and 105.1 KXKL-FM.

KKSE-AM-FM have local sports hosts most of the day and carry syndicated programming from Fox Sports Radio nights and weekends. KKSE-AM-FM are the flagship stations for Denver Nuggets basketball, Colorado Avalanche hockey, Colorado Rapids soccer and Colorado Mammoth lacrosse. All four teams are co-owned with KKSE-AM-FM.

History

KFEL and KIMN

The station first signed on in 1923 as KFEL, owned by Gene O'Fallon and broadcasting from the Albany Hotel.[4] It is Denver's second-oldest radio station. After several frequency moves, it eventually settled on its current location of 950 AM. O'Fallon sold the station to Standard Examiner Publishing of Ogden, Utah in 1954, and the new owners changed the call sign to KIMN.[5]

For most of the next three decades, KIMN was Denver's highly rated Top 40 outlet. It was KIMN that presented the Beatles at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in August 1964.[6] The station was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame for its contribution to the Colorado music scene in the 1950s and 1960s.[7] By the mid-1980s, KIMN evolved from Top 40 to oldies.

KYGO Country

At Noon on April 26, 1988, after airing a 12-hour retrospective of KIMN's history, the station flipped to Country music and adopted the KYGO call letters. The programming was separate from co-owned 98.5 KYGO-FM.[8]

While the FM station concentrated on current and recent country hits, KYGO 950 used a deeper library and more personality. It was also a CBS Radio News Network affiliate. KYGO 950 continued for six years playing country music before its owner, Jefferson-Pilot Communications decided on a new direction for the station. (Jefferson-Pilot later became the Lincoln Financial Group.)

Switch to Sports

On October 12, 1994, the station changed its call sign to KKFN, and the station began adding sports talk programs to its schedule. On March 6, 1995, the station completed its shift to becoming the Denver market's first ever sports radio station as "AM 950 The Fan." (The KYGO call sign and country format moved to 1600 AM. KKFN become the first all-sports station in the Denver market.[9][10]

On March 8, 2008, KKFN's sports format began simulcasting on 104.3 FM (formerly Smooth Jazz KJCD).[11] The simulcast only lasted six months.

Cruisin' Oldies

On September 2, 2008, the AM station became KRWZ with an oldies format, using the moniker "Cruisin' Oldies 950."[12][13]

On December 8, 2014, Entercom announced it would purchase Lincoln Financial's entire 15-station lineup in a $106.5 million deal. Until the transfer was complete, Entercom operated the outlets under a local marketing agreement (LMA). On December 22, 2014, Entercom announced that it would retain KRWZ and its oldies format.[14] The FCC approved the deal on June 26, 2015.[15]

Return to Sports

However, on December 17, 2015, Entercom announced it would sell KRWZ to KSE Radio Ventures, owned by Stan Kroenke. He added the station to his three recently acquired FM properties in the Denver market. KSE also announced that KRWZ would flip to a new format when the sale closes, as Entercom moved the Oldies format to KEZW on December 27.[16] On the same day, KRWZ began stunting with mostly adult standards music, as well as redirecting listeners to KEZW.

Upon the change of ownership, KRWZ adopted the call letters KKSE. KSE announced that the station will return to sports talk and become "Altitude Sports 950" (named after KSE's Altitude cable channel). The new format's programming will include the Rich Eisen Show, along with a schedule of live and local programming.[17][18] The station was to serve as the radio flagship for the Colorado Avalanche, the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Rapids, as well as the Colorado Mammoth (all of which are owned by Kroenke).[19]

The sale to KSE closed on March 14, 2016, and the station flipped to a simulcast of KWOF that day at Noon. "Altitude Sports 950" officially launched at 7 a.m. on April 8.[20][21] KKSE entered a crowded sports talk field in the Denver market, with competitors including KDSP, KDCO and former sister stations KKFN and KEPN.

On September 17, 2018, KKSE moved its local programming to 92.5 FM, with 950 AM becoming mostly a pass-through for Fox Sports Radio programming. The move was made due to its new FM sister's stronger range. The AM station must conform its nighttime signal to protect XEQ-AM in Mexico City, while the FM station provides at least grade B coverage to almost all of north-central Colorado.

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References
  1. "KKSE Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. "KKSE Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  3. Radio-Locator.com/KKSE-AM
  4. Broadcasting Yearbook 1935 page 24
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2016-09-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Remembering Boulder's fab time with The Beatles - Second Story Garage". Second Story Garage. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  7. "KIMN Radio - Colorado Music Hall of Fame". cmhof.org. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  8. https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1980s/1988/RR-1988-04-15.pdf
  9. "New station gets Moe for its money", The Denver Post, May 5, 1995.
  10. https://radioinsight.com/headlines/184970/kkfn-marks-25th-anniversary/?fbclid=IwAR05wjAZ4rerU1koLOv6Ez9JbYqfIhKkutH0_t8w_tfOkC-nKbvG7ieHnM8
  11. https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/515/the-fan-denver-moves-to-fm/
  12. "KRWZall Sign History". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  13. http://www.westword.com/news/oldies-radio-set-to-make-comeback-in-denver-with-krwz-5880985
  14. "Entercom Acquires Lincoln Financial Media" from Radio Insight (December 8, 2014)
  15. "FCC OKs Lincoln Financial-Entercom Deal" from All Access (June 26, 2015)
  16. "KSE Media Ventures Acquires KRWZ Denver From Entercom" from Radio Insight (December 17, 2015)
  17. https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/105422/kse-sets-launch-date-for-altitude-950-denver/
  18. http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_29725285/altitude-enters-denvers-sports-talk-radio-market
  19. Rich Eisen [@richeisen] (12 March 2016). "Starting April 11 on KKSE-AM 950, home of @nuggets @Avalanche and @ColoradoRapids Quite pumped" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. http://www.altitude.tv/news/950am-altitude-sports-radio/
  21. http://www.altitude.tv/media/2307/altitude-sports-radio-press-release-040816.pdf
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