Broadcast area Albuquerque First air date 1986 | Branding 100.9 The Beat | |
City Albuquerque, New Mexico Slogan Albuquerque's Real Hip-Hop and R&B Frequency 100.9 MHz
(also KZRR 94.1 HD-2) | ||
K265CA (100.9 FM) is a commercial FM translator radio station located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, broadcasting to the Albuquerque metropolitan area, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications). Its studios are located in Northeast Albuquerque and the transmitter tower is located atop Sandia Crest.
Programming on K265CA is rebroadcast from an HD Radio subchannel of KZRR FM 94.1.
K265CA airs an Urban Contemporary format branded as "100.9 The Beat" and using the slogan promoting itself as "Albuquerque's Real Hip-Hop and R&B". K265CA competes against Univision's KKSS.
KMGG-LP, a local low-powered FM station that airs an Urban Adult Contemporary format, is also named "The Beat".
History
The translator began broadcasting in 1986 and has always rebroadcast the programming from 104.1 FM. In February 2013, Clear Channel Communications applied to the FCC for an upgrade from 50 watts to the class maximum of 250 watts, while also changing the programming to rebroadcast an HD radio subchannel. The upgrade was made in June 2013, and on August 27, 2013, K265CA had broken off from rebroadcasting KTEG and began airing its own format from KTEG-HD2 playing Christmas music, which began promoting itself as "Santa 100.9" on September 4, being the first station in broadcast radio to flip to Christmas music for the holidays, and setting a record for the earliest any station in the United States has ever flipped to Christmas music before the holiday itself and possibly the longest any terrestrial radio station has ever run that format.
The Christmas music format had aired commercial free for four months, which also put it in direct competition with KMGA, an Adult Contemporary station which usually changes to the all Christmas music format at about mid-November.
On January 2, 2014 at Midnight, K265CA launched a Rhythmic Oldies format branded as "Hot 100.9" that features hip-hop, R&B and dance-pop from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.
In the Spring of 2014, the HD Radio feed switched from KTEG-HD2 to KZRR-HD2, with the programming remaining the same on K265CA.
On November 3, 2014, the Rhythmic Oldies format moved over to KLQT, re-branding as "Hot 95.1". "Hot" continued to simulcast on 100.9 for more than two months. On January 10, 2015, K265CA began stunting with a loop of Michael Jackson's "Beat It". On January 12, at Noon, K265CA launched an Urban contemporary format, branded as "100.9 The Beat".