Broadcast area Albuquerque/Santa Fe First air date 1947 | Branding AM 1350 KABQ | |
City Albuquerque, New Mexico Slogan Albuquerque's Progressive Talk Frequency 1350 kHz (also on HD Radio)
104.7 HD2 | ||
KABQ (1350 AM, "Progressive Talk 1350") is a radio station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications). The station features a news and talk format that started in August 2004.
It signed on the air in 1947 on 1490 kHz. It moved to 1340 kHz in 1949 then to 1350 kHz in 1959.
KABQ transmits at full power (5000 watts) only during the day, dropping to 500 watts at night, and reception can be problematic outside the immediate Albuquerque area due to more powerful stations broadcasting on identical or nearby frequencies from the U.S. and Mexico. Its studios are located in Northeast Albuquerque.
KABQ started out as full-time affiliate of Air America Radio. Today it relies on syndicated progressive hosts including Dial Global's Bill Press, Stephanie Miller, and Thom Hartmann. It also features Norman Goldman, Alan Colmes and Mike Malloy. Hourly news updates are provided by NBC News. No local news or weather is featured only local traffic reports.
Sometime in 2007, Clear Channel has placed this station, along with KABQ-FM into the Aloha Station Trust to comply with FCC limitations. However, KABQ-AM has returned into Clear Channel's portfolio.
In May 2014 both Ed Schultz and Randi Rhodes, who had the longest running programs on the station since 2004, had ended their shows. Recently Thom Hartmann has taken Schultz's midday time slot while Leslie Marshall is heard in the afternoons and Norman Goldman has replaced Rhodes in late afternoons. A replay of Bill Press is heard in the evening slot where Goldman had previously aired.
One of the few local programs featured is "Science Watch" a discussion on scientific topics which airs on Saturday afternoons.
The station has often generated decent ratings for a 5 kW AM station over the years sometimes rating above 2 shares overall and is often ranked the second most listened to talk radio station in the market behind 770 KKOB.
KABQ(AM) does not broadcast in HD, but is heard in HD on KABQ-FM 104.7 HD2.