Branding The Peak | ||
City Albuquerque, New Mexico Broadcast area Albuquerque, Santa Fe, New Mexico and surrounding areas Slogan Albuquerque's Music Variety from the 90's til Now Frequency 100.3 (MHz) (also on HD Radio) First air date December 1974 (as KPAR-FM) | ||
KPEK is a commercial radio station located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, broadcasting on 100.3 FM. KPEK airs a hot adult contemporary music format branded as "The Peak". Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications), its studios are located in Northeast Albuquerque and the transmitter tower is atop Sandia Crest east of the city.
KPEK broadcasts in the HD Radio format.
The Peak features Jackie, Tony & Donnie in the morning with local personality Ryan in middays along with Randi West, who originates at WMTX in Tampa FL., in afternoons and Haze from KMYI in San Diego CA. at night.
History
100.3 went on the air in 1974 as KPAR-FM.
In 1979 the station became KKJY with an easy listening format made up of mostly instrumental music branded as "K-Joy". K-Joy lasted for about 15 years and shifted to smooth jazz around 1993.
In late 1994, KKJY switched from Smooth jazz to 70s oldies. The callsign changed to KHTZ branded as "K-Hits". This format lasted under two years by which time the station was sold to Trumper Communications in 1996.
100.3 became "The Peak" which launched in September 1996 as KPEK with a modern adult contemporary format built on the popularity of artists such as Hootie & the Blowfish, Counting Crows and Alanis Morissette. Gene & Julie were the stations first morning program who would help to grow the stations audience before moving to a bigger market in 1999. KPEK was purchased by Clear Channel Communications in 1999. By 2000, The Peaks' format had skewed towards alternative rock after its sister station KTEG "The Edge" moved on to heavier rock. Their slogan at that time was "music for the rest of us" and would be one of the top rated stations in Albuquerque. But by early 2001 two of its competitors would challenge the station creating a fierce battle in the alternative format as well as a sister station on 104.1 adding an AAA format by 2002. By 2003 KPEK would bring on Tony & Jackie who had been heard on local top 40 stations KKSS, KCHQ, and KKOB-FM in past years. The Peak would also shift to a Hot AC format returning it to a pop-based format rather than a rock-based one. The stations slogan throughout the rest of the decade was "80's, 90's and now". The Peak had often featured a large selection of 80's music that it termed "Tainted 80's" for much of the first 15 years of the stations run. By 2010 the station began to focus more on the "90's til now" with less 80's although a small amount of 80's music has still been featured.