City Beaumont, Texas Format Regional Mexican | Branding El Norte 107.9 FM | |
Broadcast area Beaumont-Port Arthur (including the Houston area) Frequency 107.9 MHz (also on HD Radio) First air date April 16, 1987 (Class C1, as KWIC) | ||
KQQK (107.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Regional Mexican format. It is licensed to Beaumont, Texas, United States, and is owned by Liberman Broadcasting.
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Beaumont's "Quick 108" Hits the Air
The station signed on in 1987, licensed as a 100 kilowatt Class C1 rock radio station, using the moniker "Quick 108" as KWIC, and serving the City of Beaumont from a site off of Fannett Rd. near Tyrrell Park.
A "Quick" Move West
In 1993, the facility was sold and moved to its current facility in Devers, Texas to include service into Houston as KXTJ, "Super Tejano 108". It attempted to rival longtime Tejano station powerhouse KQQK Galveston with a similar contemporary Spanish, "Tejano" format.
La Nueva "Z"
In 1995, El Dorado Communications outright purchased the signal and began simulcasting KXTJ with KQQK. Not long after, KXTJ was split off of the simulcast, resulting in a format change to "La Nueva Z", a Regional Mexican format.
KQQK Moves From 106.5
In 2001, KQQK was moved to 107.9 after 106.5 was purchased by Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (predecessor to Univision), As a part of this format shuffle, HBC moved its highly successful "K-Love" format from the two rimshot signals of 93.3 & 104.9 FM to the superior 106.5 signal.
"XO" and "El Norte"
On January 3, 2010, KQQK and sister station KXGJ Bay City began simulcasting together as "XO". In 2012, the two began simulcasting the programming of KNTE-FM El Campo as "El Norte". This occurred in anticipation of KNTE-FM's pending sale to the KSBJ Foundation. Once 96.9 was divested, 107.9 and 101.7 remained in simulcast, with 101.7 assuming the KNTE call letters.
The simulcast lasted until 2014, when 101.7 broke from the simulcast to relaunch independently as "Baila 101.7". At this point, 101.7 changed partners to simulcast its AM sister station KEYH Houston, which it remains doing so currently, as Regional Mexican formatted "La Ranchera".