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KKSE (AM)

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KKSE
Broadcast areaDenver metropolitan area
Frequency950 kHz
BrandingAltitude Sports AM 950
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatSports gambling
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
1923; 101 years ago (1923)
Former call signs
  • KFEL (1923–1954)
  • KIMN (1954–1988)
  • KYGO (1988–1994)
  • KKFN (1994–2008)
  • KRWZ (2008–2016)
Call sign meaning
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID30839
ClassB
Power5,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
39°52′30″N 104°56′0″W / 39.87500°N 104.93333°W / 39.87500; -104.93333
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.altitudesportsradio.com

KKSE (950 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Parker, Colorado, and serving the Denver metropolitan area. The station is owned by Stan Kroenke's KSE Radio Ventures.[2][3]

KKSE airs a sports gambling radio format branded as "Altitude Sports 950". KKSE has studios on South Colorado Boulevard in Glendale, with the AM transmitter located off Riverdale Road in Denver.[4] KSE Radio Ventures also owns sister stations KIMN and 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

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KFEL and KIMN

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The station first signed on in 1923 as KFEL, owned by Gene O'Fallon and broadcasting from the Albany Hotel.[5] 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.[6]

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.[7] The station was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame for its contribution to the Colorado music scene in the 1950s and 1960s.[8] By the late 1980s, KIMN evolved from Top 40 to oldies.

Denver's first airborne traffic reporter was Don Martin on KIMN's "Air Alert", who later became the vice-president of news operations, and is considered the pioneer of live news coverage in Denver. In 2007, Martin was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado Hall of Fame.[9][10]

KYGO country

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At Noon on April 26, 1988, after airing a 19-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 KYGO-FM.[11]

While the FM station concentrated on current and recent country hits, the AM used a deeper library and more personality. It was also a CBS Radio News Network affiliate. KYGO 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

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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.)[12][13]

On March 8, 2008, KKFN's sports format began simulcasting on 104.3 FM (formerly smooth jazz KJCD).[14] The simulcast only lasted six months.

Cruisin' Oldies

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On September 2, 2008, the AM station became KRWZ with an oldies format, using the moniker "Cruisin' Oldies 950".[15][16]

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.[17] The FCC approved the deal on June 26, 2015.[18]

Return to sports

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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.[19] 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 would 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.[20][21] 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).[22]

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.[23][24] 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.

On October 29, 2021, KKSE announced that it would flip the 950 AM signal to a sports betting-focused format on November 1, carrying programming from VSiN outside of live game coverage.[25]

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KKSE". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "KKSE Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ^ "KKSE Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  4. ^ Radio-Locator.com/KKSE-AM
  5. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1935 page 24
  6. ^ "DENVER RADIO: 80 Years of Change". Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
  7. ^ "Remembering Boulder's fab time with The Beatles - Second Story Garage". Second Story Garage. August 15, 2014. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  8. ^ "KIMN Radio - Colorado Music Hall of Fame". cmhof.org. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  9. ^ Roberts, Michael (September 5, 2019). "Remembering Don Martin, Pioneer of Live News Coverage in Denver". Westword. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  10. ^ "Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame 2007 Inductees". Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  11. ^ https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1980s/1988/RR-1988-04-15.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  12. ^ "New station gets Moe for its money", The Denver Post, May 5, 1995.
  13. ^ "KKFN Marks 25th Anniversary". March 5, 2020.
  14. ^ "The Fan Denver Moves to FM". March 7, 2008.
  15. ^ "KRWZall Sign History". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  16. ^ "Oldies radio set to make comeback in Denver with KRWZ". September 2, 2008.
  17. ^ "Entercom Acquires Lincoln Financial Media" from Radio Insight (December 8, 2014)
  18. ^ "FCC OKs Lincoln Financial-Entercom Deal" from All Access (June 26, 2015)
  19. ^ "KSE Media Ventures Acquires KRWZ Denver From Entercom" from Radio Insight (December 17, 2015)
  20. ^ "Altitude Sports 950 Denver Sets Launch Lineup". April 5, 2016.
  21. ^ "Altitude enters Denver's sports talk radio market". April 4, 2016.
  22. ^ Rich Eisen [@richeisen] (March 12, 2016). "Starting April 11 on KKSE-AM 950, home of @nuggets @Avalanche and @ColoradoRapids Quite pumped" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  23. ^ "950AM Altitude Sports Radio - Altitude TV". Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  24. ^ http://www.altitude.tv/media/2307/altitude-sports-radio-press-release-040816.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  25. ^ "VSiN Comes To Denver". RadioInsight. October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
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