KLVO (FM)

KLVO

City of license	Belen, New Mexico
Broadcast area	Albuquerque and Central New Mexico
Branding	Radio Lobo
Frequency	97.7 MHz
First air date	1981
Format	Regional Mexican
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	262 meters
Class	C1
Facility ID	25529
Former callsigns	KMLW (1981-1985) KARS-FM (1985-1995) KLVO (1995-2007) KDLW (2007–2011)
Owner	American General Media
Sister stations	KABG, KAGM, KARS (AM), KDLW, KHFM, KSFE
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	radiolobo.net

KLVO (97.7 MHz) is an FM radio station serving Central New Mexico. It is licensed to Belen, New Mexico, and broadcasts at 97.7 MHz. It is owned by American General Media. Its studios are located in Northeast Albuquerque and the transmitter tower is located west of Los Lunas, New Mexico.

KLVO broadcasts a New Mexico music and regional Mexican format branded as "Radio Lobo". The current format originally launched on September 30, 2011, branded as "97.7 La Invasora" but in early November 2012 it has revived its former "Radio Lobo" brand that had been used on this frequency from 1995 to 2007. It has also begun a simulcast on KKIM-FM 94.7, extending its coverage to Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. On August 3, 2015 the Santa Fe broadcast moved to KSFE 102.9.

Beginning in January 2015, KLVO/KSFE features El show de Piolin, which had aired on rival KJFA from 2007 to 2013.

Station history

From 1985-1995 97.7 was KARS-FM which had a country music format some of which had remained in existence on KARS (AM) 860 long after the FM station dropped the format.

In early 1995 the station became KLVO "Radio Lobo" a Regional Mexican format. At the time of its launch there were no other Spanish language radio stations on the FM band other than the programming on public radio station KANW. "Lobo" faced more competition soon after its launch but had become the top rated Spanish station for many years. In November 2007 it moved to 106.7 FM but would fall to its competitor KJFA "La Jefa". Lobo ended on January 31, 2011 to make way for another station that also started on the same 97.7 frequency.

Wild 97.7

KDLW launched on December 7, 2007, as a newly revived version of former Rhythmic Top 40 sister station KYLZ "Wild 106". KYLZ aired on 106.3 FM from 1997–2005 and went head-to-head with KKSS "Kiss" 97.3 which had been very popular with local youth for much of the 1990s. The two stations would often be in a fierce battle for hip-hop listeners over the next seven years. KYLZ would be the lone rhythmic station for a period of almost two years after KKSS shifted to mainstream top 40 in early 2001 but returned to rhythmic in late 2002 putting the two stations in direct competition once again for the next couple of years until Wild 106 ended in February 2005 in favor of a news and talk format.

However the new version of "Wild" would not have the same impact as KYLZ had. In the arbitron ratings KDLW lagged greatly behind KKSS as well as KKOB-FM.

KYLZ's former frequency is now KDLW "Power 106," which changed back to Rhythmic in July 2009. This gave AGM two stations in the same cluster with the same format for about a month until KDLW flipped to the Top 40 Pop music format.

OMG! 97.7

On August 24, 2009, KDLW made the transition from Rhythmic to Top 40/CHR by rebranding itself as "OMG! 97.7". The move had been noticeable since its sign-on as Wild 97.7, in which the station had been playing more Mainstream Top 40 product and in the wake of KAGM's flip to Rhythmic in July 2009. With this conversion, KDLW now finds itself taking on the more established Top 40/CHR rival KKOB-FM.

Beginning on January 31, 2011 OMG! moved to 106.7 FM which covers the Albuquerque area with less static, a problem for 97.7 and about 3 other stations broadcasting out of Valencia County from sites about 30 miles south of Albuquerque. Its broadcast on 97.7 ended on February 17 with a loop of morning personalities Jeff & Jamie telling listeners to tune into 106.7 throughout the entire day.

Shine 97.7

On February 18, 2011 AGM launched a Christian Contemporary music format branded as "Shine 97.7". However the Albuquerque market already has a few non-commercial stations broadcasting the niche format including KQLV 90.7 "K-Love" which is programmed by satellite as well as KFLQ 91.5, KNKT 107.1 and younger focused stations KLYT 88.3 and KQRI 105.5. "Shine" was a commercial format but emphasized that it was local promoting it as "Albuquerque's very own". The format however only lasted just over seven months.

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for KLVO
• Radio-Locator information on KLVO
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for KLVO