KQRT
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name = KQRT
| logo = KQRT logo.png
| city = Las Vegas, Nevada
| country = United States
| area = Las Vegas Valley
| branding = La Tricolor 105.1
| frequency = 105.1 MHz {{HD Radio}}
| airdate = {{start date|1993|9}}
| format = Regional Mexican
| licensing_authority = FCC
| erp = 50,000 watts
| haat = {{convert|19|m|ft|sp=us}}
| class = C2
| facility_id = 51731
| coordinates = {{Wikidatacoord|Q6336365|region:US-NV_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| callsign_meaning = For "Radio Tricolor"
| former_callsigns = {{ubl|KRBO (1993–1996)|KVBC-FM (1996–2000)|KRRN (2000–2003)}}
| owner = Entravision Communications
| licensee = Entravision Holdings, LLC
| sister_stations = {{hlist|KRNV-FM|KRRN}}
| webcast =
| website = {{url|https://elboton.com/las-vegas/radiolatricolor}}
| affiliations =
}}
KQRT (La Tricolor 105.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a regional Mexican format in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The station is currently owned by Entravision Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of Entravision Communications. Its studios are in the unincorporated community of Paradise in Clark County near Harry Reid International Airport, and its transmitter is on the northwest edge of the Las Vegas Valley.
KQRT began broadcasting in 1993 as KRBO with an oldies format. From 1995 to 1999, the station was run as a news/talk outlet in a relationship with local television station KVBC. After being sold, it changed to a Spanish-language operation and adopted its present format in 2003.
History
On April 13, 1989, the Federal Communications Commission granted a construction permit to the Patmor Broadcast Group, a consortium of two formerly competing applicants for the frequency that included Washington lawyers, a businessman from Wisconsin, and Frank Sinatra.{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|259898370}} |first=Ken |last=White |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |title=More clips, less backslapping needed in show |date=July 28, 1993 |page=5D}} More than four years passed before the station went on the air as KRBO in September 1993, airing an oldies format.{{cite news |title=Local talent is sounding better after Mark & Brian debut |page=7C |id={{ProQuest|259928474}} |first=Ken |last=White |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |date=October 6, 1993}}
The oldies format continued for two years before Compass Communications, owned by Gerald Proctor, took over operations of the frequency under a local marketing agreement in 1995. The station then contracted with Radio News Co., a subsidiary of Sunbelt Communications Company; local news was contributed by Sunbelt's Las Vegas television station, KVBC (channel 3). KVBC reporters were heard on the radio station, as was the TV station's 5 p.m. local newscast.{{r|LVRJ951204}} The reformatted station provided FM competition to KNUU (970 AM).{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|199303968}} |page=1|title=FM battling AM in news radio wars |work=Las Vegas Business Press|date=June 19, 1995|first=Thomas|last=Moore}} Compass then entered into an agreement to purchase KRBO-FM outright.{{cite news |title=News radio |page=1C |id={{ProQuest|260014696}} |date=December 4, 1995|first=Ken|last=White |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal}} After Compass purchased the station, its ties to KVBC deepened. The station adopted the moniker "All News 3 FM"{{cite news |title=Show aims to meet non-gaming needs |work=Las Vegas Sun |date=June 13, 1996}} and the station changed its call sign to KVBC-FM on October 25, 1996.{{cite web |url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=51731&Callsign=KQRT |title=KQRT Call Sign History |work=United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division |access-date=January 3, 2014 |archive-date=January 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119054012/http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=51731&Callsign=KQRT |url-status=live}} KVBC-FM continued as a news/talk station with local and national talk shows, with notable syndicated offerings including Imus in the Morning{{cite news |title=Imus program returns to Las Vegas |page=7B |date=July 23, 1997 |id={{ProQuest|260022695}} |first=Ken|last=White |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal}} and Art Bell.{{r|LVRJ991202}} During the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal, KVBC-FM offered Monica Lewinsky $5 million if she would do a tell-all interview with the station.{{cite news |page=28 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1998/RR-1998-02-27.pdf |title=Street Talk |date=February 27, 1998 |work=Radio & Records |access-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-date=October 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001124831/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1998/RR-1998-02-27.pdf |url-status=live}}
While a restructuring of Compass's ownership involving Meridian Communications in 1999 was said by Proctor to give the company the potential to expand,{{cite news |url=https://lasvegassun.com/news/1999/mar/11/kvbc-fm-radio-station-preparing-for-expansion/ |work=Las Vegas Sun |date=March 11, 1999 |title=KVBC-FM Radio station preparing for expansion |access-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521193704/https://lasvegassun.com/news/1999/mar/11/kvbc-fm-radio-station-preparing-for-expansion/ |url-status=live}} the sale of the station to EXCL Communications of San Jose, California, later that year sounded the death knell for the talk station. EXCL exclusively ran Spanish-language radio stations, and consequently, the entire air staff of KVBC-FM was dismissed in early December when the station was switched to a satellite-fed music format from EXCL's headquarters.{{Cite news |title=KVBC-FM to close |id={{ProQuest|260136891}} |page=7E|date=December 2, 1999|first=Ken|last=White |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal}} KRNV-FM in Reno, which like KVBC-FM was a news/talk station utilizing resources from Sunbelt's local TV station, was also part of the deal and was switched to Spanish-language programming from EXCL at the same time.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41479680/first-spanish-fm-radio-station-to-begin/ |date=December 1, 1999 |page=1E |first=Wayne |last=Melton |title=First Spanish FM radio station to begin broadcast |newspaper=Reno Gazette-Journal |location=Reno, Nevada |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521193705/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41479680/first-spanish-fm-radio-station-to-begin/ |url-status=live}} The actual sale of KVBC-FM for $3.25 million took place the next year.{{cite news |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2000/RR-2000-02-04.pdf |date=February 4, 2000 |page=6 |title=Transactions |work=Radio & Records |access-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-date=October 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001130435/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2000/RR-2000-02-04.pdf |url-status=live}} EXCL was in turn already in the process of merging with Entravision Communications.{{Cite news |title=Entravision Buys Z-Spanish, Files For $615 Million IPO |first=Jeffrey |last=Yorke |work=Radio & Records |pages=1, 16 |date=April 28, 2000 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2000/RR-2000-04-28.pdf |access-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-date=October 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001131451/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2000/RR-2000-04-28.pdf |url-status=live}}
In 2002, Entravision entered into an agreement to acquire KRCY (92.7 FM), a station rimshotting the Las Vegas market from Kingman, Arizona.{{cite news |title=Inside Business |page=2D |id={{ProQuest|260152244}} |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |date=July 17, 2002}} It then changed that station's call sign to KQRT before announcing that it would move KRRN and its Spanish-language contemporary hit radio format to 92.7 MHz, with 105.1 MHz becoming KQRT and {{lang|es|Radio Tricolor}}.{{cite news |title=Inside Business |page=2D |id={{ProQuest|260155497}} |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |date=December 2, 2002}}
Programming
KQRT was one of 14 Entravision-owned launch stations for the return of {{lang|es|El Show de Piolín}}, hosted by Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo, in January 2015.{{cite news |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/91113/piolin-returns-to-terrestrial-radio/ |work=RadioInsight |title=Entravision Signs Piolin in 14 Markets |first=Lance |last=Venta |date=December 9, 2014 |access-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124144128/https://radioinsight.com/headlines/91113/piolin-returns-to-terrestrial-radio/ |url-status=live}} It also airs {{lang|es|El Show del Ratón}}, which Entravision syndicates from KDLD/KDLE in Los Angeles to 11 of its La Tricolor stations.{{cite news |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/214211/entravision-launches-el-show-del-raton-from-kdld-kdle-los-angeles-to-eleven-additional-markets/ |work=RadioInsight |first=Lance |last=Venta |date=October 18, 2021 |title=Entravision Launches El Show del Raton From KDLD/KDLE Los Angeles To Eleven Additional Markets |access-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-date=October 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027150721/https://radioinsight.com/headlines/214211/entravision-launches-el-show-del-raton-from-kdld-kdle-los-angeles-to-eleven-additional-markets/ |url-status=live}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{FM station data|51731|KQRT}}
{{Las Vegas Radio}}
{{Spanish Radio Stations in Nevada}}
{{Entravision Communications}}
Category:Radio stations established in 1993
Category:1993 establishments in Nevada
Category:Entravision Communications stations
Category:Regional Mexican radio stations in the United States