KZRR

KZRR (94.1 FM, "94 Rock") is a commercial radio station located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, broadcasting to the Albuquerque-Santa Fe, New Mexico, area. KZRR airs active rock. 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.
KZRR broadcasts in the HD Radio format.
Local personalities include morning hosts Swami Rob, Skyler and Phil Mahoney. Ron "Big Rig" Michaels is featured in the afternoon.
History.
This station went on the air in July 1961 as KDEF-FM broadcasting alongside sister station KDEF AM 1150. The station would initially broadcast from 11am to 11pm but in May 1962 would begin a fulltime broadcast. In September 1962 KDEF AM & FM were sold by owner Frank Quinn to a Philadelphia group. Doubleday Broadcasting would purchase the stations in 1965 and by about 1970, KDEF-FM would be operated by the University of Albuquerque as a student run station. Media Horizons would purchase the stations in 1973 and would move the studios from downtown to the northeast heights. In March 1976, KDEF-FM was sold to Gaylord Broadcasting Co. for $150,000. 94.1 would be changed to KRKE-FM which were also used at KRKE AM 610 which Gaylord had purchased in 1973. KDEF AM would be sold to a different owner. Plans also included moving the transmitter to Sandia Crest. The format on KRKE-FM was initially "Modern Country" but by the end of that year the format was listed as "Automated Rock" while a 1977 Arbitron summery listed it as "beautiful music". Later in 1977 the station would pick up the Abrams/Burkhart "Superstars" Album-oriented Rock format which would also be the first use of the name "94 Rock". In January 1980, Gaylord would sell KRKE AM & FM to Journal Star station group for $4.5 million. In June the call letters would be changed to KWXL still branded as "94 Rock". In March 1985 the stations were sold to Compass Communications. In April the station changed its call letters back to KRKE-FM intending to make station identification easier in morning and afternoon "drive-time" spots with KRKE AM 610. The format was also changed to the "Superstars II" format with an emphasis on rock from the 1960s an 70s as well as a Sunday morning jazz program intending to reach an older audience than what KWXL had with a mostly 18-24 audience.
In 1986 the stations were sold again to Sandia Peak Broadcasters. In July it changed to the current KZRR callsign rebranding as "The new 94 Rock". AM 610 would change to KZSS with an Adult Contemporary format but in March 1988 it would simulcast KZRR citing problems of "public perception of the AM band". In November 1986 the station would launch its morning "shock" radio show hosted by TJ Trout. TJ Trout was featured in nearly all billboard and television ads over the next couple decades also helping keep station ratings high before Trout retired in December 2011. In 1993, Sandia Peak Broadcasters would merge with Progressive Broadcasting which owned classic rock formatted KLSK 104.1 to become Twin Peaks Radio. By this time KZRR began to lean more on modern rock without completely changing to that format, promoting itself as "The Cutting Edge of Rock". In 1996 Trumper Communications would purchase KZRR/KZSS and KLSK as well as modern rock KTEG (then on 107.9) and KHTZ 100.3. This also caused a legal dispute with TJ Trout who sued the former owners when learning that his on-air name had been trademarked. Trout had resigned and had planned to start a new show on KKOB (AM) 770. Trumper would resolve the issue by allowing Trout ownership of his name and would remain at 94 Rock (he would later join KKOB in 2019). Now clustered with classic rock and modern rock stations the music format on KZRR had changed to playing mostly hard rock with an emphasis on music from the 1980s.