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KGRE (AM): Difference between revisions

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Coordinates: 40°26′15″N 104°43′25″W / 40.43750°N 104.72361°W / 40.43750; -104.72361
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{{short description|Regional Mexican radio station in Greeley, Colorado}}
{{Infobox radio station
{{Infobox radio station
| name = KGRE
| name = KGRE
| image =
| logo = KGRE Tigre1450-102.1 logo.png
| logo_size = 150px
| city = [[Greeley, Colorado]]
| city = [[Greeley, Colorado]]
| area = [[Fort Collins, Colorado]]-[[Greeley, Colorado|Greeley]]
| area = [[Fort Collins, Colorado]]-[[Greeley, Colorado|Greeley]]
Line 7: Line 9:
| translator = K271BN 102.1 FM [[Estes Park, Colorado|Estes Park]]/Greeley
| translator = K271BN 102.1 FM [[Estes Park, Colorado|Estes Park]]/Greeley
| frequency = 1450 [[kHz]]
| frequency = 1450 [[kHz]]
| airdate = August 1948
| airdate = {{Start date|1948|8|24}}{{r|bcyb76}}
| format = [[Regional Mexican]]
| format = [[Regional Mexican]]
| power = 1,000 [[watt]]s
| power = 1,000 [[watt]]s
| class = C
| class = C
| facility_id = [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=33821 33821]
| facility_id = 33821
| coordinates = {{coord|40|26|15|N|104|43|25|W|region:US-CO_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates = {{coord|40|26|15|N|104|43|25|W|region:US-CO_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| callsign_meaning = '''K''' '''GRE'''eley
| callsign_meaning = Greeley
| former_callsigns =
| former_callsigns = KYOU (1948–1984)<br>KGRE (1984–1986)<br>KATR (1986–1989)
| affiliations =
| affiliations =
| owner = Greeley Broadcasting Corporation
| owner = Greeley Broadcasting Corporation
| licensee =
| licensee =
| sister_stations =
| sister_stations = [[KFCS]], [[KRYE (FM)|KRYE]]
| webcast = {{listen live|http://www.tigrecolorado.com}}
| webcast = {{listen live|http://www.tigrecolorado.com}}
| website = [http://www.tigrecolorado.com tigrecolorado.com]
| website = [http://www.tigrecolorado.com tigrecolorado.com]
| licensing_authority= [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
}}
}}
'''KGRE''' (1450 [[AM broadcasting|AM]]) is a [[radio station]] broadcasting a [[Regional Mexican]] format. Licensed to [[Greeley, Colorado]], United States, it serves the Ft. Collins-Greeley area. The station is currently owned by Greeley Broadcasting Corporation.
'''KGRE''' (1450 [[AM broadcasting|AM]]) is a [[radio station]] broadcasting a [[Regional Mexican]] format. Licensed to [[Greeley, Colorado]], United States, it serves the Ft. Collins-Greeley area. The station is currently owned by Greeley Broadcasting Corporation.

==History==

===KYOU===

1450 went on the air as '''KYOU''' on August 24, 1948.<ref name="bcyb76">{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1976/1976-BC-YB.pdf|date=1976|title=KYOU|work=1976 Broadcasting Yearbook|page=C-31|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> Owned for 30 years by the Meroco Broadcasting Company, the station broadcast with 250 watts of power from a transmitter at 2424 6th Avenue. In 1961, KYOU relocated its transmitter outside of town and boosted its daytime power to 1,000 watts.<ref name="hc">{{FCC letter|callsign=KGRE|letterid=45898|hcards=yes}}</ref> KYOU was primarily a full-service station with ABC and Intermountain Network news, while its sister station KGRE (92.3, later 92.5 FM), established in 1967, aired middle-of-the-road music.{{r|bcyb76}} KYOU-KGRE was acquired by O'Kieffe Broadcasting, owned by Donald O'Malley and George Keiffer, in 1978 for $770,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/78-OCR/1978-08-07-BC-OCR-Page-0067.pdf|title=Changing Hands|date=August 8, 1978|page=67|work=Broadcasting|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref>

===The 1980s and 1990s: ownership carousel===

The 1980s brought a series of changes to 1450 AM, beginning with a 1983 sale of 84 percent of the stations to Kenneth R. Greenwood for $310,000 in October 1983 that provided immediate cash relief to O'Kieffe.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1983/BC-1983-10-31.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=October 31, 1983|page=70|title=Changing Hands|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> Four months later, Greenwood sold the pair to Oklahoma-based Swab-Fox Services.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1984/BC-1984-02-20.pdf|date=February 20, 1984|work=Broadcasting|pages=70–71|accessdate=September 26, 2019|title=Changing Hands}}</ref> In May 1984, KGRE and KYOU switched call letters, with KYOU moving to the FM to project a more regional image while KGRE at 1450 AM remained focused on Greeley;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36394291/|title=Radio stations change call letters|date=May 31, 1984|page=19|work=Windsor Beacon|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> the FM station is now [[KKSE-FM]], since moved from Greeley to [[Broomfield, Colorado]]. Later that year, however, the stations would change ownership again when Swab-Fox merged with the publisher of the ''[[Tulsa Tribune]]'' newspaper.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1984/BC-1984-08-13.pdf|date=August 13, 1984|work=Broadcasting|title=Changing Hands|page=74|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> KGRE (and KYOU) had now flipped to separately programmed country formats.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1985/1985-BC-YB.pdf|page=B-44|date=1985|title=KGRE(AM)|work=1985 Broadcasting Yearbook|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref>

Ownership in KGRE changed yet again when Denver-based Surrey Broadcasting Company, trading as Surco of Northern Colorado, acquired KGRE and KYOU for $1.7 million in 1986.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1986/BC-1986-04-28.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=April 28, 1986|title=Changing Hands|page=86|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> The new owners changed the call letters to '''KATR''' on August 10 of that year, though the station continued to play country music.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1987/1987-BC-YB.pdf|work=1987 Broadcasting Yearbook|title=KATR(AM)|page=B-48|accessdate=September 26, 2019|date=1987}}</ref> Surrey sold the station in 1988—the fifth and final sale in the 1980s—to Robert and Marjorie Zellmer, this time without the former FM sister, for $230,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1988/BC-1988-10-31.pdf|date=October 31, 1988|work=Broadcasting|title=Changing Hands|accessdate=September 26, 2019|page=63}}</ref> KATR reclaimed the KGRE call letters on January 1, 1989.

The Zellmers held onto KGRE until 1991, when it was sold to Keith M. Ashton for $275,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/91-OCR/BC-1991-02-04-OCR-Page-0035.pdf|work=Broadcasting|page=35|title=Changing Hands|date=February 4, 1991|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> The next year, Ashton thought he had found a buyer: Ross Fleischmann, a postal executive from Oklahoma City, who agreed to buy KGRE for $350,000, including the assumption of a loan Ashton had taken on to buy the station, in November 1992. With the sale awaiting closure, Fleischmann brought in general manager Paul Lowrey. However, the station began to lose money, and several months later, the deal collapsed, leading to the station and Ashton each declaring bankruptcy; in 1995, Ashton sued Fleischmann in Colorado court.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36395232/|agency=Associated Press|work=The Daily Sentinel|date=December 14, 1995|title=Former owner of radio station sues over deal|accessdate=September 26, 2019|page=7D}}</ref>

[[Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation]] acquired the station for $170,000 in 1994, though Ashton remained on as the general manager of KGRE and the station's format remained in English, with oldies replacing country.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Annuals/Archive-BC-YB-IDX/90s-OCR-YB/1996-YB/1996-BC-YB-OCR-Page-0228.pdf|page=B-68|title=KGRE(AM)|work=1996 Broadcasting Yearbook|date=1996|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> However, by this point, KGRE was only operating 10 hours a day;{{r|preys}} it lost $5,000 to $10,000 a month, and its equipment included battered tape recorders, wobbly turntables and scratched records.{{r|bizwest}}

===El Tigre===
KGRE's ownership carousel, however, was about to come to an end. Ricardo Salazar, a radio consultant and DJ from Los Angeles who had previously been the Spanish-language radio voice of the [[Las Vegas Raiders|Los Angeles Raiders]],{{r|bizwest}} was looking to start a broadcasting business of his own.<ref name="dream">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36395259/|work=Greeley Tribune (via Fort Collins Coloradoan)|date=July 12, 2003|first=Dan|last=England|title=Dream of having own business has L.A. man stationed in Greeley|page=B4|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> He acquired KGRE for $150,000 in 1997, risking all of his savings and maxing out seven credit cards.<ref name="preys">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36395310/|work=Fort Collins Coloradoan|date=August 13, 2006|title='The Tiger' preys on FM|pages=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36395299/ E2]|first=Christine|last=McManus|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> Salazar described the station as a "minus five" on a one-to-ten scale when he acquired it.<ref name="bizwest">{{Cite news|url=https://bizwest.com/1999/11/05/tigre-starts-to-roar-in-greeley/|title='Tigre' starts to roar in Greeley|first=Tom|last=Hacker|work=BizWest|date=November 5, 1999|accessdate=September 26, 2019}}</ref> The station was reborn as [[Regional Mexican]] outlet ''El Tigre'', and Salazar turned around its finances. It was profitable by the end of 1997;{{r|bizwest}} by 2006, station revenue surpassed $600,000 a year, thanks to an annual growth rate of 20 to 30 percent.{{r|dream|preys}} Salazar expanded and bought additional stations in Colorado,{{r|preys}} including a second Tigre station for southern Colorado ([[KFCS]]-[[KRYE (FM)|KRYE]]) and an FM signal ([[KGRE-FM]] 102.1, plus a translator on 102.1 that fixes KGRE's signal issues in Greeley proper, acquired in 2018<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.rbr.com/tigre-takes-a-translator-for-full-market-coverage/|work=RBR|title='Tigre' Takes A Translator For Full-Market Coverage|date=December 28, 2018|accessdate=September 26, 2019|first=Adam|last=Jacobson}}</ref>).

Ricardo Salazar died in 2018 at the age of 67; his daughter Lindsay continues to run KGRE.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.greeleytribune.com/news/ricardo-salazar-of-the-tigre-radio-stations-in-greeley-to-be-honored-posthumously-as-grand-marshal-in-cinco-de-mayo-greeley-parade/|work=Greeley Tribune|date=May 2, 2018|title=Ricardo Salazar to be honored posthumously as Grand Marshal in Cinco de Mayo Greeley parade|first=Emily|last=Wenger|accessdate=November 14, 2019}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
*[https://www.facebook.com/kgretigrefm/ KGRE Tigre Radio]
*{{official website|http://www.tigrecolorado.com}}
*{{official website|http://www.tigrecolorado.com}}
{{AM station data|KGRE}}
{{AM station data|33821|KGRE}}


{{clear}}
{{clear}}
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[[Category:Spanish-language radio stations in Colorado|GRE]]
[[Category:Spanish-language radio stations in Colorado|GRE]]
[[Category:Greeley, Colorado]]
[[Category:Greeley, Colorado]]
[[Category:Media in Fort Collins, Colorado]]
[[Category:Mass media in Fort Collins, Colorado]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1997]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1948]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Colorado|GRE (AM)]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Colorado|GRE (AM)]]


{{Colorado-radio-station-stub}}

Latest revision as of 20:25, 4 September 2024

KGRE
Broadcast areaFort Collins, Colorado-Greeley
Frequency1450 kHz
BrandingEl Tigre
Programming
FormatRegional Mexican
Ownership
OwnerGreeley Broadcasting Corporation
KFCS, KRYE
History
First air date
August 24, 1948 (1948-08-24)[1]
Former call signs
KYOU (1948–1984)
KGRE (1984–1986)
KATR (1986–1989)
Call sign meaning
Greeley
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID33821
ClassC
Power1,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
40°26′15″N 104°43′25″W / 40.43750°N 104.72361°W / 40.43750; -104.72361
Translator(s)K271BN 102.1 FM Estes Park/Greeley
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitetigrecolorado.com

KGRE (1450 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Regional Mexican format. Licensed to Greeley, Colorado, United States, it serves the Ft. Collins-Greeley area. The station is currently owned by Greeley Broadcasting Corporation.

History

[edit]

KYOU

[edit]

1450 went on the air as KYOU on August 24, 1948.[1] Owned for 30 years by the Meroco Broadcasting Company, the station broadcast with 250 watts of power from a transmitter at 2424 6th Avenue. In 1961, KYOU relocated its transmitter outside of town and boosted its daytime power to 1,000 watts.[3] KYOU was primarily a full-service station with ABC and Intermountain Network news, while its sister station KGRE (92.3, later 92.5 FM), established in 1967, aired middle-of-the-road music.[1] KYOU-KGRE was acquired by O'Kieffe Broadcasting, owned by Donald O'Malley and George Keiffer, in 1978 for $770,000.[4]

[edit]

The 1980s brought a series of changes to 1450 AM, beginning with a 1983 sale of 84 percent of the stations to Kenneth R. Greenwood for $310,000 in October 1983 that provided immediate cash relief to O'Kieffe.[5] Four months later, Greenwood sold the pair to Oklahoma-based Swab-Fox Services.[6] In May 1984, KGRE and KYOU switched call letters, with KYOU moving to the FM to project a more regional image while KGRE at 1450 AM remained focused on Greeley;[7] the FM station is now KKSE-FM, since moved from Greeley to Broomfield, Colorado. Later that year, however, the stations would change ownership again when Swab-Fox merged with the publisher of the Tulsa Tribune newspaper.[8] KGRE (and KYOU) had now flipped to separately programmed country formats.[9]

Ownership in KGRE changed yet again when Denver-based Surrey Broadcasting Company, trading as Surco of Northern Colorado, acquired KGRE and KYOU for $1.7 million in 1986.[10] The new owners changed the call letters to KATR on August 10 of that year, though the station continued to play country music.[11] Surrey sold the station in 1988—the fifth and final sale in the 1980s—to Robert and Marjorie Zellmer, this time without the former FM sister, for $230,000.[12] KATR reclaimed the KGRE call letters on January 1, 1989.

The Zellmers held onto KGRE until 1991, when it was sold to Keith M. Ashton for $275,000.[13] The next year, Ashton thought he had found a buyer: Ross Fleischmann, a postal executive from Oklahoma City, who agreed to buy KGRE for $350,000, including the assumption of a loan Ashton had taken on to buy the station, in November 1992. With the sale awaiting closure, Fleischmann brought in general manager Paul Lowrey. However, the station began to lose money, and several months later, the deal collapsed, leading to the station and Ashton each declaring bankruptcy; in 1995, Ashton sued Fleischmann in Colorado court.[14]

Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation acquired the station for $170,000 in 1994, though Ashton remained on as the general manager of KGRE and the station's format remained in English, with oldies replacing country.[15] However, by this point, KGRE was only operating 10 hours a day;[16] it lost $5,000 to $10,000 a month, and its equipment included battered tape recorders, wobbly turntables and scratched records.[17]

El Tigre

[edit]

KGRE's ownership carousel, however, was about to come to an end. Ricardo Salazar, a radio consultant and DJ from Los Angeles who had previously been the Spanish-language radio voice of the Los Angeles Raiders,[17] was looking to start a broadcasting business of his own.[18] He acquired KGRE for $150,000 in 1997, risking all of his savings and maxing out seven credit cards.[16] Salazar described the station as a "minus five" on a one-to-ten scale when he acquired it.[17] The station was reborn as Regional Mexican outlet El Tigre, and Salazar turned around its finances. It was profitable by the end of 1997;[17] by 2006, station revenue surpassed $600,000 a year, thanks to an annual growth rate of 20 to 30 percent.[18][16] Salazar expanded and bought additional stations in Colorado,[16] including a second Tigre station for southern Colorado (KFCS-KRYE) and an FM signal (KGRE-FM 102.1, plus a translator on 102.1 that fixes KGRE's signal issues in Greeley proper, acquired in 2018[19]).

Ricardo Salazar died in 2018 at the age of 67; his daughter Lindsay continues to run KGRE.[20]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "KYOU" (PDF). 1976 Broadcasting Yearbook. 1976. p. C-31. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KGRE". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ FCC History Cards for KGRE
  4. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 8, 1978. p. 67. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  5. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 31, 1983. p. 70. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  6. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 20, 1984. pp. 70–71. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  7. ^ "Radio stations change call letters". Windsor Beacon. May 31, 1984. p. 19. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  8. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 13, 1984. p. 74. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  9. ^ "KGRE(AM)" (PDF). 1985 Broadcasting Yearbook. 1985. p. B-44. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  10. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 28, 1986. p. 86. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  11. ^ "KATR(AM)" (PDF). 1987 Broadcasting Yearbook. 1987. p. B-48. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  12. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 31, 1988. p. 63. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  13. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 4, 1991. p. 35. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  14. ^ "Former owner of radio station sues over deal". The Daily Sentinel. Associated Press. December 14, 1995. p. 7D. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  15. ^ "KGRE(AM)" (PDF). 1996 Broadcasting Yearbook. 1996. p. B-68. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  16. ^ a b c d McManus, Christine (August 13, 2006). "'The Tiger' preys on FM". Fort Collins Coloradoan. pp. E1, E2. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  17. ^ a b c d Hacker, Tom (November 5, 1999). "'Tigre' starts to roar in Greeley". BizWest. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  18. ^ a b England, Dan (July 12, 2003). "Dream of having own business has L.A. man stationed in Greeley". Greeley Tribune (via Fort Collins Coloradoan). p. B4. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  19. ^ Jacobson, Adam (December 28, 2018). "'Tigre' Takes A Translator For Full-Market Coverage". RBR. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  20. ^ Wenger, Emily (May 2, 2018). "Ricardo Salazar to be honored posthumously as Grand Marshal in Cinco de Mayo Greeley parade". Greeley Tribune. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
[edit]
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