Radio Bits & Bytes: From KRBO to KYDZ, 1050 to 1140 AM

With the recent change in formats and call letters for 1140 AM it got me thinking about the history of this portion of the AM dial.  The former AM counterpart to KLUC-FM 98.5 began as a daytime-only station at 1050 on the dial as KRBO in 1956. “Rainbow Incorporated” and Joe Julian owned it and hence “RBO.”  Mike Gold bought the station in 1963 and changed the call letters to KLUC and moved to the New Frontier Hotel–along with it came an FM sister station.  In 1968 came a major upgrade in power to 10,000 watts and a move up the dial to 1140.  The AM and FM would simulcast until the AM split apart from the FM and took on a new identity with new calls:  KMJJ.  “Magic 11″ became a very popular station with talent like Charlie and Harrigan, Rick Shaw, Steve Goddard, and Bill Balance.  None of these folks actually did their shows in Las Vegas, they taped them on reel to reel and board ops played them back from studios in North Las Vegas, first on McDaniel street and then on Lake Mead Blvd. 

KMJJ would flip formats and become hard-rockin’ KRSR, “The Krusher.”  They picked up the calls KZAP when the Chico, California station dropped them in 1992, but was short-lived as they returned to KLUC later that same year.  By 1993 the music format was history and the format changed to “Casino Radio” with the calls KXNO:  “Give us 20 minutes, and we’ll give you Las Vegas”   It was keyed primarily to people travelling along the I-15 corridor with its 10kW daytime signal and directional nighttime pattern.

The lights were turned out in the Casino and Sports Fan Radio came to town with KSFN in 1997.  Sports Fan folded and the station returned to music with “Crusin’ Oldies.”  The station headed into the new century with a return to talk– Hot Talk to be specific, with Don & Mike, Tom Leykis, Loveline, and the return of Johnson and Tofte to the radio in the morning.  Another shift in direction would come with a return to sports with “Sports Radio 1140.” 

March 3rd heralded marked the return of music to 1140 with Kids Radio KYDZ. Core artists on the station include Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, The Plain White T’s, David Archuleta, and Miley Cyrus. The station is promoting itself as “For Kids, By Kids” and will feature on-air product produced and voiced by local children.