KCKK
| City | Littleton, Colorado |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Denver, Colorado Boulder, Colorado |
| Branding | 93.7 The Rock |
| Slogan | We Play Anything! |
| Frequency | 1510 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 93.7 K229BS (Lakewood) |
| First air date | 1957 (as KMOR) |
| Format | Adult Hits |
| Power | 10,000 watts daytime 25,000 watts nighttime |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 52249 |
| Callsign meaning | KiCKs K former branding |
| Former callsigns | KMOR (1957-1964) KDKO (1964-2002) KNRC (2002-2003) KCUV (2003-2006) KYOL (3/2006-12/2006) |
| Owner | James and Janice Hunt (Hunt Broadcasting LLC) |
| Sister stations | KVOQ-FM |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 937therock.com |
KCKK (1510 AM) is an American adult hits broadcast radio station licensed in Littleton, Colorado, and serving the Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins area. KCKK is owned by James and Janice Hunt, through licensee Hunt Broadcasting LLC.
History[edit]
Radio station 1510 AM first signed on in October, 1957 as KMOR in Littleton. Owned by Bob Rubin from 1960–65 and operated from above the theater at the Woodlawn Shopping Center, the format was country & western music. On April 1, 1967, the station operated as KDKO Radio, was known as "Denver's Soul Radio" due to its rhythm & blues format, and broadcast from studios on Santa Fe Road, just south of County Line Road. During its tenure in this format, KDKO, thanks to a multiracial airstaff who became as famous as the station itself, became a ratings success story and popular staple throughout the Denver market and within the growing African-American community. A bit of notoriety would take place in 1976 when the station served as the co-sponsor of a planned Marvin Gaye concert that was to take place at the Denver Coliseum. Hours before it was to go on, a KDKO staffer told the crowd that Gaye would arrive, only to learn that Gaye did not showed up, he was at his home in Los Angeles and was sleeping. This embarrassment lead to a riot at the coliseum and the staffer taken off the air for his safety after he used foul language at the concertgoers, a series of lawsuits for fraud and deceiving ticket buyers, and giving the media a field day as the top story. KDKO also dabbled with Disco (even calling itself "KDisKO") but even after that was starting to fade it remained R&B. By 1980, it was sold to a group of investors, who would later sell it to KDKO veteran DJ Jim "Dr. Daddy-O" Walker in 1989. By then, it had become more focused on the African-American community as a full-serviced outlet with a mix of music and talk shows. Unfortunately, KDKO would be hit by a series of financial problems that lead to a one-week shutdown in 1992, and tensions among staff and management. Another factor was the emergence of Rhythmic Top 40 KQKS in the 1990s and its success in targeting Denver's growing multicultural audience that included younger and female listeners, which would spell the end of KDKO, leading to its sale in March 2002 to Phillip Anschutz, who would flip the station to News/Talk as KNRC on June 26, 2002.[1][2][3] After Anschutz's purchase of 1150 AM, and moved KNRC's format to that frequency, 1510 AM became KCUV in 2003, and adopted an eclectic music format, which would move to 102.3 FM in 2005, with 1510 flipping to oldies.[4]
The KCKK callsign and country music format started out at 104.3 FM when Jefferson-Pilot (JP) acquired the signal. Eventually, JP did away with the staff at KYGO 1600 AM and started simulcasting KCKK programming at 1600 AM. When JP pulled the plug on KCKK at 104.3 FM in favor of a smooth jazz format in September 2000, KCKK moved exclusively to 1600 AM. KCKK 1600's last day came in mid-December 2006 when Lincoln Financial Media (which purchased Jefferson Pilot) announced that the signal at 1600 AM would be flipped to become Denver's new ESPN Radio affiliate, KEPN. Then, 1510 AM, which was airing an oldies format, took the KCKK callsign and became classic country as "Real Country".
In late July 2007, 1510 AM flipped to an all-sports format, operated by Mile High Sports, a multimedia sports-marketing and publishing company based in Denver. The station featured network programming from Sporting News Radio and a lineup of local hosts. The sports talk format was briefly suspended and KCKK returned to "Real Country". According to 100000watts.com, the change was due to the expiration of a local marketing agreement. The "Mile High Sports" format remained on former sister station KSXT-AM 1570 AM in Loveland, Colorado as of August 21, 2007, and returned again to 1510 AM ten days later, on August 31.
On July 31, 2008, "Mile High Sports Radio" was announced as the new radio flagship for the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Mammoth, and Colorado Rapids. The station also broadcast the football and basketball programs at the Air Force Academy and syndicated National Football League games through the Sports USA Radio Network. In 2008, it broadcast most games of the Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament. In June 2009, the station renewed its partnership with Kroenke Sports and Entertainment to remain the flagship station of the Nuggets, Avalanche, and Rapids.
In December 2013, KCKK and its translator on 93.7 FM were being sold by NRC Broadcasting to Hunt Broadcasting for $1.6-million. [5] The purchase was consummated on March 3, 2014, at a price of $1.6 million.
On March 7, 2014, KCKK changed their format to adult hits, branded as "93.7 The Rock".[6]
References[edit]
- ^ "The KDKO Story"
- ^ https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-84198873.html
- ^ https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-84078731.html
- ^ https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-94564529.html
- ^ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/125092/kckk-a-denver-sold?ref=rss
- ^ The Rock Lands in Denver
External links[edit]
- FCC History Cards for KCKK
- Query the FCC's AM station database for KCKK
- Radio-Locator Information on KCKK
- Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for KCKK
- Query the FCC's FM station database for K229BS
- Radio-Locator information on K229BS
Coordinates: 39°52′08″N 104°55′37″W / 39.86889°N 104.92694°W
