KRGS

KRGS

Rifle, Colorado United States
Broadcast area	Grand Junction, Colorado
Frequency	690 kHz
Branding	ESPN 690 AM/98.9 FM
Programming
Format	Defunct (was Sports)
Affiliations	ESPN Radio
Ownership
Owner	Western Slope Communications, LLC
Sister stations	KAYW, KAVP, KWGL, KZKS
History
First air date	June 9, 1967 (1967-06-09) (as KWSR at 810)
Former call signs	KWSR (1967–1985) KDBL (1985–1987) KWWS (1987–1989) KKGD (1989–1994)
Former frequencies	810 kHz (1967–1995)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	71960
Class	D
Power	900 watts day 12 watts night
Transmitter coordinates	39°32′56″N 107°46′11″W / 39.54889°N 107.76972°W / 39.54889; -107.76972
Translator(s)	98.9 K255CB (Rifle)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	ESPN Radio 690

KRGS (690 AM) was a radio station licensed to Rifle, Colorado, United States. The station was owned by Western Slope Communications, LLC. In 2019 the Federal Communications Commission granted a construction permit to move to a new transmitter site, increase day power to 2,300 watts and increase night power to 16 watts. It expired in 2022 without being built.^[2][3]

On July 6, 1965, the Oil Shale Broadcasting Company applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to build a new 1,000-watt, daytime-only radio station on 810 kHz in Rifle. The commission granted the permit on December 2, 1966,^[4] and the station began broadcasting in 1967. The manager was Jimmy Seany, a former promotions manager for Denver's KWGN-TV;^[5] studios were in the Winchester Hotel.^[6]

The FCC designated the renewal of KWSR's broadcast license for hearing in November 1974^[7] on the basis of complaints made by a former employee.^[8] In January 1976, FCC administrative law judge Walter C. Miller issued an initial decision to deny the renewal. The major issue in the license renewal proceeding was that the station rigged a "Turkey Shoot" contest. He preselected winners, one of them an advertiser on KWSR, so as to avoid an imbalance in geography; the rigging was carried out by a young staffer, according to owner Norm Price.^[9] Miller also cited other misrepresentations in the station's operating logs and said that although unfortunate, the station's misdeeds merited a temporary loss of radio service in Rifle.^[10] Upset listeners in the Rifle area and nearby Grand Junction mounted a letter-writing campaign to the commission in protest of Miller's initial decision.^[11] Oil Shale Broadcasting Company appealed, and the full FCC granted a one-year license renewal and assessed a $200 fine.^[12]

KWSR was sold to Susan and Stephen Hughes in 1985. Hughes owned Rifle FM station KDBL,^[13] and the stations became KDBL and KDBL-FM.^[14] This was the first in a series of sales over the next decade. Servant Communications, a group with broadcast interests in Oklahoma, acquired the KDBL stations in 1987 and changed the call letters on AM to KWWS.^[15][16] Within a year, Servant sold the pair to companies owned by Steven Humphries; by this time, KWWS was airing a country music format. In 1988, the owner of KRGS, Steven Humphries, was involved in a dispute with the then owners of KKOB and KKOB-FM in Albuquerque. The owner of those stations, Fairmont Communications corporation, disputed Humphries' acquisition of KNMQ out of Santa Fe. At the time, Humphries also owned 100% of the share of Sun Media of Colorado. Sun Media was operating KRGS at the time. ^[17] Sister station KZKS, then known as KWWS-FM, was involved in the dispute as well.^[18] Its call sign changed to KKGD in 1989.^[19] The stations were sold again in 1991 for assumption of debts^[20] and 1993; the new owners, Canterbury Broadcasting,^[21] changed KKGD's call sign on April 21, 1994, to the current KRGS.^[22]

The Federal Communications Commission cancelled the station’s license on July 24, 2024.^[23]

• Facility details for Facility ID 71960 (KRGS) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• KRGS in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• Facility details for Facility ID 41272 (K255CB) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• K255CB at FCCdata.org

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