KOKO began broadcasting from La Junta in 1937 on 1370 kHz. Under the 1941 North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement the station moved to 1400 kHz, a frequency that became its long-term home.
The KOKO identity lasted until 1952, when the facility changed call letters. The 1400 AM lineage survives today as KBLJ, making KOKO an important early identity in the history of Arkansas Valley radio.
The 1939 FCC station list places KOKO in La Junta on 1370 kHz, documenting the station within its first two years on the air. A later call-sign sequence carried the facility through KBNZ and KBZZ before it became KBLJ in 1999. Although the branding and programming have changed, the present-day KBLJ site describes the station as serving the Arkansas Valley since 1937. Its current local programming includes This, That, and the Other, a community interview program the station identifies as the valley’s longest-running radio program.
Sources: FCC List of Broadcasting Stations (March 1939); FCC station history card, facility 7047; KBLJ official station history and programming; FCC 2014 call-sign record for facility 7047.
STATION FILE
FROM THE TIMELINE
Moments in KOKO-AM History
KOKO begins broadcasting in La Junta
KOKO began broadcasting on 1370 kHz, adding another permanent local voice to southeastern Colorado. The station later moved to 1400 kHz under the 1941 North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement and eventually became KBLJ.
Southern Colorado stations remain active in federal lists
Federal station lists continued to show KVOR in Colorado Springs, KGHF in Pueblo, KGIW in Alamosa, KIUP in Durango, KOKO in La Junta and KIDW in Lamar. The surviving lists are important evidence that several small-market facilities remained active even when later retrospective histories are incomplete.
KOKO and KIDW under Southwest Broadcasting
The March 7 FCC station list identified La Junta's KOKO as a 100-watt, unlimited-time station on 1370 kHz owned by Southwest Broadcasting Co. Lamar's KIDW was listed at 1420 kHz with 100 watts, also owned by Southwest Broadcasting Co., sharing hours with KGIW.
NARBA moving day reshapes Southern Colorado radio
The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement triggered a continent-wide “moving day” for AM radio. Frequencies from 1200 through 1450 kHz generally shifted upward 30 kHz. In Southern Colorado this moved KVOR from 1270 to 1300, KGHF from 1320 to 1350, KOKO and KIUP from 1370 to 1400, and KGIW/KIDW from 1420 to 1450. The new assignments became the basis for several familiar long-term frequencies.
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