KKFN (104.3 FM) is “Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan,” the sports talk station owned by Bonneville International. If you’re a Broncos, Nuggets or Avalanche fan who’s spent a drive home arguing with the radio, you probably know it. The call letters are new-ish, but the 104.3 signal has been through plenty of formats since it signed on in 1964.
Where 104.3 came from
KLMO-FM (1964–1986). KLMO-FM debuted in September 1964 alongside the Longmont AM station KLMO, and it mirrored that AM’s middle-of-the-road music and news. Radio Longmont, Inc. owned it. With 28,000 watts and a short antenna, it mostly reached Longmont, Boulder and the northern Denver suburbs.
KQKS and KS104 (1986–1997). The big change came when, according to Wikipedia, Western Cities Broadcasting bought it in December 1986 and raised the power to reach Denver. The result was KQKS, an adult contemporary station called “104.3 Kiss FM,” which became “KS104” in 1987 and later tilted toward rhythmic contemporary. Jefferson-Pilot purchased it in 1996, and in January 1997 the KQKS calls and format relocated to 107.5 FM.
Country and smooth jazz (1997–2008). If you tuned to 104.3 after January 18, 1997, you’d have heard country as KCKK, first called “Country 104.3” and later “K104.3.” In September 2000 that country sound shifted to AM 1600, and 104.3 became smooth jazz as KJCD, “CD104.3.” Jefferson-Pilot’s Denver stations had settled into new Lakewood studios in 1997. Jefferson-Pilot merged with Lincoln National in 2006, after which the broadcasting division, now Lincoln Financial Media, relocated its Denver operations to Greenwood Village.
The Fan on FM (2008 to today). The Fan began on AM 950 on March 6, 1995, billed as the market’s first 24-hour sports station. On March 8, 2008, KJCD dropped smooth jazz for sports and simulcast that AM as “104.3 The Fan.” It became KKFN-FM four days after that, and by March 2009 sports lived entirely on FM under the KKFN calls. The early voices included coach Doug Moe and Tom Green, with Irv Brown, Joe Williams and Sandy Clough coming later. In January 2023 Bonneville spread the “Denver Sports” identity over its Denver sports properties but left “The Fan” on 104.3.
In July 2015 the Denver stations passed from Lincoln Financial Media to Bonneville, part of an asset exchange that also involved Entercom.
The signal
- Frequency: 104.3 MHz FM
- Licensed to: Longmont, Colorado, serving Denver–Boulder
- Class and power: Class C1, 91,000 watts ERP
- Antenna height: 206 metres above average terrain
- Transmitter: Green Mountain, Lakewood
- FCC facility ID: 71767
- Website: denversports.com
Call sign timeline
- 1964–1986: KLMO-FM
- 1986–1997: KQKS
- 1997–1999: KCKK
- 1999–2000: KCKK-FM
- 2000–2008: KJCD
- 2008–2009: KKFN-FM
- 2009 to today: KKFN
Ownership history
- 1964–1986: Radio Longmont, Inc., according to Wikipedia. Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado credits Bill and Lila Jean Stewart with adding the FM in 1969 and selling it to Lincoln Broadcasting for $5.5 million in 1986. Wikipedia does not mention that sale and instead says Western Cities Broadcasting bought the station in December 1986, so the 1986 buyer is given differently by the two sources
- 1986–1996: Western Cities Broadcasting, according to Wikipedia (see the 1986 note above)
- 1996 to July 2015: Jefferson-Pilot Communications, renamed Lincoln Financial Media in 2006
- July 2015 to today: Bonneville International
Where the studios have been
The original KLMO-FM operation was in Longmont, and the Jefferson-Pilot cluster studios opened in Lakewood in 1997. Today the station works out of Bonneville’s Denver studios in Greenwood Village. Earlier street addresses haven’t been confirmed.
Colorado Broadcasters Association awards
2023
- Award of Excellence: Best Radio Commercial for an Advertiser, “Party Pigskin Style” (Jonny Kaufmann); Best Sales Campaign for an Advertiser, DenverSports.com Zone.
- Certificates of Merit: Best Public Service Announcement, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado; Best Community Service Campaign, “Step Denver” (Zach Bye); Best On-Air Contest, “Football Forgiveness” (Kevin Shockey and Markie Lindemulder); Best Midday Show, “Dempsey & Company” (Chris Dempsey and Steve Nelson); Best Regularly Scheduled Entertainment Program, “Between The Pipes” (Alex Rajaniemi, Mark Springer, Steven Nelson and Jorden Berg); Best Radio Commercial, “Rhein Haus Football Collision” (Steve Cassidy); Best Station Website, denversports.com.
If you worked at The Fan or any of 104.3’s earlier incarnations, we’d love to hear from you.
Sources
