KILO (94.3 FM) is the active rock station for Colorado Springs and Pueblo. If you grew up cranking guitars in the Springs, there’s a good chance 94.3 KILO was on your radio. It’s owned by Bahakel Communications and still goes by “94.3 KILO.”
From KLST to KILO
The name on the dial wasn’t always KILO. This frequency started out on August 22, 1962, as KLST, with Little London Broadcasting as the owner and studios at 802½ East Fillmore Avenue. By 1966 the FM belonged to Western Broadcasting Company, which also had KPIK 1580 AM, and it became KPIK-FM. Both stations played country at the same time, so KPIK-FM was among the first full-time country stations on FM anywhere in the country.
If you were tuning around in the late 70s, that’s when things got interesting. The FM stopped simulcasting its AM sister in 1977, took the name “Super K-94” and moved to 93.9. The next year it was sold to KILO Broadcasting Corporation, which brought in the KILO calls and an album-oriented rock sound. Bahakel took over in 1984, and over time album rock gave way to active rock. The station came back to 94.3 in 1994 and hasn’t moved since.
Ownership history
- 1962 to 1966: Little London Broadcasting (KLST-FM), with Douglas W. Dailey as its first president and general manager.
- 1966 to 1978: Western Broadcasting Company (KPIK-FM), controlled by David Pinkston and Leroy Elmore and also the owner of KPIK 1580 AM. Pinkston became KPIK’s sole owner in 1964. In 1978, when the FM was sold on its own, George James, the AM station’s manager, bought KPIK (AM). He had been elected to the Colorado Springs city council in 1977.
- 1978 to 1984: KILO Broadcasting Corporation, owned by local businessmen Robert “Bob” D. Telmosse and Charlie Brown. The KILO calls arrived the month before the sale.
- 1984 to today: Bahakel Communications, licensed through Colorado Springs Radio Broadcasters, Inc.
We don’t have published sale prices for any of these deals. If you have a copy of a sale announcement, we’d love to see it.
Where to find it
The signal runs 79,000 watts from a transmitter 670 metres above average terrain, on Facility ID 12367. KILO’s online home is kilo943.com.
Where the studios have been
- 802½ East Fillmore Avenue: the studio when the station signed on in 1962 as KLST-FM.
- 707 South Tejon Street: the published business address through at least 1990.
- 1805 East Cheyenne Road, Colorado Springs 80905: listed by 1993, and still the studio today, shared with sister station KRXP.