History
Texas Music KRIO-FM
At 6 a.m. on March 25, 1991, the station signed on the air as KRIO-FM. It carried a Texas music format.[3] The station was owned by longtime San Antonio-area broadcaster John Barger. It was meant to appeal to listeners of the former KFAN-FM (101.1), which gave up its Texas music format the previous year, becoming a simulcast of Oldies station KONO 860 AM. KONO was also operated by Barger.[3] Steve Coffman and Ron Houston, both formerly of KFAN, were the station's two initial air personalities.[3] KRIO-FM's initial program director Lee Woods billed the format as "certified South Texas country." Woods said that unlike KFAN, who included rock and reggae in its playlist, KRIO would only play country.[3]
The country format was short-lived and lasted just a little over a year. On Tuesday, March 31, 1992, the station flipped to a Tejano format, providing competition to established Tejano outlet KXTN (107.5 FM).[4] Barger initially wanted to sign the station on with Tejano music, but was dissuaded by friends who felt that the format had not yet matured. Barger believed that KXTN's growth within the past year proved that the format had matured and the station was now ready for competition.[4]
KLEY and KTFM
In September 1998, the station flipped to Regional Mexican as KLEY ("La Ley 94.1"). On January 7, 2005, BMP revived the KTFM call sign after it acquired KLEY from Spanish Broadcasting System. (For many years, the KTFM call sign was at 102.7 FM under the name "FM 103 The New KTFM", "KTFM 103", "Hot 103 KTFM", and "102.7 KTFM", where it was first an automated adult contemporary station, then album rock, them various flavors of Top 40 including an Urban AC-leaning version of Top 40 trying to top then-rival KSJL. It later switched to a Rhythmic/Freestyle-leaning Top 40, and then back to rock. Today, 102.7 carries the adult hits "Jack FM" format and uses the call letters KJXK.
When KTFM was revived, its name was "Jammin' 94.1", and its focus was on Rhythmic Oldies. As the station struggled in the ratings, KTFM shifted to a Rhythmic AC direction by adding more current product and putting less emphasis on older material. It was aiming at a mostly female 25-44 and Hispanic demographic. By November 2008, KTFM began shifting to a rhythmic contemporary direction and was added to the BDS Top 40/Rhythmic reporting panel.
Hot AC and Top 40
In February 2009, KTFM tweaked its format to Hot AC. By April 2010, BMP shifted KTFM to Top 40/CHR, with a heavy emphasis on Dance crossovers.
On January 7, 2016, at 9 a.m., KTFM began stunting, at the conclusion of the "Blondie & Nugget in the Morning" show. The last song was "Here" by Alessia Cara. KTFM began calling itself "94.1 El Taco," giving away free tacos at various locations around San Antonio, playing the Parry Gipp novelty song "It's Raining Tacos" (a spoof of "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls). Its website emitted a green lightning strike with the word "Energize." At 4 p.m. that same day, KJXK began stunting with country music, leading listeners and rivals to believe KTFM was moving back to 102.7. At the same time as KTFM's relaunch, the stunt on 102.7 was revealed to be a publicity stunt.
At 5 p.m., KTFM transitioned back to Rhythmic Top 40 and relaunched as "Energy 94.1", with the first song being "Sorry" by Justin Bieber. The rebranding was done to emphasize its Rhythmic/Dance-focused presentation of current hits and club mixes featuring local talent, as well as distinguishing the station from KBBT and KXXM, two stations with similar formats.[5][6]
On February 23, 2016, "Blondie & Nugget in the Morning" were released from the station. On March 1, KTFM began carrying the nationally syndicated wake up show "Brooke & Jubal in the Morning". On August 1, 2016, the nationally syndicated "Tino Chochino Radio" was added for weeknights.
On August 20, 2018, "The Dana Cortez Show", hosted by Dana Cortez and Anthony Almanzar, began airing on KTFM after transferring from Rhythmic CHR rival KBBT, as the show became syndicated by ABC Radio. By July 2019, KTFM shifted back to a more mainstream Top 40/CHR.
Sports Radio
On the morning of June 2, 2022, KTFM abruptly dropped the Top 40/CHR format. It began simulcasting sister station KZDC 1250 AM as "San Antonio's Sports Star". This gave the sports format a full-power FM simulcast after it was already picked up on FM translator K277CX (103.3 FM).
Sports Star afternoon host Jason Minnix was excited about being on KTFM. He described the new signal as "37 times bigger than what we had yesterday" and comparing it as "like going from Wolff Stadium to Jerry’s World." The change took KTFM out of the Top 40 battle with KXXM, giving KXXM a monopoly on the format in San Antonio. KXXM, at the time of the move, ranked seventh in the market with a 4.7 share, while KTFM was eighteenth at a 2.0.[7]
In February 2023, the AM-FM simulcast ended on weekdays. KZDC 1250 AM began carrying the national feed from ESPN Radio around the clock. KTFM continued with local hosts on weekdays, using ESPN Radio only on nights and weekends.[8]