KRGS

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, 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 KWWS 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] ahead of a format change to oldies.^[20] The stations were sold again in 1991 for assumption of debts;^[21] the new owners, David Smith's Western Media, sold them to Canterbury Broadcasting for $20,000 in 1993.^[22] Canterbury, in turn, sold KKGD and KZKS to Western Slope Communications for $30,000 in 1994.^[23]

The call sign was changed to KRGS on April 21, 1994.^[24] The station, which had been silent, returned to the air that September carrying country music from Jones Satellite Networks.^[25] KRGS moved from 810 to 690 kHz in 1995,^[26] and switched to oldies, also provided by Jones, in September 1997.^[27]

The FCC cancelled the station’s license on July 24, 2024,^[28] as it had been off the air since July 2022 and did not respond to an FCC letter.^[29] KRGS had left the air due to a transmitter failure; by then, it had become a sports radio station affiliated with ESPN Radio.^[30]