While KIVA is still primarily a 24-hour news-talk station, it has tossed a few more sports options into the mix.

“We’re trying to be more appealing to people who are young, and sports is a great way,” says Aragon, the station’s general manager.

KIVA-AM 1600 has added NBC Sports Radio, as well as “The Dan Patrick Show” (Monday through Friday, 7-10 a.m.). Both began airing this week on the station.

KIVA will also have exclusive rights to Dial Global’s NFL football package, which includes all playoff games, as well as the Super Bowl. This year, the station shared the package with KQTM-FM 101.7 “The Team,” the latter doing all of the prime-time games.

KQTM is airing this year’s NFL playoffs and Super Bowl, but will have no part of the package next season.

KIVA also locked up exclusive rights to Dial Global’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament in March, as well as The Masters golf tournament and Notre Dame sports. It also carries NCAA football.

“It’s great for sports fans, because our signal is so strong,” Aragon says. “We can be heard from Taos to TorC and from Gallup to Anton Chico (just west of Santa Rosa).”

Aragon (on-air name Eddy Valentine) also does live play-by-play for Rio Rancho athletics on Friday nights.

On weekends, the station has added NBC Sports Radio from 4-7 a.m. and noon-7 p.m. It has NBC Sports Radio updates four times daily, Monday through Friday.

“As a locally owned radio station ourselves, we have appreciation for what KIVA is doing,” says Joe O’Neill, president of KQTM-FM. “Any programming he gets, he has certainly earned. But we have always prided ourselves as having the most comprehensive sports coverage anywhere, and we will continue to deliver that.”

KQTM is a 24-hour sports station. It will continue to have coverage of Dallas Cowboys football, the World Series, Los Angeles Dodgers and BCS Bowls, and it is the flagship station for APS athletics.

KMNL-AM 610 previously aired “The Dan Patrick Show” in Albuquerque, but only live for one hour daily (7-8 a.m.), Monday through Friday. It carried the show’s final two hours on a tape-delayed basis from 1-3 p.m. weekdays.

“The reason we dropped ‘The Dan Patrick Show’ was twofold,” says Michael Carlyle, assistant program director for Albuquerque’s three Cumulus AM radio stations.

“Local always beats syndicated programing, and we were having to tape-delay Dan Patrick for two hours,” Carlyle said. “And ‘The Doug Gottlieb Show’ became available, so we jumped on it.”

Carlyle has joined Jeff Siembieda and J.J. Buck on “The Morning Drive,” a local sports-talk show that has been expanded from two to three hours and now starts an hour earlier at 7 a.m.

The station replaced Patrick’s show with Gottlieb’s in the afternoon.

KNML, known as “The Sports Animal,” is an all-sports station that also carries “The Jim Rome Show” (10 a.m.-1 p.m.), NFL football (not including playoffs), UNM women’s basketball, the Isotopes, Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns and the local talk show, “The Sports Bar with Erik Gee” (3-7 p.m.).

KQTM also has a local sports-talk show, “The Locker Room with Bob Brown” (4-7 p.m.)

Aragon says he’s not planning to add a local sports talk show to his station, and he’s not in direct competition with the city’s two 24-hour sports stations — or any other station in the area.

“KKOB (-AM 770, a 24-hour news and talk station) has been No. 1 for so long, but it doesn’t appeal to everybody,” Aragon said. “I’m trying to appeal to a different demographic, a younger one.”

Aragon’s says his station is “libertarian talk,” and he has selected national shows that express that viewpoint.

“Angry is old. Angry is over,” Aragon says. “The whole idea about people soapboxing, pontificating, pounding their fist — we’re no longer in the era of pointing fingers. We’re in the era of instant review and getting things right, and there’s a conversation involved.”
— This article appeared on page D4 of the Albuquerque Journal