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Albuquerque, New Mexico
KDRF - 103.3 Ed FM
Citadel ended its head-to-head modern rock battle with Clear Channel (which owns KTEG in Albuquerque) by flipping its own modern rocker in the market, 103.3 The Zone (KZTO-FM), to 103.3 Fred FM on December 30, 2004. Citadel had been using the name "Bob FM" for its Variety Hits stations in other markets, but because it owns CHR (Top 40) 93.3 KOB-FM, it decided that Bob would be too close/confusing to use. Therefore, Citadel went with Fred instead. With new call letters KDRF (think Fred spelled backwards, with the "e" missing), it seemed that all was well for Citadel with its Variety Hits start-up.
Unfortunately for Citadel, XM Satellite Radio did not care for the new name. It had a rock channel called Fred on 44, and in early 2005 XM threatened legal action against Citadel if it would not drop the Fred name. Instead of waging a potentially long and costly court battle, Citadel decided to change the name, despite heavy advertising of the new "Fred FM" moniker in the market. The solution: On April 1, 2005, Citadel renamed the station "103.3 Ed FM", dropping the "Fr" off the beginning to change the name.
On its website, the station alluded to the name change with this: "Some big corporation owned the trademark for that 'F-word.' And, since it was kind of a dorky name anyway, we figured we’d just change it." That message has since been removed.
Station Website: ed.fm
Streaming Audio: Available via the website
Special Audio: KDRF Legal ID (TopHour.com)
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