had shifted to adult contemporary music, and public affairs programming. KSBQ In May 1980, Cal-Coast sold KSEE to Los Padres Broadcasting Company for $450,000. On September 29, 1980, the new owner changed the station's call letters to KSBQ. It was nearly two months before the call sign change was announced, as well as the meaning of the new designation, representing the regional specialty of Santa Maria-style barbecue; the new call sign was accompanied by a format switch to country music. The KSEE call sign was nearly immediately recycled within California, being reused for a Fresno television station. In 1984, KSBQ dropped its country format and became a Spanish-language radio station. Known as "Radio Pantera", among its offerings was a Spanish-language translation of the 6 p.m. newscast of local NBC affiliate KSBY-TV. In March 1995, Los Padres Broadcasting Corporation traded KSBQ for another Spanish-language station, Lompoc's KTME (1410 AM), owned by Padre Serra Communications Inc., the broadcasting company of Jaime Bonilla Valdez; Bonilla, who had previously owned KJDJ (1030 AM), had become the main shareholder in Los Padres by this time. However, in March 1999, the station dropped its Spanish-language programming after nearly 15 years to flip to sports talk. A void for sports talk in the Santa Maria area had been created when KKAL (1280 AM) moved to a news/talk format, and a group led by former Detroit sportscaster and columnist Ron Cameron converted the station to sports. As a sports talk station, KSBQ picked up one of the features that had been heard on KKAL, its affiliation with the One-on-One Sports network, and aired Anaheim Angels games. The sports talk format lasted less than a year. The station stopped broadcasting at the end of September after Cameron left to pursue a front-office position with a minor league baseball club in Lafayette, Louisiana. Furthermore, the city of Santa Maria was selling KSBQ equipment as "unclaimed personal property", likely in conjunction with a bankruptcy of which Bonilla did not inform the FCC; due to this omission and public file violations, KSBQ and two other Bonilla stations were fined $11,000 each in July 1999. By the fall of 1999, a buyer had been found for KSBQ: Oxnard-based Lazer Broadcasting Corporation, headed by Alfredo Plascencia, for $225,000. References External links SBQ Santa Maria, California Radio stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in California