KIDR (740 kHz) is an AM radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. KIDR is owned by En Familia, Inc. and airs a Spanish-language Roman Catholic religious radio format. The station's transmitter is off South 23rd Avenue in Phoenix. The station broadcasts with 1,000 watts by day; but because AM 740 is a Canadian clear-channel frequency, it must reduce power to 292 watts at night to avoid causing interference to CFZM. The station also protects KCBS in San Francisco and KTRH in Houston. KIDR uses a directional antenna around the clock. History KUEQ At 7:40 am on February 1, 1958, the station first signed on as KUEQ (written by the station as KUE-Q). The station was built by the Q Broadcasting Company and was believed to be the first fully automated radio station in the country, playing out programming from tapes during its daytime broadcast hours. Initial studios were located in the Villa Motel on East Van Buren Street. KUEQ was sold twice in its first five years of broadcasting. Dynamic Associates became the licensee in 1959, selling to Radio Station KUEQ, Inc., in 1962. Easy listening KMEO In October 1964, KUEQ acquired a troubled FM station in Phoenix, KEPI at 96.9 MHz, and relaunched it as easy listening KMEO. Prior to being bought, KEPI had been off the air for most of 1964. In May 1967, KUEQ became KMEO, and the two stations became a simulcast. The stations branded as "Cameo," signifying a cameo carving, or a cherished piece of jewelry. Since KMEO was a daytime only station because it broadcast on a clear-channel frequency, the creation of the simulcast allowed KMEO-AM-FM to broadcast around the clock. From the 1960s till the early 90s, the two stations simulcast a beautiful music format, which was quite successful and lasted through several ownership changes. In 1976, B & D Broadcasting, owned by the Beauchamp and Dodge families, bought KMEO-AM-FM; the pair was sold in 1980 to Scripps-Howard Broadcasting, which owned the stations until it was required to divest them in 1985 so it could acquire KNXV-TV, a decision upheld that July by the Federal Communications Commission. Group W bought the KMEO stations for $11.25 million later that year. Initially, KMEO remained successful. When KQYT flipped from easy listening in 1986, its listeners moved to KMEO, shooting the station into a tie with KZZP at the top of the Phoenix radio ratings. However, by