and Blondie as well as early alternative rock acts such as The Cure, R.E.M., and The Psychedelic Furs. However, with ratings very low, the station adjusted its playlist to include more pop and hard rock acts from the 1980s in late July 2015. The station's website had also been taken down, along with its live stream and Facebook page. At 10:38 p.m. on September 27, 2015, an announcement began playing on a repeating loop saying that the format was leaving the air and would return after the first of the year on a different frequency. It also identified the station as "KQNM Albuquerque", and suggested that listeners tune into KDSK, which airs an oldies format. The last song played was "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money. However the format did not reappear at the stated time. Meanwhile, on May 2, 2016, iHeartMedia shifted KABQ-FM to an 80s hits format which lasted until April 2021. The "Eighties Channel" would be relaunched seven years later in October 2022 on KRKE 1100 AM and K229CL 93.7. At around 2 p.m. on September 30, KQNM began airing long sets of mostly trance music, both instrumental and vocal, with no sweepers or commercials but only identifying itself once an hour as "EDM 94-5", followed by the legal identification around 10 minutes from the top of the hour. This went on for about six days. As of October 6, 2015, the station was in a dead air status, with neither static nor audio broadcast. Since October 9, both KQNM and K233CG were off the air. On October 19, KQNM filed a silent notification with the Federal Communications Commission, stating programming had been discontinued in preparation for a sale of the station. Additionally, Educational Media Foundation filed a silent notification for K233CG on November 5, 2015, stating that the translator would be off the air until a new feed station could be found. The request was granted on December 4; however, 94.5 returned to the air on December 1, rebroadcasting the Air 1 format from KQRI, while KQNM remained off the air. K233CG was sold to Martha Whitman, owner of KOAZ and K279BP, in late June 2016 for $61,431.66. Whitman had then reached a deal to sale the translator to Cumulus Media for $425,000. On September 1, 2016, K233CG began to rebroadcast KKOB. 98.9 (2016–present) On February 5, 2016, a construction permit was granted by the