KQNM (1550 AM) is a radio station in Albuquerque, New Mexico. KQNM is owned by Relevant Radio, Inc. and airs a Catholic radio ministry featuring network talk programs and broadcasts of the mass. KQNM broadcasts at 10,000 watts by day. But because AM 1550 is a clear-channel frequency reserved for Mexico and Canada, the station must drastically reduce power at night to 27 watts. The transmitter tower is in the city's Old Town district northwest of downtown. KQNM programming is simulcast on FM translator K255AU 98.9 MHz, licensed to nearby Corrales. History This station originally broadcast on 1520 AM as KAMX in 1972. It had aired Spanish-language programming throughout the 1970s. Later, it mostly carried programming that was broadcast on the 107.9 FM frequency. However, the AM station could only be heard during daytime hours due to night time interference from KOMA (now KOKC) from Oklahoma City. In 1995, it ended the simulcast with 107.9 and began to run children's programming from Radio AAHS as KDZZ, but it would return to simulcasting 107.9 in late 1996 under the call sign KHTZ. In 2000, the station was sold to Vanguard Media and moved to the 1550 frequency under the call letters KKJY. The new dial position allowed the station to increase its daytime power and initiate nighttime operation. It began broadcasting an adult standards radio format to fill a void left after KIVA dropped standards for talk. It picked up the KKJY call sign that had once belonged locally to 100.3 FM, which aired a long running easy listening format from 1979 to 1994. The new station was branded as "Joy AM". In 2006, the station's format shifted to Soft Adult Contemporary. On July 25, 2008, it once again changed its call sign to KQNM and called itself "Soft Favorites 1550". On May 18, 2009, it changed to KIVA while moving the KQNM call sign to 1100 kHz in Milan, New Mexico. The format was changed to talk radio on June 15, 2009. On August 28, 2012, the station swapped dial positions with KIVA, moving the talk format and KIVA call sign to 1600, with KRKE moving from 1600 to 1550. On September 22, 2015, the call letters were changed back to KQNM, with KRKE moving to 1090 in Milan. Soon after, Vanguard took the station off the air and put the station up for sale. In 2014, Vanguard divested KIVA