No Hablo Español

KUVO was to be a Spanish-language radio station but according to a 1983 survey, the majority of the state’s Latinos had lived in the Denver metro area for many generations, far from the border with Mexico, and they did not speak Spanish.

Because it was Latino-controlled, the station mulled over applying for call letters KPSA reflecting its commitment to public service announcements. The phonetic message told the community “que pasa.” We considered KTAL for “que tal” and KVOZ for “whatta voice” in Spanglish. These call letters were all already assigned to other radio stations.

Ultimately, on December 27, 1983 – two days after Christmas – KUVO (slang for “que hubo” meaning “what’s happening” in Spanish) was officially born when the call letters applied for by Denver Educational Broadcasting were approved and assigned to 89.3 FM by the Federal Communications Commission. Well played, Santa.