KHFM Classical Public Radio traces its entire existence back to a hobby project. In November 1954, two teachers at Highland High School in Albuquerque signed on the first commercial FM station the city had ever had, and more than seventy years later that same call sign is still devoted entirely to classical music.
A Call Sign Borrowed From a Classroom
The station's name isn't a coincidence or a marketing invention. KHFM combines the initials of Highland High School with Frequency Modulation, the technical term for the FM band itself, a direct fingerprint of the educators who built it (KHFM). Broadcasting originally at 96.3 MHz, it holds the distinction of being the first commercial FM station in Albuquerque, at a time when FM itself was still a novelty for most American listeners (Wikipedia).
From a Corporation of Two to Citadel Broadcasting
The founding teachers set up a company called CHE Broadcasting to run the new station, with studios on Buena Vista Avenue SE, before ownership moved through several hands over the following decades, New Mexico Classical Radio, Inc. in 1987, then Citadel Broadcasting in 1996 (Wikipedia). Along the way the signal grew from 1,700 watts to 20,000 watts, moved down the dial from 96.3 to 95.5, and shifted its city of license from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.
From Commercial Station to Listener-Supported Nonprofit
The most significant change came in September 2017, when KHFM completed its transition to a public, listener-supported non-profit under the American General Media Foundation, a shift that let a station once built on advertising refocus entirely around its stated mission: providing classical music at no cost to New Mexican audiences while supporting the state's live music and arts education (KHFM). By 2020, the station had added translator licenses in Roswell, Ruidoso, and Taos, extending that mission well beyond the Albuquerque metro area it started in.
A Bilingual Front Row Seat to the Santa Fe Opera
Every August, KHFM partners with the Santa Fe Opera to broadcast live-recorded Opening Night performances from the company's open-air Crosby Theatre, a collaboration now running for its fifth consecutive year (Santa Fe Opera). KHFM host Kathlene Ritch, a soprano and educator, provides commentary alongside tenor and Santa Fe Opera Chief Artistic Advisor David Lomelí, delivered in both English and Spanish, a detail that reflects the bilingual audience the station has served since its Highland High School beginnings.
- Oldest continuously broadcasting classical station in America, on air since November 1954.
- Listener-supported nonprofit since 2017, operated under the American General Media Foundation.
- Live Santa Fe Opera broadcasts, bilingual English and Spanish commentary from the Crosby Theatre each August.
- Regional reach, covering Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and translator markets in Roswell, Ruidoso, and Taos.
Why It's Worth a Spot in Your Rotation
KHFM carries the rare weight of being both the first FM station its city ever had and the oldest classical outlet still running in the country, yet it operates today with the mission of a modern community nonprofit rather than a museum piece. Few stations anywhere can trace a direct line from two schoolteachers with a hobby project to bilingual opera broadcasts heard across an entire state.
Stream KHFM Free on Radio Shuffle
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