The lead investor in winning applicant El Saguarito Broadcasting Company,[1] Phil Richardson, sold the construction permit to a group headed by former KXEW owner Ernesto Portillo, who launched the station as Spanish-language outlet KQTL in 1985.
[2] The station's Spanish contemporary music format continued into the 1990s;[3] KQTL was sold in 1996 to CIMA Broadcasting, in which Portillo and other people involved with El Saguarito were investors, for $600,000.
[7] Upon taking control, the KEVT call letters, which had been on 1030 and prior to that on the 690 frequency (now KCEE), were relocated to 1210, and the station adopted a Regional Mexican format as "La Raza".
[7] Financial difficulties led La Raza to suspend operations on July 19, 2010; at the time, Zamora's house was being foreclosed on, and One Mart's accounting firm was hit with $277,000 in liens by the Internal Revenue Service.
Eventually, said format turned into a full simulcast of KAVV, a classic country outlet broadcasting from Benson; however, on April 15, 2018, the lease ended because of lack of advertiser support.