KOZA (Texas)

Last updated
KOZA
Frequency 1230 AM (kHz)
BrandingLa Koza Tejana [1]
Programming
Format Defunct (was Tejano music)
Ownership
OwnerStellar Media, Inc.
KQLM
History
First air date
January 19, 1947 (1947-01-19)
Last air date
August 1, 2021 (2021-08-01)
Former call signs
KOSA (1947–1968)
Technical information
Facility ID 41298
Class C
Power 1,000 watts

KOZA (1230 AM) was a radio station broadcasting a Tejano music format, licensed to Odessa, Texas. The station was last owned by Stellar Media, Inc. [2]

Contents

History

KOSA

KOSA went on the air at 7 am on January 19, 1947, as the CBS radio station for the Permian Basin. [3] Operating on 1450 kHz, the new station was licensed to the Southwestern Broadcasting Corporation, owned by Dorrance D. Roderick. The Roderick stations—KOSA, El Paso's KROD and KSIL in Silver City, New Mexico, all CBS affiliates—formed a regional hookup known as the Southwest Network. [4]

The station relocated from 1450 to 1230 kHz on April 20, 1949, [5] after emerging victorious from a hearing in which the Federal Communications Commission denied competing proposals by a series of other stations to use the frequency. [6] The station was sold to the Odessa Broadcasting Company in 1951, part of the Trigg-Vaughn Stations group, owned and operated by Cecil L. Trigg and Jack Vaughn. The company expanded to TV with KOSA-TV, which began telecasts on January 1, 1956, as a CBS affiliate. KOSA further increased its signal coverage with a daytime increase to 1,000 watts in 1964. [7]

KOZA

May 1, 1968, saw KOSA become KOZA [7] as Trigg-Vaughn sold all of its other media holdings, including KOSA-TV, which kept the call letters. It retained the radio station another 11 years as its lone broadcasting property until KOZA was acquired by Kansas-based Harris Enterprises in 1979. [8] Under Harris, KOZA responded to the decline of top 40 music on AM by moving to a format that targeted an over-35 audience. [9] Harris only owned the station for three years until manager Bob Russell, operating as Capital Communications, bought it out in 1982. [9]

Demise and rebirth as a Spanish-language station

In the mid-1980s, the Permian Basin economy suffered due to low oil prices. KOZA was affected by the regional slump and ceased broadcasting the weekend of May 17–18, 1986. [10] The silence of KOZA enabled a local Christian FM station, KKKK, to temporarily relocate to KOZA's studios after losing theirs in a January 1987 fire. [11]

While KOZA was made available in an auction at the Odessa Hilton on May 12, 1987, [11] it did not emerge until April 1989, when Mesa Entertainment bought the station and relaunched it with a Spanish-language music format. [12] The station absorbed some talent and programming from KNDA when that station closed in 1991. [13]

In 2004, Mesa Entertainment sold the station to Stellar Media, in a transaction between two members of the Velásquez family. [14] KOZA was silent between November 24, 2014, and November 9, 2015, when the studio building was sold and the station was forced to relocate. [15] Its license was not renewed and expired on August 1, 2021. [16]

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References

  1. ↑ "Texas Music Industry Directory - Radio Stations in Texas | Texas Music Office | Office of the Texas Governor | Greg Abbott".
  2. ↑ KOZA fcc.gov Accessed October 5, 2012
  3. ↑ "Odessa American-KOSA Newscaster". Odessa American. January 14, 1947. Retrieved July 19, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "KOSA Headed By Experienced Staff". Odessa American. January 19, 1947. p. 15. Retrieved July 19, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Station KOSA Moves to 1230". Odessa American. April 20, 1949. Retrieved July 19, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "KOSA Frequency Change Authorized". Odessa American. March 16, 1949. Retrieved July 19, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 FCC History Cards for KOZA
  8. ↑ "Accord reached on sale of KOZA radio". Odessa American. January 29, 1979. Retrieved July 19, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 "Manager buys out KOZA". Odessa American. August 29, 1982. p. 1C – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Brodnax, Ken (May 25, 1986). "Tough times don't make for pleasant sights in Odessa". Odessa Americans. p. 15A. Retrieved July 19, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 Walters, Jack (April 21, 1987). "Radio station will be sold". Odessa American. Retrieved July 19, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "KOZA radio". Odessa American. April 30, 1989. Retrieved July 19, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Hobratschk, Martin (June 14, 1991). "Financial difficulties force KNDA to sign off". Odessa American. Retrieved June 25, 2019– via Newspapers.com. (Continued)
  14. ↑ "Deals". Broadcasting & Cable. November 7, 2004. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  15. ↑ FCC Application BLSTA-20150114AAT — Silent STA — KOZA
  16. ↑ "Radio License Expirations", fcc.gov. July 8, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.

31°49′50.5″N102°22′10.5″W / 31.830694°N 102.369583°W / 31.830694; -102.369583

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