KWIZ

Last updated
KWIZ
Broadcast area Los Angeles-Orange County
Frequency 96.7 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingVision Latina 96.7
Programming
Format Spanish Christian
Ownership
Owner
KJLA
History
First air date
  • 1947
(as KVOE-FM)
Former call signs
  • KVOE-FM (1947–1954)
  • KWIZ-FM (1954–1998)
Technical information
Facility ID 37225
Class A
ERP 6,000 watts
HAAT 62 meters (203 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
 33°48′07″N117°47′46″W / 33.802°N 117.796°W / 33.802; -117.796
Links
Website visionlatina.com

KWIZ (96.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Santa Ana, California, and broadcasting to the Los Angeles-Orange County area. KWIZ airs a Spanish Christian radio format branded as "Vision Latina 96.7 FM". It is currently owned by the Universal Church with studios and offices are on West 5th Street in Santa Ana. The transmitter is off East Glen Albyn Lane in Orange, California.

Contents

KWIZ is not licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to broadcast in the HD Radio hybrid format, yet the HD Radio Guide indicates that KWIZ broadcasts on one HD channel. [1] [2]

History

96.7 FM signed on as KVOE-FM in 1947, simulcast with KVOE (1480 AM, now KVNR). [3] The two stations were owned by Voice of the Orange Empire, Inc., Ltd. They were Mutual Broadcasting System and Don Lee Network affiliates. The studios were on East 5th Street in Santa Ana. On July 1, 1954, KVOE-AM-FM changed their call signs to KWIZ and KWIZ-FM, but still under the same ownership. [4]

Ernest and Franc Spencer sold Voice of the Orange Empire in 1965 to the Davis Broadcasting Company. By 1970, KWIZ-FM had separate programming. The AM station aired a full service middle of the road format of popular music, news and information. The FM had an automated easy listening format, which would change to soft adult contemporary music in the mid-1980s.

Liberman acquired KWIZ-AM-FM in 1987. In 1990, KWIZ-FM began carrying Los Angeles Dodgers games in Korean, and on March 10, 1991, it flipped to a full-time Korean format, brokered from Radio Korea. [5] In 1993, after another brokering deal, KWIZ-FM flipped to Vietnamese as "Little Saigon Radio." [6]

Other brokered programming deals soon followed. In addition to religious and ethnic talk shows, KWIZ-FM also was home to several niche format music programs, including reggae, alternative rock and surf rock. At night, the station's time was leased to "Renegade Radio," a dance music/techno music format hosted by DJ Racer and former MARS-FM DJ Mike "Fright" Ivankay. Renegade Radio also broadcast MARS-FM music director Swedish Egil's syndicated Groove Radio program, which later became a full-time local electronica format at KACD/KBCD.

In January 1997, Liberman switched the AM and FM services, making the FM a Spanish-language station and the AM aimed at Vietnamese-Americans. [7] While Liberman has three FM stations in the Los Angeles market playing contemporary Regional Mexican music, KWIZ specialized in classic Mexican hits from past decades.

Previous logo KWIZ LaRanchera96.7 logo.png
Previous logo

On January 1, 2023, the station dropped its Spanish ranchera oldies format as new owners flipped the station to Spanish Christian programming known as "Vision Latina 96.7". Since then, it has been operated by Universal Church under an LMA. [8] Two months later on March 1, Universal Church made plans to purchase KWIZ outright from Estrella Media for $8 million. [9] The purchase was consummated on May 16, 2023.

Related Research Articles

KCSN is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Northridge, California and owned by California State University, Northridge. The station simulcasts with KSBR from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. The station primarily airs adult album alternative (AAA) and Americana music with a mix of legends, new music, and local music with some specialty programming on weekends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KBIG</span> Hot adult contemporary radio station in Los Angeles

KBIG is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Los Angeles, California and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format heavy on music from the 2000s to the present day. KBIG has studios located in Burbank, California and its primary transmitter is based on Mount Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KIIS-FM</span> Contemporary hit radio station in Los Angeles

KIIS-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States, and broadcasts to the Greater Los Angeles area. The station airs a Top 40 (CHR) format. Owned by iHeartMedia, KIIS-FM is the origin of the conglomerate's KISS-FM brand, and serves as the flagship station for the radio program On Air with Ryan Seacrest. KIIS-FM's studios are located in Burbank, while the station transmitter resides on Mount Wilson, north of Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KLVE</span> Spanish-language radio station in Los Angeles

KLVE is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California with a Spanish AC format. The station is owned by TelevisaUnivision, and is the flagship station for the Uforia Audio Network. The station has studios and offices located on Center Drive in West Los Angeles, and the transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson. KLVE also uses a 100-watt booster station in Santa Clarita, KLVE-FM1 on 107.5 MHz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KKLQ (FM)</span> K-Love Christian radio station in Los Angeles

KKLQ is a non-commercial FM radio station owned by Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and carries the contemporary Christian music format of its nationally syndicated network K-Love throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. Licensed to Los Angeles, California, KKLQ's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson and has a booster in Santa Clarita, KKLQ-FM2 at 100.3 MHz, to extend its coverage into the Santa Clarita Valley and other areas north of Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KXOL-FM</span> Spanish-language radio station in Los Angeles

KXOL-FM is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It is owned by the Spanish Broadcasting System and airs a Spanish CHR radio format. KXOL-FM's studios and offices are on West Pico Boulevard. The transmitter is located in the Verdugo Mountains, near Glendale, California. KXOL-FM is also heard on a 14-watt booster station in Santa Clarita, KXOL-FM-1 at 96.3 MHz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KNX-FM</span> Radio station in Los Angeles, California

KNX-FM is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, United States. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an all-news radio format in a full-time simulcast with KNX. The station has studios at the intersection of Wilshire and Hauser Boulevards in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles, and the transmitter on Mount Wilson.

KBUE is a commercial radio station licensed to Long Beach, California, that serves the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is owned by Estrella Media and airs a Regional Mexican radio format. Studios and offices are on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estrella Media</span> American media company

Estrella Media is an American media company based in Burbank, California, owned by private equity firm HPS Investment Partners, LLC. Estrella Media primarily caters to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community, owns television and radio stations in several of the top Hispanic markets, and is the parent company of the Estrella TV network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KKGO</span> Country music radio station in Los Angeles

KKGO is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters and airs a country music format. The KKGO studios are located in Los Angeles' Westwood neighborhood, while the station transmitter resides on Mount Wilson. Besides a standard analog transmission, KKGO broadcasts over four HD Radio channels and is available online.

KBUA 94.3 FM, San Fernando, California, KBUE 105.5 FM, Long Beach, California, and KEBN 94.3 FM, Garden Grove, California, are a trimulcast comprising Que Buena 105.5/94.3 FM, a Spanish language regional Mexican music station owned by Estrella Media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KFRG</span> Radio station in San Bernardino, California

KFRG is a commercial radio station licensed to San Bernardino, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. KFRG airs a country music radio format calling itself "K-FROG" and is believed to be the original "Frog" station under previous owner Keymarket. The brand name has been subsequently licensed by Keymarket to dozens of American radio stations.

KSSE, KSSD, and KSSC are commercial FM radio stations serving Southern California at the 107.1 MHz frequency. KSSE is licensed to Arcadia, California and broadcasts to the Los Angeles metropolitan area, KSSD is licensed to Fallbrook, California and serves northern San Diego County and KSSC is licensed to Ventura, California, with its signal covering Ventura County. These three stations trimulcast with KLYY in Riverside, airing a Spanish adult hits format known as "José 97.5 y 107.1". KSSC formerly aired a separate Spanish adult contemporary format branded as "La Suavecita 107.1". From 1991 to 2019, the three stations formed a same-channel trimulcast covering Southern California from Ventura to San Diego. As of December 31, 2019, KSSC in Ventura switched to José, reforming the trimulcast on 107.1.

KBRT is a Southern Californian AM radio station. It airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format and is owned by Crawford Broadcasting. It is licensed to Costa Mesa, California, and serves Los Angeles and Orange counties and can be heard in The Inland Empire and San Diego County. National religious leaders heard on K-Brite include David Jeremiah, Alistair Begg, Joyce Meyer, Charles Stanley and Rick Warren. The radio studios and business offices are on Airway Avenue in Costa Mesa.

KVNR is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Santa Ana, California, and serving Orange and Los Angeles counties. It is owned by Estrella Media, and broadcasts a Vietnamese language format known as "Little Saigon Radio". Programming is also broadcast in San Jose (KSJX) and simulcasted on DirecTV channel 2039.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KTJM</span> Radio station in Port Arthur, Texas

KTJM is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Port Arthur, Texas. It is owned by Estrella Media and airs a Regional Mexican radio format. The studios and offices are located at 3000 Bering Drive in Southwest Houston. Programming is simulcast with sister station 101.7 KNTE Bay City, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KALZ</span> Radio station in Fowler, California

KALZ is a commercial radio station licensed to Fowler, California, and serving the Fresno metropolitan area. It airs a talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are located on Shaw Avenue in North Fresno. Programming is simulcast on sister station KRZR 1400 AM in Visalia.

Dance radio is a format that consists of current and recent dance and electronic music.

KMZT is a commercial radio station licensed to Beverly Hills, California. Owned by Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters, the station serves Greater Los Angeles and much of surrounding Southern California. The KMZT studios are located in Los Angeles' Westwood neighborhood, while the station transmitter resides in the nearby Mission Hills neighborhood. Besides a standard analog transmission, KMZT broadcasts over through the HD Radio in-band on-channel standard for AM stations, is simulcast on low-power Los Angeles translator K252FO and the second HD digital subchannel of KKGO, and is available online.

KGBN is a Korean Christian brokered time AM radio station licensed to Anaheim, California. It serves Orange County and Greater Los Angeles. Rev. Young Sun Lee serves as the president of the Korean Gospel Broadcasting Network, which owns the station. KGBN is one of four radio stations in the Los Angeles area that broadcast entirely in Korean. The others are 1230 KYPA, 1540 KMPC and 1650 KFOX in Torrance, although they have mostly secular formats.

References

  1. ↑ "Station Search Details". Federal Communications Commission . Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  2. ↑ "HD Radio station guide for Los Angeles, California". Archived from the original on 2017-01-28. Retrieved 2015-09-15. HD Radio Guide for Los Angeles
  3. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1950 page 99
  4. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1956 page 75
  5. ↑ Chu, Henry (April 15, 1991). "The New KWIZ-FM Is Eclectic—and Korean". Los Angeles Times. p. F10. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  6. ↑ Dizon, Lily; Le, Thuan (March 21, 1994). "Little Saigon Gets a Big Voice". Los Angeles Times. p. A3. Retrieved July 13, 2019. (Continued)
  7. ↑ Baxter, Kevin (September 10, 1997). "New frontiers". Los Angeles Times. p. 22. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Vision Latina 96.7 Debuts In Southern California - RadioInsight". 2023-01-07. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  9. ↑ "Estrella Media Sells One From Los Angeles Cluster - RadioInsight". 2023-03-01. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.