Simulcasting KMVA Dewey-Humboldt | |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Phoenix metropolitan area |
Frequency | 103.9 MHz (HD Radio) |
Branding | Hot 97.5/103.9 |
Programming | |
Format | Rhythmic Hot AC |
Subchannels |
|
Ownership | |
Owner |
|
KKFR, KMVA, KOAI | |
History | |
First air date | February 25, 1981 (as KQEZ) |
Former call signs | KQEZ (1981–1993) KAZR (1993–1995) KBZR (1995–1997) KPTY (1997–2001) KEDJ (2001–2010) KEXX (2010–2016) |
Call sign meaning | AriZONa |
Technical information | |
Facility ID | 54944 |
Class | C1 |
ERP | 100,000 watts |
HAAT | 189 meters (620 ft) |
Translator(s) |
|
Links | |
Webcast | Listen Live (may be restricted) |
Website | hot975hot1039 |
KZON (103.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Gilbert, Arizona, and broadcasting to the Phoenix metropolitan area. It simulcasts a Rhythmic Hot AC radio format with co-owned KMVA 97.5 FM Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona, as "Hot 97.5/103.9." The stations are owned by the Riviera Broadcast Group with studios on 7th Street in Midtown Phoenix.
KZON is a Class C station. It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for most FM stations. [1] The transmitter is on East Ocotillo Road at North Schnepf Road in San Tan Valley, Arizona. [2] KZON is also heard on two FM translators: 94.9 MHz in Chandler and 96.1 MHz in Fort McDowell.
The station signed on the air on February 25, 1981 . Its original call sign was KQEZ. It called itself "Easy Country 103" and its city of license was Coolidge, Arizona. [3] [4] It was powered at only 3,000 watts, a fraction of its current output, so the station primarily focused on the Casa Grande Valley.
In 1991, original owner Larry E. Salsburey sold the station to Scott Christianson's Chriscom. KQEZ, however, fell on financial hard times in the early 1990s. In September 1992, KQEZ's disc jockeys informed listeners that they had not been paid in a month; at that time, owner Christianson said he could not pay workers because of $200,000 in debt. In April 1993, the station went off the air altogether. [5]
Two months later, the station was sold to J.M. Wolz, the first of three license transfers in a year. Wolz put the station back on the air with a classic rock format as KAZR. A signal upgrade followed providing the southern sections of the Phoenix area with a clear signal.
On March 20, 1995, [6] the format was flipped to a modern rock/top 40 hybrid branded as “The Blaze.” A change of call letters to KBZR followed the change of format.
In the spring of 1996, the station began moving its transmitter closer to Phoenix. At the same time, the station began a 6-month stunt of an automated Rhythmic Oldies format, only going by the moniker "S.T.E.V.E." The name was an acronym standing for "Songs That Everyone Vociferously Enjoys."
On October 30, 1996, at 3:30 p.m., the station completed its upgrade, and the station once again began stunting, this time with people chanting "Party! Party! Party!" for several hours which ended with a sound of a record scratching and a male announcer saying "Arizona's Party Station" in reverse, which led to its new name and slogan, and the station flipped to a hip hop-emphasizing rhythmic top 40 format as "103.9, Arizona's Party Station". The call letters were changed in the spring of 1997 to KPTY to reflect the station branding. Despite the station's signal limitations, KPTY did well in the ratings. In fact, rival KKFR, which was airing a broad-based Mainstream Top 40 format at the time, began to move towards hip hop-emphasizing rhythmic top 40 format as well, and took away much of KPTY's audience.
In 1998, KPTY evolved to a hybrid hip-hop/modern rock format shortly followed by a change of branding to "Party Radio @ 103.9." During the last week of 1999, KPTY stunted with a supposed broadcast hijacking with buzzing sounds and audio glitches in the songs, legal IDs and sweepers, while the DJs were talking. On December 31, 1999, KPTY began stunting with a 24-hour loop of "We Like To Party" by The Vengaboys. On January 1, 2000, KPTY returned to a rhythmic top 40 format (this time with more of a dance lean) as "103.9 The Party".
In October 2001, the station's owners were persuaded by the staff of the original KEDJ "The Edge" on 106.3 FM and 100.3 FM to drop the Rhythmic Top 40 format and bring the KEDJ call letters and its alternative rock format over to 103.9 FM. KPTY flipped to "The Edge" exactly 5 years after the station began: October 30, 2001 at Noon. The 106.3 and 100.3 frequencies originally used by "The Edge" were sold to Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (now Univision Radio) and switched to a Regional Mexican format.
In April 2008, the morning show "The Morning Ritual" was dropped in place of the syndicated Adam Carolla Show from Los Angeles. The Adam Carolla Show was cancelled on February 20, 2009, due to Carolla's flagship station KLSX flipping formats. It was quickly replaced by another Los Angeles–based morning show, Kevin and Bean.
In July 2009, the station relaunched as "FM/1039...Where Music Matters." FM/1039 Launched under then-Program Director Tim Virgin. That same month, Virgin left to do Afternoons at Q101 in Chicago. Former program director Marc Young returned to the station and took over afternoon duties as well.
On January 8, 2010, the "FM 103/9" branding was changed to "X 103-9...Alternative Rock Now." On February 2, 2010, under the direction of Program Director Marc Young, the station's call letters were changed from KEDJ to KEXX to align with the "X 103.9" branding.
On January 12, 2012 at 6AM, the station shifted its alternative rock format for a hybrid mix that included classic rock artists, rebranding under the name "My 103.9." "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode was the last song under their alternative rock format; the first song under the readjusted format was "It's My Life" by Talk Talk.
As of June 2012, the station shifted to a Hot AC format, still under the name "My 103.9."
On December 27, 2013, Trumper Communications and Riviera Broadcasting Group announced that they would merge their Adult Top 40 outlets into one simulcast, with KMVA and KEXX becoming "Hot 97.5/103.9 Trending Radio." The combined signals made their launch at midnight on January 1; the last song as "My" was "This Love" by Maroon 5, and the first song under the "Hot" simulcast was "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" by P!nk.
On April 9, 2015, its HD2 digital subchannel became the high definition simulcast of KOAI in Sun City West.
On June 20, 2016, KEXX changed its call letters to KZON, taking over the call sign from 101.5 FM which changed their callsign to KALV-FM earlier that month.
On June 17, 2022, at noon, KZON and KMVA shifted to rhythmic hot AC, keeping the "Hot" branding and adopting the "Rhythm of the Valley" positioner, with the first song being "Hot in Herre" by Nelly. [7]
WBZY – branded Z105.7 – is a commercial radio station licensed to Canton, Georgia, broadcasting a Spanish CHR format. Owned by iHeartMedia, WBZY serves the Atlanta metropolitan area. The WBZY studios are located in Atlanta, while the station transmitter resides in the nearby suburb of Marietta. Besides a standard analog transmission, WBZY broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online via iHeartRadio. WBZY formerly repeated over the 32.25 digital subchannel of Atlanta television station WANN-CD and previously did so on a number of occasions with sister station WBZW, the most recent lasting until November 5, 2021.
KJEB is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington. It broadcasts a classic hits radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The radio studios and offices are in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood northwest of downtown.
KZCE is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Cordes Lakes, Arizona, which is 66 miles north of Phoenix. KZCE is owned by Sierra H Broadcasting and broadcasts a classic hip hop radio format. Its radio studios are on Indian School Road in Phoenix.
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.
WPHI-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., simulcasting an all-news radio format with co-owned KYW 1060 AM. The radio studios are in Audacy's corporate headquarters in Center City, Philadelphia.
KZZP is a commercial radio station licensed to Mesa, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan area. The station airs a top 40 (CHR) format and is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. Studios and offices are on East Van Buren Street in Phoenix near Sky Harbor International Airport.
KYOT is a commercial adult hits music radio station located in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. Owned and operated by iHeartMedia, its studios are located in Phoenix near Sky Harbor Airport and its transmitter is in South Mountain Park.
KOAI is a commercial radio station, licensed to Sun City West, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan area. The station is owned by Riviera Broadcasting, an subsidiary of the Yucaipa Companies. It broadcasts an oldies and classic hits radio format, featuring mostly hits from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. It primarily competes with Audacy-owned 94.5 KOOL-FM, which concentrates on 1980s hits, with some 70s and 90s titles.
KALV-FM is a commercial radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and it airs a Top 40/CHR format. KALV-FM's studios are located in downtown Phoenix, and its transmitter is in South Mountain Park. For its first 20 years, the stations went by the call letters KHEP. From 1992 - 2016, the station used the callsign KZON.
KMVA is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona. It is owned by Riviera Broadcasting, LLC. KMVA and sister station KZON 103.9 FM in Gilbert simulcast a Rhythmic Hot AC format, covering the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Free FM was a short-lived, mostly-talk-radio format and brand name for eleven FM CBS Radio stations in the United States, and was created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to highlight that its stations broadcast free-to-air, instead of requiring a subscription fee like satellite radio services. Launched on October 25, 2005, Free FM was phased out over the course of 2007, with the final station using it, KLSX, dropping the brand in November 2008.
WPRT-FM is an ESPN Radio-affiliated sports FM radio station broadcasting at 102.5 MHz. It is licensed to the city of Pegram, Tennessee, but serves the Nashville and Clarksville/Hopkinsville markets. The station's studios are located in southeast Nashville along the Murfreesboro Road, and the transmitter is located between Clarksville and Dickson in the unincorporated community of Cumberland Furnace.
KKFR is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Mayer, Arizona, and serves the Phoenix metropolitan area. The station is owned and operated by Riviera Broadcast Group and airs a rhythmic contemporary radio format. KKFR broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 41 kW. The station's studios are located on 7th Street in Midtown Phoenix and its transmitter is located in Crown King, Arizona, producing a rimshot signal from 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Phoenix. KKFR is the flagship station of the nationally syndicated program Dana Cortez Show.
WUSH is a country music formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Poquoson, Virginia, serving Hampton Roads. WUSH is owned and operated by Sinclair Telecable, Inc.
KTAR-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Glendale, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International, a profit-making division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. KTAR-FM broadcasts a talk radio format.
KAJM is a commercial rhythmic oldies-formatted radio station in Camp Verde, Arizona, broadcasting to Phoenix, Arizona. Its studios are located on Indian School Road in Phoenix, and its transmitter is in Crown King.
KTFM is a commercial radio station licensed to Floresville, Texas, and serving Greater San Antonio. It broadcasts a sports radio format and is owned by Alpha Media. On weekdays it has local personalities hosting sports shows, with ESPN Radio heard nights and weekends. The studios are on Eisenhauer Road in San Antonio.
The year 1996 in radio involved some significant events.
WFYY is a commercial radio station licensed to Windermere, Florida, and serving Greater Orlando. The station is owned by JVC Broadcasting, and airs a rhythmic-leaning Top 40 (CHR) format.
KSON is a commercial radio station licensed to San Diego, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station broadcasts a country music format.