KKDZ
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| Facility ID | 12112 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | radiopunjab.com |
KKDZ (1250
By day, KKDZ broadcasts at 5,000 watts non-directional. At night, to protect other stations on 1250 AM from interference, it switches to a directional antenna with a four-tower array.[2]
History
KTW
The station received its first license, with the randomly issued
KTW was originally licensed to use the single shared "entertainment" wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz), and was one of the last stations to remain on that wavelength. In 1925, it switched to 660 kHz, followed in 1927, by a move to 760 kHz. On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of a major reallocation resulting from the Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40, KTW was reassigned to 1270 kHz, shared with KFOA (now KKOL).[6] In 1931, it moved to 1220 kHz,[7] sharing this frequency with KWSC (now KWSU) in Pullman, Washington. On March 29, 1941, along with all the other stations on 1220 kHz, KTW moved to 1250 kHz, the frequency KTW and its successors have occupied ever since, as part of the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement.[8]
Commercial programming started in 1946. KTW was sold to David M Segal in 1964. A Top 40 format failed because KTW shared 1250 kHz with KWSU, Pullman, which had priority. KTW signed off at sunset, then signed on again at 11:15pm when KWSU, at Washington State University, signed off. The arrangement killed young listenership. The station’s 4 DJs… “Tom, Dick, Harry and Sam” worked out of the First Presbyterian Church cinderblock building studios at 710 Madison Street. Segal also established KTW-FM at 102.5 in 1964. FM listenership was meager in that era, when few radios were equipped to receive FM signals. KTW-FM was a popular "underground station" in the late 60s, simulcasting KOL (AM) 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., then "going underground" by playing progressive rock for the next 12 hours.
KTW-AM-FM were eventually sold to Nordawn, Incorporated, short for Norwood and Dawn Patterson, for $25,000. The Pattersons flipped the AM and FM stations to
In 1971, KTW-AM-FM were sold to Sterling Recreation Organization (SRO), a chain of cinemas in the Seattle area owned by Fred Danz. Paid religion had limited audience appeal. Under Danz, the format switched to
The AM station was hampered by the limited nighttime hours. KTW was a shared time station, required to go off the air at night when KWSU 1250 AM in Pullman, Washington, was operating. Plans were made to request FCC approval to move KTW programming to 1590 AM, which had no limit on broadcast hours, but SRO suddenly decided to end the KTW news/talk format. SRO proceeded in 1975 to purchase KUUU 1590 and operated that station with a music format under those call letters until 1977, when it became KZOK-AM. (When SRO purchased KTW AM-FM, the FM station at 102.5 had become KZOK-FM).
KYAC and KKFX
Financial problems resulted in 1250 AM being sold to Don Dudley and a format flip to urban adult contemporary, along with a call letter change to KYAC in 1975. KYAC moved its format over from 1460. For a time, KYAC aired classical music format.
In 1981, the station was sold to Northstar Broadcasters and renamed KKFX ("K-Fox"). Vice President and General Manager John L. Hawkins implemented "Greatest Hits"
Because the nighttime radio audience has a different listener profile, K-Fox aired "Night Beat -- The Beat of the Fox" (emphasizing R&B and
KidStar Network
On April 7, 1993, the call sign were changed to KKDZ. A month later, on May 14, the station returned to the air as the flagship outlet for the fledgling "KidStar" radio network, run by the Seattle-based Children's Media Network.[11] Financial problems forced the network to cease national distribution on February 14, 1997. Despite a planned shutdown for February 22, 1997, KKDZ remaining on air.[12]
Radio Disney
On March 8, 1997, KKDZ dropped KidStar and flipped to the similarly formatted Radio Disney, who would later buy the station outright in January 1998.
The cessation of operations of KARR in February 2014 due to the expiration of the lease on their transmitter site also affected KKDZ, as it used the KARR site for night time operations. KKDZ filed with the Federal Communications Commission for a Special Temporary Authority (STA) grant to run with a lower power of 1.25 kilowatts at night from their daytime transmitter site.[13]
Desi 1250
On August 13, 2014, Disney put KKDZ and 22 other Radio Disney stations up for sale, in order to focus more on digital distribution of the network.[14] In May 2015, a deal to sell the station to Universal Media Access (owners of KLOK in San Francisco) for $500,000 was announced.[15]
On September 17, 2015, the sale of KKDZ was consummated, at which point it officially dropped its Radio Disney affiliation and switched to a South Asian format featuring
language programming. It was branded "Desi 1250". That ended 22 years of pre-teen and young teen oriented programming on the station, dating back to the KidStar days.Radio Punjabi
On October 16, 2017, Sukhdev Singh Dhillon's New Media Broadcasting, through licensee Akal Broadcasting Corporation, purchased KKDZ from Universal Media Access. The price tag was $500,000. The station's license was transferred to sister corporation Akal Media KKDZ, Inc. effective August 27, 2019 as part of a corporate restructuring.
The station is now part of the Radio Punjabi chain. It still airs South Asian programming, focusing on talk, news and
Former logos
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KKDZ". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/KKDZ
- ^ "New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, May 1, 1922, page 4. Limited Commercial license, serial #665, issued for operation on 360 meters for a period of three months to the First Presbyterian Church in Seattle, Washington.
- ^ "Radio News: Hear Sermon by Radio", Seattle Daily Times, May 15, 1922, page 5.
- ^ "KTW: A Church Which Enfolds Its Widely Scattered Flock by Radio" by Sam Loomis, The Wireless Age, January 1923, pages 30, 40.
- ^ "Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, November 30, 1928, page 9.
- ^ "Alterations and Corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, June 30, 1931, page 22.
- ^ Radio Broadcast Stations, Federal Communications Commission (March 29, 1941 edition), page 33.
- ^ "KKFX-AM 1250" by Rollye Bornstein (James), Mediatrix Market Profile: Seattle (volume 1, number 9), 1988, page 78.
- ^ "Seattle FM Dial - 1981", 2007 (radiodiscussions.com)
- ^ "KidStar to Shine Across the U.S." by Jo McIntyre, September 19, 1994 (AdAge.com)
- ^ "KidStar Interactive Suspends Operations" (PDF). R&R. February 21, 1997. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
- ^ "Special Temporary Authority: KKDZ(AM)", Jerome J. Manarchuck (FCC Media Bureau: Audio Division), May 16, 2014.
- ^ Lafayette, Jon (August 13, 2014). "Exclusive: Radio Disney Moving Off Air to Digital". broadcastingcable.com. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
- ^ "Station Sales Week Of 5/22: Evolution Expanding To Florida Keys & Disney Sells Seattle". RadioInsight. May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
External links
- KKDZ Live Stream and contact info
- Radio Punjab Facebook
- KKDZ in the FCC AM station database
- KKDZ in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- FCC History Cards for KKDZ (covering 1927-1981 as KTW / KYAC / KKFX)
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