KWJZ

Infobox Radio station
name = KWJZ


city = Seattle, Washington
area = Seattle metropolitan area
branding = "98.9 KWJZ"
slogan =
airdate = 1948
frequency = 98.9 MHz HD Radio
format = Smooth Jazz
power =
erp = 63,900 watts
haat = 698 meters
class = C
facility_id = 57843
callsign_meaning = Washington JaZz
former_callsigns = KMCS
KBBX
KEZX
owner = Sandusky Radio
webcast = [http://wmc1.liquidcompass.cc/KWJZ Listen Live]
website = [http://www.kwjz.com/ www.kwjz.com]
affiliations =

KWJZ (98.9 FM), known by the on-air brand 98.9 KWJZ, is a smooth jazz radio station based in Seattle, Washington. The Sandusky outlet broadcasts at 98.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 57 kW. Its transmitter is located in Issaquah, Washington.

History

KWJZ first went on the air in 1958 as KMCS. It was then locally owned by former Crown (later to be known as KING Broadcasting) executives. The format was beautiful music/easy listening until about 1980. Other formats included Adult Contemporary (1980-1991) and back to Beautiful music (1991-1993) before it flipped formats to its current incarnation in August 1993.

Up until 1972, the station played LP's. Rumor has it that the station at one time was KOMO-FM, but actually KOMO-FM went to the University of Washington and is now KUOW.Fact|date=January 2008 KMCS switched calls to KBBX in the 1960s. Then with a major promotional thrust and with TM syndicated Music Only For A Women format in 1972 the call letters were changed from KBBX to KEZX and 'Oceans of Beautiful Music'. Also from the late 1960s into the late 1980s, the sub-carrier 67 kHz SCA transmitted music and point of sale commercials to many of the retail outlets in the Puget Sound area.

The marketcasting portion was the reason that Roy Park, owner of Park Broadcasting purchased the station in late 1975.Fact|date=November 2007 Park at the time was one of the largest broadcast firms in the US. At first the station was locally programmed, then with an anticipated power increase from 35 kW to 100 kW. The station increased its power in the spring of 1977 to 100,000 watts.

In 1995 they took the KWJZ calls to compliment its current format, which has become a favorite among listeners.

With the celebration of the 15th anniversary of KWJZ's format in 2008, the station dropped the "Smooth Jazz" part of its branding and became known simply as 98.9 KWJZ. While smooth jazz still makes up the majority of its programming, KWJZ has recently begun incorporating some chill out music, such as that featured on the syndicated program "Chill with Mindi Abair" (which airs on Sunday nights on KWJZ), as part of a more broadly-defined "smooth music" format.

KWJZ on-air schedule

External links

* [http://www.kwjz.com/ KWJZ official website]
*FMQ|KWJZ
*FML|KWJZ
*FMARB|KWJZ