City Salem, Oregon Slogan Salem's First Choice First air date May 1957 (as KOCO) | Branding KBZY 1490 AM Frequency 1490 kHz | |
Broadcast area Salem, Oregon and vicinity | ||
KBZY (1490 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Salem, Oregon, United States. The station, established in 1957, has been owned by Capital Broadcasting, Inc., since 1982.
Contents
Programming
KBZY broadcasts an oldies music format to Oregon's capital city.
Local weekday personalities include The Morning Team, with your host Bob Buck, Local News, and Sports with Roy Dittman, and local weather with "Wild" Bill Isabell. Longtime local favorite Terry Sol is your mid-day host. Entertainer John Tesh keeps your afternoon rolling along with his inside look into the world of show business. Charlie Foxx makes your drive home easier with his top 5 @ 5. Shirley Violla helps you settle in for the night evenings. Chris Hernandez has an extra pot of coffee on all night long.
In addition to its usual music programming, KBZY is also a member of the Oregon State Beavers radio network. KBZY airs all of the Oregon State Beavers football, basketball and baseball games.
History
This station began broadcasting in May 1957 as KOCO, a 250 watt AM radio station licensed to serve the community of Salem, Oregon, and whose broadcast license was held by Salem Broadcasting Company. Salem Broadcasting Company was, in turn, part of the Fisher Stations Group which then also owned radio station KUGN and KUGN-FM in Eugene, Oregon and KUMA in Pendleton, Oregon. KBZY increased its signal strength to 1,000 watts in the daytime and 250 watts at night in 1960. The station played a rock-leaning Top 40 format through the 1960s and 1970s.
After more than a quarter-century of continuous ownership, Salem Broadcasting reached an agreement in September 1980 to sell KBZY to Friendship Communications Company. The deal was approved by the FCC on January 16, 1981. This change would prove short-lived as Friendship Communications Company agreed in April 1982 to sell this station to Capital Broadcasting, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on June 15, 1982.
In October 1985, James J. Opsitnik contracted to sell KBZY license holder Capital Broadcasting, Inc., to Leroy W. Dittman. The deal was approved by the FCC on November 26, 1985, and the transaction was consummated on January 22, 1986. As of March 2009, Roy Dittman is the sole voting shareholder in Capital Broadcasting, Inc.
In August 2011 the construction of a KinStar antenna was completed and the transmitter was moved to a new location and put into service. Rick Allen and CE Ron Dot'o built the transmitter plant over the Summer.