First air date May 1922 Facility ID 36419 Website kfiz.com City of license Fond du Lac Branding News Talk 1450 Sister stations WFON, WCLB | Class C Affiliations Fox News Radio Frequency 1450 kHz Owner Randy Hopper Slogan The One You Depend On | |
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Power 1,000 watts (unlimited) Format Talk radio, Sports radio, All-news radio | ||
KFIZ (1450 AM, "News Talk 1450") is a radio station licensed to serve Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, US. The station is owned by Randy Hopper's Mountain Dog Media and the license is held by RBH Enterprises, Inc. KFIZ features programming from Fox News Radio.
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Programming
KFIZ airs a News/Talk/Sports format including some programming from Fox News Radio. KFIZ is a member of the Wisconsin Radio Network for local and regional news and sports programming. KFIZ also airs programming from Pam Jahnke, Clark Howard, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Jim Bohannon, and George Noory.
Sports programming on KFIZ includes local high school football, high school basketball, and college basketball, plus Major League Baseball as part of the Milwaukee Brewers Radio Network, NBA basketball as part of the Milwaukee Bucks Radio Network, and NFL football as a member of both the Green Bay Packers Radio Network and the Westwood One NFL Network.
History
Founded in May 1922 by Fond du Lac businessman Oscar A. Huelsman, KFIZ was one of the first commercial radio stations in Wisconsin. One of the few American radio stations east of the Mississippi River with a "K" callsign, this station was assigned the KFIZ call letters by the United States Department of Commerce.
KFIZ began experimental broadcasting at 1100 kHz and 100 watts of power in May 1922 with licensed operation beginning in July 1923. In 1928, the station changed frequencies to 1120 kHz and again in 1930 to 1420 kHz, still at 100 watts. In 1942, KFIZ moved to its current frequency of 1450 kHz and in the mid-1940s the station increased signal power to 250 watts. KFIZ currently broadcasts with 1,000 watts of power.
Ownership
KFIZ was founded in May 1922 under the ownership of Oscar A. Huelsman, a local automobile dealer, as a way to advertise his dealership. Soon afterward, the Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter assumed joint ownership of the station. KFIZ was owned by Reporter Printing Co. in the mid-1930s. KFIZ Broadcasting Company acquired the station in May 1946 and owned the station through the early 1960s.
In November 1986, Wisconsin Cablevision & Radio Co., Inc., completed a merger by transferring the license for this station to Donald G. Jones and Wisconsin Cablevision Inc., a partnership doing business as the Wisconsin Cablevision Partnership. The deal was approved by the FCC on December 19, 1986, and the transaction was consummated on December 28, 1986.
In September 1987, the Cablevision Partnership made a deal to sell KFIZ to Independence Broadcasting Wisconsin Corp. The deal was approved by the FCC on November 3, 1987, and the transaction was consummated on January 20, 1988.
In June 1993, Independence Broadcasting Wisconsin Corp. contracted to sell this station to Lakeside Cablevision Limited Partnership (doing business as Star Cablevision, a forerunner business to Charter Communications's Wisconsin operations). The deal was approved by the FCC on August 24, 1993, and the transaction was consummated on September 30, 1993.
In January 1997, Lakeside Broadcasting Wisconsin Limited Partnership reached an agreement to sell KFIZ to current owner RBH Enterprises, Inc., which does business as Mountain Dog Media and is operated by former state senator Randy Hopper. The deal was approved by the FCC on January 23, 1997, and the transaction was consummated on the same day.
KFIZ used CNN Radio for its national news coverage in the 1990s; around 2007, KFIZ switched affiliations to Fox News Radio. Talk show hosts like Sean Hannity replaced former local hosts.