City Spokane, Washington Branding "92.9 ZZU" | Broadcast area Spokane, Washington Frequency 92.9 MHz | |
Slogan "Today's Modern Hit Music." Translator(s) 92.5 K223AN (Coeur d'Alene, ID) | ||
KZZU-FM, also known as 92.9 ZZU, is an Adult Top 40 radio station that serves the area surrounding Spokane, Washington. The station broadcasts at a frequency of 92.9 MHz and has an effective radiated power of 85 kilowatts. The translator is located in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The station is owned by Morgan Murphy Media, owner of a number of radio stations in and around Spokane.
History
KZZU was previously known as KREM-FM. KREM-FM was founded by Cole E. Wylie in 1946 and operated as a 250-watt station in Spokane on 1340 kHz. In a 1977 interview with radio broadcaster historian Richard Dunning, KREM was described as the "first non-network, independent, all music station" in Spokane. KREM was owned by King Broadcasting of Seattle for many years. Through the late 1960s, and into the 1970s, KREM was the chief rival of KJRB in the Top 40 format, before shifting to an album rock format by the late 1970s/early 1980s.
In 1984, KREM-TV sold KREM-FM, altered the call letters to KZZU-FM, and switched to a Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) format that September. During this time, the station used the slogans of "KZZU The Zoo!" and "93 Zoo FM". Part of the station's popularity stemmed from the "93 Zoo FM Breakfast Boys' Morning Show", hosted by Dave Sposito and Ken Hopkins, who almost exclusively discussed pop culture. KZZU has also hosted on-air talents such as Jamie Patrick, Casey Christopher, Sean Rivers, Devin James, Steve Hawk, Paul Gray, and Jeffrey Parker.
In response to a primary competitor, KCDA, KZZU shifted from the CHR/Top 40 format to its current Adult Top 40 format on October 17, 2005. It now plays music ranging from Adult-oriented Hip-Hop to Pop. The new format reunited The Breakfast Boys with Molly Allen, discarding the "The Breakfast Boys" moniker. Dave, Ken, Molly and producer Dan Roberts host the station's morning show, targeting an 18 to 49 year old audience.
By 2008, KZZU had somewhat returned to its CHR roots, following the change of sister station KEZE from Rhythmic Top 40 to Country, as it added some rhythmic music during the evening hours (while maintaining the Adult Top 40 format during the daytime), as a form of dayparting. KEZE swapped formats with its sister station KXLY-FM in 2010 (KEZE programmed an adult album alternative format until its return to Rhythmic CHR as "Hot 96.9" in 2011, which resulted in KZZU dropping most rhythmic music to avoid overlap with KEZE, though it would retain some rhythmic tracks). Mediabase and Nielsen BDS still describe KZZU as a Hot AC, but reclassified KZZU as Adult Top 40 when KZBD dropped alternative rock for CHR.