| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Salt Lake City metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1280kHz |
| Branding | KSL Sports Zone |
| Programming | |
| Format | Sports radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Jazz Communications LLC |
| Operator | Bonneville International |
| KZNS-FM,KSL,KSL-FM,KSFI,KRSP-FM,KSL-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | February 1945; 80 years ago (1945-02) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Zone" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 60458 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 40°51′7″N111°58′4″W / 40.85194°N 111.96778°W /40.85194; -111.96778 |
| Repeaters | |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | kslsports |
KZNS (1280kHz,The KSL Sports Zone) is anAMcommercial radio station inSalt Lake City, Utah. It airs aSports radio format and is owned by Jazz Communications LLC. Programming issimulcast on co-ownedKZNS-FM 97.5,licensed toCoalville, Utah. On weekdays, KZNS-AM-FM have local hosts discussing Salt Lake City and national sports. Nights and weekends, programming is supplied byFox Sports Radio. KZNS-AM-FM are theflagship radio stations for theUtah Jazzbasketball team, theUtah Mammoth of theNHL, theSalt Lake BeesMinor League Baseball team,Real Salt Lake ofMajor League Soccer,Utah Royals FC of theNational Women's Soccer League, andUtah State Aggies football and men's basketball of theMountain West Conference. When multiple games are occurring simultaneously, the AM and FM signals will air different live sports.
KZNS'stransmitter is near theJordan River inNorth Salt Lake, and their headquarters are located inside theDelta Center in Salt Lake City.[2] It is aClass B radio station, running 50,000 watts by day, the maximum power for commercial AM radio stations in the U.S. At night, to protect other stations on1280 AM, it drops power to 670 watts. It uses adirectional antenna at all times.
The station firstsigned on the air in February 1945, and held thecall sign KNAK.[3] The station was owned by the Granite District Radio Broadcasting Company with studios in theContinental Bank Building on South Temple at Main Street.[4]
KNAK first broadcast on 1400 kHz at only 250 watts. By this time,KSL was powered at 50,000 watts. KNAK was not associated with any of the big radio networks. Salt Lake City had four other radio stations,network affiliates ofCBS,NBC,ABC and theMutual Broadcasting System. In the 1950s, KNAK moved to 1280 kHz, accompanied by an increase in power to 5,000 watts by day, 500 watts at night.
On January 16, 1976, the station's call sign was changed to KWMS.[3] As KWMS, the station aired anall-news format.[5] It was an affiliate of NBC Radio's "News and Information Service" (NIS), a 24-hour all-news network.[6]
NIS was discontinued in 1977. KWMS began doing a local version of the all-news format using its own anchors and the services of the Mutual Broadcasting System.
In 1982, the station was acquired by Simmons Family Inc., which already owned popularadult contemporary station 100.3KSFI, for $750,000.[7] On July 21, 1982, the station's call letters switched to KDYL.[8] When Simmons acquired the station, the KDYL call letters were assigned to aTooele, Utah, station, then at 990 kHz, and the owner of that station, Thomas Mathis, was compensated to release the KDYL call letters, changing the call sign of his station toKTLE. Prior to the Tooele station having the KDYL call sign, they were assigned to the 1320 kHz Salt Lake City station, now known asKNIT. Simmons wanted to call this station KDYL because those call letters had been in use for a long time in the Salt Lake Cityradio market.
In the early and mid 1980s, KDYL aired an all-news format.[9][10][11] By 1986, the station had begun airing the "Music of Your Life"adult standards format, featuringbig band music and adult pop songs from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.[12][13][14] The station continued airing this format until June 27, 2000.[15]
On June 27, 2000, the station switched to atalk radio format.[15] It primarily carriedconservative talk programming.[16]Syndicated shows hosted byMichael Savage andMichael Medved appeared, along withImus in the Morning hosted byDon Imus.[16]
On November 12, 2001, KDYL's call sign was changed to KZNS.[8] That same day, Simmons Media changed the format of the station, airingCNN Headline News in the daytime and sports talk in the afternoon and evening.[16] The station promoted itself as "KZN", or "K-Zone";[16] KZN had been the original call sign for KSL.[17] Simmons saw KZNS as the flagship of a regional "KZN" network of stations;[17] by 2002, much of its sports programming was also carried onKZNU inSt. George,KZNI inIdaho Falls, Idaho, andKZNR inBlackfoot, Idaho.[18] Soon thereafter, sports talk programming occupied the station's entire schedule, calling itself "The Zone".[19]
As of February 1, 2011, KZNS' "The Zone" sports talk programming also began to be heard on co-ownedKZNS-FM 97.5 licensed toCoalville, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb. Some time later, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) allowed KZNS to increase its power to 50,000 watts by day and 670 watts at night.
As part of the change in ownership of theUtah Jazz, the sale of the station from theLarry H. Miller Group of Companies to Smith Entertainment Group was finalized on May 27, 2021.[20]
On September 30, 2021, it was announced thatBonneville International, owner of KSL andKSL-FM, would be taking over operations of The Zone sports network. The arrangement with Bonneville would result in select Utah Jazz games being aired on KSL.[21] Founding host Gordon Monson and some producers were laid off by the new management.[22] The Zone introduced a new lineup effective October 20.[23]
On September 20, 2024, KZNS was announced as the flagship radio affiliate of theNHL'sUtah Mammoth beginning with the franchise'sInaugural campaign[24]