 | |
| Broadcast area | Olympia andTacoma,Washington |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 102.9MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | La Zeta 102.9 |
| Programming | |
| Language | Spanish |
| Format | Regional Mexican |
| Subchannels | HD2:Spanish pop (“Urbana”) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KDDS-FM,KMIA,KZNW | |
| History | |
First air date | 1966 (1966) (as KGME-FM) |
Former call signs | KGME-FM (1966–1968) KELA-FM (1968–1983) KMNT (1983–2005) KNBQ (2005–2013) KYNW (2013–2016) KFOO (2016–2017) KFNY (2017–2019) |
Call sign meaning | "Zeta" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 33829 |
| Class | C |
| ERP | 70,000watts |
| HAAT | 668 meters (2,192 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 46°58′31″N123°08′16″W / 46.97528°N 123.13778°W /46.97528; -123.13778 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | laradiodeseattle |
KZTM (102.9FM) is aRegional Mexican radio station serving theTacoma andOlympia, Washington area. Owned and operated byBustos Media, through licensee Bustos Media Holdings, LLC, the station is licensed toMcKenna, Washington. The transmitter site is inCapitol State Forest nearOlympia, while its studios are located inKent.
This station signed on in 1966 asKGME-FM, withCentralia as its city of license. In 1968, the station changed its callsign toKELA-FM, holding this callsign until 1983 when the calls changed toKMNT. During the 1990s, KMNT was branded as "The Mountain", and served the Centralia/Chehalis area.
In 2004, their tower moved to Capitol Peak near Olympia, the station shifted their focus to the South Sound, adopted a new call sign ofKNBQ and a new branding: "Q Country 102.9". Its studios were moved to Tacoma as well.
On November 4, 2011, at 7 a.m., KNBQ started simulcastingsports talk stationKJR, becoming "Sports Radio 950 and 102.9 KJR".[2][3] The station's calls were not changed because its sister stationKJR-FM, located on 95.7 FM, already has them. This is a similar move made byKFRC-FMSan Francisco,WCFS-FMChicago, andWSBB-FMAtlanta after those stations began simulcastingKCBS,WBBM andWSB (respectively) due to their sister stations owning the same calls with the -FM suffix having a different format from the AM counterpart and did not want to transfer them over.
On June 14, 2013, at 10 a.m., KNBQ flipped toAdult Top 40 as "102.9 Now," targeting Olympia and the South Sound region. The first song on "Now" was "Poker Face" byLady Gaga.[4] The KJR simulcast moved to KJR-FM HD2. On June 19, 2013, the station took theKYNW call sign. It is noted that both this station andDallas/Fort Worth areasister stationKDMX shared the same branding and logo. Although KDMX flipped to Adult Top 40 in 2012, it was unsuccessful as it reverted to itsHot AC format. Most of the station's airstaff consisted of voicetracked and syndicated shows from Johnjay & Rich (from sisterKZZPPhoenix),On-Air with Ryan Seacrest,Mario Lopez, and "The Rendevouz" with Simon Marcel and Kim Iversen.[5] Lori Bradley was the station's only local host, hosting middays from 10am-2pm.
On January 13, 2016, KYNW announced they will be changing formats on January 19 at Noon, and began redirecting listeners to sister stationKBKS-FM.[6] At that time, after playing "Hello" byAdele and the first minute of "Counting Stars" byOneRepublic, KYNW's format moved to KBKS (and was modified to a more broad-basedHot AC); at the same time, KYNW flipped toalternative rock as "ALT 102.9." The first (and ultimately last) song on "ALT" was "Smells Like Teen Spirit" byNirvana.[7] The move was part of a format shuffle on four of iHeart's Seattle stations, with KBKS's Mainstream Top 40 format moving to 93.3 FM, displacingKUBE's longtime Rhythmic Top 40 format, which would move toKKBW. KKBW'sactive rock format would be modified toalternative and move to KYNW.[8] On February 5, 2016, KYNW changed its call letters toKFOO, referencing the Seattle-based bandFoo Fighters.
On November 1, 2017, iHeart announced that they would acquireKFNQ,KJAQ, andKZOK fromEntercom as part of its merger withCBS Radio, and divest KFOO andKUBE to the Ocean Station Trust in preparation for their sale to a third-party (which was completed on December 19).[9] As part of the impending divestment, the station swapped callsigns withKFNY inRiverside, California on November 14, 2017. On December 11, 2017, KFNY switched to an unbrandedsmooth jazz format with the slogan "The South Sound’s Smooth Jazz Station" as interim programming,[10][11] while the previous alternative format and "ALT" branding were moved to anHD Radio subchannel ofKJAQ asAlt 96.5 HD2.
On May 6, 2019, Bustos Media acquired KFNY from iHeartMedia's divestiture trust for $3 million.[12] On June 28, 2019, KFNY flipped toregional Mexican. The purchase by Bustos Media was consummated on July 1, 2019, with the new owners changing the station's call sign toKZTM.[13]
In 2021, Bustos filed an application to relocate KZTM's transmitter to a site northwest ofShelton, in order to improve the station's coverage into Seattle and theOlympic Peninsula. The station would operate with an effective radiated power of 90,000 watts. In addition, KZTM changed their city of license from Centralia toMcKenna.[14][15]
As of August 2019, KZTM is carried onHD Radio.