 | |
| Broadcast area | Sacramento metro area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 100.5MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | Now 100.5 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Adult CHR |
| Subchannels | HD2:Dance/EDM |
| Affiliations | Premiere Networks |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | October 1958 (1958-10) (as KEBR) |
Former call signs | KEBR (1958-88) KQPT (1988-97) |
Call sign meaning | KZZOne (previous branding) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 65481 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 115,000 watts |
| HAAT | 100 meters (330 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°38′31″N121°05′28″W / 38.642°N 121.091°W /38.642; -121.091 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live Listen live (via Audacy) Listen live (HD2) |
| Website | now100fm |
KZZO (100.5MHz "Now 100.5") is acommercialFMradio stationlicensed toSacramento, California. It broadcasts anAdult Top 40radio format and is owned bySalt Lake City–basedBonneville International, a profit-makingsubsidiary ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. KZZO'sstudios and offices are on Commerce Circle in Sacramento near theAmerican River and the North Sacramento Freeway (California State Route 160).[2] KZZO is one of four stations operated by Bonneville in the Sacramentoradio market, along with FM stationsKNCI andKYMX plus AM stationKHTK.
KZZO has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 115,000watts,grandfathered at an unusually high power. Thetransmitter is on Alder Creek Parkway inFolsom, nearU.S. Route 50.[3] KZZO broadcasts in theHD Radio hybrid format, with its HD2digital subchannel carrying anDance/EDM format. The station carries theBrooke & Jeffrey morningdrive time show,syndicated byPremiere Networks fromKQMVSeattle.
The stationsigned on the air in October 1958 as KEBR, aChristian radio station owned byFamily Radio, anOakland based organization. After a three decades of broadcasting religious music and bible talks from radio evangelistHarold Camping, Family Radio sold 100.5 to commercial owners in 1988, with Family Radio eventually relocating to KEBR (1210 AM) inRocklin, (now South Asian stationKRPU), and FM 88.1, which now carries theKEBRcall letters.
The new owners installed aSmooth Jazz format on April 16, 1988, re-branded it asThe Point and changed itscall sign to KQPT.[4] Over a seven-year period, The Point went through a couple of ownership changes and format tweaks (mostly towardsalbum rock).
Brown Broadcasting changed the branding to "The Zone" in September 1995 and the format to a wide-rangingAAA mix it promoted as "bands you've never heard of."[5] Brown sold KQPT, KXOA (AM) and KXOA-FM toAmerican Radio Systems in 1996.[6] The call letters were switched to KZZO in 1997. There was a three-way battle for rock listeners during this period betweenKWOD,KRXQ (93 Rock) and "The Zone."
However, after a year as a AAA, KZZO began evolving toHot Adult Contemporary, later moving toModern Adult Contemporary (after the shift ofKGBY toHot Adult Contemporary in2007).
KZZO remained in that format until June 22, 2010, when it shifted to a broaderAdult Top 40 direction and adopted the "Now" approach. KZZO was the first Adult Top 40 station in the CBS Radio stable to use the slogan, as "Now" is more associated with a Rhythmic pop-leaning Top 40/CHR brand; unlike other "Now" stations, KZZO, due being an Adult Top 40 and having Rhythmic Top 40KSFM as a sister station (at the time), will not play anyhip hop songs, although it does share some artists (i.e.Kesha andLady Gaga) at both stations. In addition, KZZO has vowed not to play any gold or recurrent songs from the 80s or 90s, a message aimed directly at rival KGBY, whose playlist featured a more conventional hot AC approach. Later that year, the “Now” branding was brought ontoWPBZ inWest Palm Beach,Florida, a hot AC station owned by CBS Radio (this station would later flip to Sports, asWAXY-FM was sold by CBS and relocated into theMiami market). After Entercom divested KZZO, the slogan dropped the "Without the Rap" tagline.
By December2011, KZZO became the onlyhot adult contemporary radio station in Sacramento due toClear Channel changing KGBY tonews-talk asKFBK-FM, simulcastingKFBK. However, the following week, KZZO no gained a competitor inKBZC, which flipped fromrhythmic adult contemporary to hot AC; the competition would last until February 2017, when the station (now known as KUDL) flipped to Top 40, leaving KZZO as Sacramento's only hot AC station again.[7]
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge withEntercom (which locally ownedKKDO,KUDL,KSEG,KRXQ, andKIFM; the company formerly ownedKDND until it shut the station down and turned in its license to theFederal Communications Commission two days later).[8] On October 10, CBS Radio announced that as part of the process of obtaining regulatory approval of the merger, KZZO would be one of sixteen stations that would be divested by Entercom, along with sister stationsKYMX,KNCI, andKHTK (KSFM would be retained by Entercom).[9]Bonneville International began operating KZZO, KYMX, KNCI and KHTK, as well as four other stations in San Francisco, under alocal marketing agreement upon the closure of the merger on November 17, 2017, on behalf of the Entercom Divestiture Trust.[10][11][12]
On August 3, 2018, Bonneville subsequently announced its intent to acquire all eight stations outright for $141 million.[13] The sale was completed on September 21, 2018.[14]
Since the ownership change, KZZO has shortened its slogan to “Today’s Best Hits” (dropping the phrase “Without The Rap”) and shifted its direction towards aMainstream Top 40playlist to counterEntercom-ownedKUDL while still maintaining its Adult Top 40 format.
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In April 2008, The Zone began a contest in which a listener would be required to correctly identify an individual as "The 100.5 The Zone $25,000 Outlaw" in order to receive a monetary prize of $25,000 cash.[15] This was a variation of the popular radio promotion called "The $10,000 Fugitive" done on numerous stations across the country such asWBLI in Long Island.[16]
The Zone originally posted contest rules which stated that the prize was a share certificate valued at $3,400 from the Sacramento Credit Union, that matured to the total reward value of $25,000 after 10 years. This was only temporary rules set in place while the credit union gathered the funds for the entire $25,000 cash. Only if the "Outlaw" was caught in the first few days would these rules be put into place. By the 2nd week of the promotion, the entire $25,000 cash was value of the prize, and the rules reflected that change.[15]
On April 14, 2008, the morning show of rival radio stationKDND began to advertise on their station that they were going to give away the location of the $25,000. KDND, owned by Entercom, not CBS like The Zone, used a full day worth of advertising promoting a contest on another radio station. The following morning, April 15, KDND's morning show spent the entire 7:00am hour reading the then-expired contest rules on the air. The reasons for doing this were not completely clear.
The outlaw was "caught" outside of the Nugget Market inRocklin, California on April 29, 2008 at noon. The winner was greeted by Zone Staff with the letter from Sacramento Credit Union redeemable for $25,000. The video can be seen onYouTube.[17]
KZZO has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 115,000watts. It isgrandfathered at a much higher power than other FM stations in Sacramento, which are limited these days to 50,000 watts. On the other hand, itsheight above average terrain (HAAT) is 100 meters (330 ft), using atower not as tall as most Sacramento FM outlets. So its signal covers a larger region ofNorthern California than the others, but not by a dramatic margin. KZZO's signal can be easily heard as far north asYuba City, as far south asLodi andStockton and as far west asVacaville. Undertropo conditions, it is occasionally picked up in theSan Francisco Bay Area.
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