KHWA (102.3 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

based in

Mount Shasta, California Mount Shasta (also known as Mount Shasta City) is a city in Siskiyou County, California, at about above sea level on the flanks of Mount Shasta, a prominent northern California landmark. The city is less than southwest of the summit of its na ...

(city of license is

Weed, California Weed is a city in Siskiyou County, California, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a total population of 2,862, down from 2,967 in 2010. There are several unincorporated communities adjacent to, or just outside, Weed proper, inclu ...

), owned by

Southern Oregon University Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...

and operated by

Jefferson Public Radio Jefferson Public Radio (JPR) is a regional public radio broadcasting network serving over a million potential listeners in Southern Oregon and the Shasta Cascade region of northern California. Owned by Southern Oregon University, the network ...

, which also owned KSYC-FM in

Yreka Yreka ( ) is the county seat of Siskiyou County, California, United States, near the Shasta River; the city has an area of about , most of it land. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,807, reflecting a meager increase fro ...

. KHWA broadcast to the Siskiyou County and Redding markets, and had one of the largest geographical reaches of any FM station Northern California. The station last played an adult hits format.

History

The station first signed on the air in 1983 as KSQU, in Weed, California. It was later purchased in 1984 by Tom Erickson of

Lake Havasu City, Arizona Lake Havasu City (, ) is a city in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 57,144, up from 52,527 in 2010. It is served by Lake Havasu City Airport. History The community first started as an ...

, moved to Mount Shasta and renamed KWHO. The station was one of two country music radio stations in

Siskiyou County Siskiyou County (, ) is a county in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,076. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta. It falls within the Cascadia bioregion ...

and the first to broadcast country music on the FM band in the market. KWHO was sold to Huth Broadcasting in 1997 and the format was changed to adult contemporary. Then the station was flipped to Four Rivers Broadcasting, which already owned KSYC-AM, KSYC-FM,

KMJC KMJC (620 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a public radio format. Licensed to Mount Shasta, California, United States, the station is currently owned by Southern Oregon University. History The station, founded in 1947 by David Rees, Sr. o ...

, and KMJC-FM. The format remained until 2003 when the news talk format moved from the AM stations to KWHO. The call letters were changed to KNTK in 2004. On August 1, 2008, KNTK — along with sister station KSYC-FM in Yreka — was sold to Jamison-Wolf Broadcasting. The new owners changed the station's format from

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

. In December 2008, the call letters were again changed, this time to KCWH. On August 1, 2009, Jamison-Wolf entered into an LMA (

Local Marketing Agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...

) with TRC Enterprises, LLC, a company owned and operated by long-time morning show host and Program Director Rick Martin. The LMA was a precursor to an outright purchase of the station pending FCC approval. The sale became official in late August 2009. Rick Martin had been on the air in the market for 20 straight years, longer than any other local personality. Martin sold the station and translators K257CA and K269AT to Buffalo Broadcasting, LLC, owned by Mark and Cindy Baird, and on July 24, 2012, KCWH went silent (off the air). The sale to Buffalo Broadcasting was consummated on December 26, 2012, at a purchase price of $295,000. The station would return to the air as a

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

station under the new call letters KSIZ at the same frequencies with Joe Kesterson as lead deejay and the new program director. Kesterson also hosted the evening show on KSYC from 2013 to 2017 before leaving the station to battle esophageal cancer. On March 23, 2017, the broadcast tower collapsed, knocking the station off the air once again. The station went silent as of March 23, 2017, but returned to the air on November 1, 2017. On September 28, 2017, Joe Kesterson died after a lengthy battle with esophageal cancer. On April 29, 2019, the station changed its call sign to KHWA. In 2021, the station once again went silent with no timetable for a return to the air. Sister station KSYC-FM was the lone Buffalo Broadcasting station to remain on the air until October 1, 2021. In 2022, KHWA was officially purchased by Southern Oregon University and began broadcasting programming from Jefferson Public Radio.

Translators

KHWA's signal is transmitted up and down the

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...

corridor from Weed to Orland at 102.3, to

at 101.7, and locally in

Mount Shasta Mount Shasta ( Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. At an elevation of , it is the second-highest peak in the Cascades ...

at 99.3, all on the FM band.

Local sports

KHWA was a longtime affiliate of the

Oakland A's The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

, and was the flagship station for Mount Shasta High School football with Rick Martin and the late Al Blackmore. It was also the flagship station for Mount Shasta High School basketball with Martin calling the action on a solo basis. They occasionally included Weed and Dunsmuir High School, and

College of the Siskiyous College of the Siskiyous (COS) is a public community college with campuses in Weed and Yreka in Siskiyou County in Northern California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System, serving as the northernmost college in the state of ...

games. The station was also home to

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

football games, as well as Sunday Night and Monday Night NFL Football games broadcast on

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

. However, due to the latest ownership change, it was uncertain whether or not local sports would return to the station.

Past program directors

* Tom Erickson (1980s-1997 as KWHO) * Mike Summers (1997-1999 as KWHO; now co-owner of Action VR Network) * Cal Hunter/Tom Huth (1997-2002 as KWHO; Hunter is now of

KBLF KBLF (1490 AM, "Radio 1490") is an American radio station based in Red Bluff, California. It is owned by Independence Rock Media Group of Red Bluff, California (also owns KRAC in Red Bluff and KIQS in Willows) and Cal Hunter serves as the stat ...

-AM in

Red Bluff, California Red Bluff is a city in and the county seat of Tehama County, California, United States. The population was 14,710 at the 2020 census, up from 14,076 at the 2010 census. It is located north of Sacramento, south of Redding, and it is bisect ...

) * Rick Martin (2002-2008 as KNTK) * Lee Jamison (2008-2009 as KCWH) * Rick Martin (2009–2012 as KCWH) * Joe Kesterson (2012-2017; died of esophageal cancer on September 28, 2017)

References

External links

* * * * * {{coord, 41, 13, 20.2, N, 122, 17, 54.5, W, type:landmark_region:US-CA, display=title

HWA HWA or hwa may refer to: * Hwa, a type of traditional Korean boots * HWA (group), an American female rap group * HWA Team, a motor racing team * Hargeisa Water Agency * Heartland Wrestling Association * Hemlock woolly adelgid * Hillwood Airways, US ...

Mass media in Siskiyou County, California Mount Shasta, California (city) Yreka, California Radio stations established in 1983 1983 establishments in California