KRZZ (93.3 FM) is a commercial

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 ...

located in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, broadcasting to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. KRZZ airs a

regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mexico ...

music format branded as "La Raza". The station's studios are located in San Jose just north of downtown, and the transmitter is located in the

San Bruno Mountains San Bruno Mountain is horst fault block mountain located in northern San Mateo County, California; with some northern slopes crossing over into southern San Francisco, it is also surrounded by San Francisco Bay and the cities of Brisbane, Colma ...

History

KRZZ has adopted many programming formats since sign on in 1959 as KYA-FM. The station carried a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

format for many years, either in conjunction with, or separate from KYA. In December 1979, both stations flipped to an easy album rock format titled "Easy Rock 93 FM". Within months, the FM station became KLHT ("K-Lite"), while KYA flipped to an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

format. Two years later, the FM would regain its original call letters while flipping to an oldies format that lasted a decade. On March 28, 1994, KYA flipped to high-energy

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

as "Young Country 93.3" and later changed its call sign to KYCY. The station would add the -FM suffix in 1997 when the station began simulcasting on 1550 AM, and would later rebrand as "Y93" on February 22, 1999. On December 18, 2001, KYCY began stunting with Christmas music for a week, followed by simulcasts of other sister

Infinity Broadcasting Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus an ...

stations in San Francisco, and then a three-day loop of the song "It's a Small World". On December 31, 2001, the station flipped to a hybrid

Rhythmic AC Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adult ...

/world music format as KKWV, "93.3 The Wave." On September 2, 2003, at 6 a.m., the station joined in a simulcast with

KBAY KBAY (94.5 FM, "Bay Country 94.5") is a commercial radio station licensed to Gilroy, California, serving San Jose and the San Francisco Bay Area, broadcasting a Country Music radio format. KBAY is owned by Alpha Media, along with sister sta ...

as "93.3 and 94.5 K-Bay". In November

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, the station broke from the simulcast and flipped to its current format.https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2004/RR-2004-10-08.pdf The next year, the station was sold by

(later part of

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

, now part of

Entercom Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...

) to the current

Spanish Broadcasting System Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (SBS) is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States. SBS is also invested in television and internet properties, deriving the majority of its income from advertising through i ...

. In March 2017, KRZZ began airing the morning program hosted by Terry "El Terrible" Cortez, Kristel Yañez and Johnny Orta at WLEY in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The program is also heard on

KLAX-FM KLAX-FM (97.9 FM) is an American commercial radio station located in East Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. KLAX-FM airs a regional Mexican music format branded as "La Raza". The station has studios in Los ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KRZZKRZZ Website
* {{coord, 37.687, N, 122.435, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Spanish Broadcasting System radio stations RZZ Regional Mexican radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1959 RZZ