KZBD (105.7 FM, "105.7 Now FM") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

. It is owned by

Stephens Media Group Stephens Media Group is an Oklahoma based radio broadcaster that owns 75 radio stations particularly in small to mid-size markets. Its flagship stations are at its headquarters in Tulsa. Stephens refers to itself as "A portfolio of People", ref ...

, through licensee SMG-Spokane, LLC, and airs a Top 40 (CHR)

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

. KZBD carries "

Elvis Duran and the Morning Show Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

" in AM

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

, syndicated by

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It ...

. KZBD has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

of 100,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s, the maximum output for non-

grandfathered A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

FM stations. It is heard in parts of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is in Spokane, off South Krell Ridge Lane, on

Krell Hill Krell Hill, also known as Tower Mountain, is a peak at the southern end of the Selkirk Mountains in Spokane County, Washington. It rises abruptly to the southeast of the relatively flat Neighborhoods in Spokane, Washington#South Hill, South Hill ...

, also known as "Tower Mountain." The studios and offices are on East 57th Avenue.

History

KTWD

In July 1965, the father-son team of Loren (father) and Terry W. (son) Denbrook, doing business as Denbrook Enterprises, was granted a

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

to build an FM station in Spokane on 105.7 MHz using the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

KTWD. KTWD

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

the air on February 23, 1966. The station's transmitter and studio were located on 610 West Garland Avenue in Spokane, and the station played popular music. KTWD was Spokane's first FM-only commercial station, not co-owned with an AM station. It was also Spokane's first

FM stereo FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is capa ...

station. Terry Denbrook served as the station's chief engineer and station manager. The call letters were Terry W. Denbrook's initials.

KEZE-FM

In 1970, Denbrook Enterprises sold the station to Bellevue Broadcasters, which changed the format to

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

and the call letters to KEZE-FM. The station used the identification "KEZE, E-Z listening." It was paired with KEZE (1380 AM), which adopted a simulcast of the FM station's

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...

format. In 1979, Great American Broadcasting acquired KEZE (AM), switching it to a middle of the road format as KCKO. KEZE-FM was acquired by Kaye-Smith Enterprises. Kaye-Smith already owned

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 ...

-formatted

KJRB KJRB (790 AM) is a commercial radio station in Spokane, Washington. KJRB is owned by Stephens Media Group, through licensee SMG-Spokane, LLC, and airs a classic rock radio format. It calls itself "94.1 The Bear". KJRB has a daytime power of ...

, so the FM station flipped to a format that would also bring in young listeners,

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-oriente ...

, and called itself "Rock 106 - Spokane's Best Rock." In 1989, KJRB and KEZE were acquired by Apollo Broadcasting. Under Apollo, KEZE leaned more toward

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

, with plenty of harder-edged rock acts on its

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...

The Peak and The Buzzard

On October 20, 1995, the station flipped to

Adult Album Alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

(AAA) as KAEP, "105.7 The Peak." The former album rock format and KEZE call letters returned to the FM dial at 96.9 on March 4, 1996. In 2003, 105.7 shifted to

, becoming "105.7 The Buzzard", KZBD. In 2008, the station switched back to "105.7 The Peak", but with an

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

format instead of AAA. It was also the Spokane home of two syndicated shows, "

The Bob & Tom Show ''The Bob & Tom Show'' is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995. Originally syndicated by Premier ...

" in AM

and "

Loveline ''Loveline'' is a syndicated radio call-in program in North America, offering medical and relationship advice to listeners, often with the assistance of guests, typically actors and musicians. Its host through most of its run was Dr. Drew Pins ...

" at night.

Now 105.7 FM

On May 19, 2010, KZBD flipped to a Top 40/CHR format, branded as "Now 105.7 FM." This marked the first time that Spokane had a full-powered Top 40/CHR format since 2005, when

KZZU KZZU-FM (92.9 hertz, MHz 92.9 ZZU) is a commercial radio, commercial FM radio, FM radio station in Spokane, Washington. The station airs an Adult Top 40 radio format which the station describes as "Today's Modern Hit Music". KZZU-FM is owned b ...

flipped to

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...

. The station added

Elvis Duran Elvis Duran (born Barry Brian Cope; August 5, 1964) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the daily morning radio program ''Elvis Duran and the Morning Show'' in New York on Z100 and in syndication on Premiere Networks. Before h ...

's syndicated morning show to its lineup on May 24, 2010."Elvis Is 'Now' At KZBD"
from All Access (May 19, 2010) Middays featured ''

On Air with Ryan Seacrest ''On Air with Ryan Seacrest'' is a weekday syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was launched in 2004 as a drive time show at the same time on Los Angeles Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM as the television show with the same name, ...

'', which was added the day of the switch. DJ Kowax hosted afternoons and B-Mega was heard in nights, both local and live. When

KIXZ KIXZ (940 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Amarillo, Texas, United States, the station serves the Amarillo area. The station is currently owned by Townsquare Media and is licensed to Gap Broadcasti ...

flipped to Top 40/CHR in March 2012, it picked up both Duran's and Seacrest's shows. Both programs were owned by

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

, which also owned KIXZ. (Clear Channel has since become

iHeartMedia, Inc. iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

) On May 8, 2014, KZBD once again became Spokane's only Top 40/CHR when KIXZ returned to

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, ...

(they have since switched to

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

KFOO-FM KFOO-FM (96.1 FM, "Alt 96.1") is an alternative rock radio station serving the Spokane area of Washington, United States. It broadcasts at 96.1 MHz with an ERP of 60,000 watts and is licensed to Opportunity, Washington. It is owned by iHear ...

). On September 30, 2019, the station was sold to

after it acquired most of the properties of former owner

Mapleton Communications Mapleton Communications (MC) was a media company. It was formed in May 2001 to acquire and operate radio stations in mid-sized markets in the western United States. Mapleton owned and operated 41 radio stations (11 AM radio, AM and 30 Frequency m ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 47.579, N, 117.297, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title ZBD Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1966 1966 establishments in Washington (state)