KZSB (1290
AM) 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 ...
in
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...
. Known as "The ''
Santa Barbara News-Press
The ''Santa Barbara News-Press'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California.
History
The oldest predecessor (the weekly Santa Barbara ''Post'') of the ''News-Press'' started publishing on May 30, 1868.
The Santa Barbara ''Pos ...
'' Radio Station", it airs a local
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 ...
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, ...
, mainly using reporters and correspondents of the ''News-Press'', with people from the community invited to host weekly one-hour informational shows. Despite the name, KZSB is not actually owned by the newspaper. The station also carries
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
reports at the top of each hour, with BBC programming also heard nights and weekends.
From 1995 to 2005, the station was owned by comedy actor
Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...
before being sold to Santa Barbara Broadcasting, Inc. and adopting its current format.
History
On March 2, 1962, the station first
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 ...
as KACL. It was owned by Riviera Broadcasting and aired a
middle of the road music format. KACL was a
daytimer
A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-coun ...
, required to go off the air at sunset to protect other radio stations on
1290 AM. In 1974, the ownership changed to KACL, Inc. and 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 ...
switched to KKIO. The station broadcast a
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, ...
format, and was an
affiliate of
ABC Information Network. In 1982, the station again switched its call letters, this time to KXXN, broadcasting 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 ...
/
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 ...
format as "Kicks 1290".
After a
bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...
cy, the station was bought by Wastcom Broadcasting in 1984, changing its call sign to KESP. The "ESP" stood for "
español", with the station switching to a
Spanish language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
format. The station received
FCC
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 ...
permission to broadcast around the clock, powered at 122
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 at night. In 1991, the station was acquired by Joyce Erway and the call letters switched to KKSB, with the "SB" standing for the
city of license
In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.
In North American broa ...
,
Santa
Barbara. The music continued to be directed to the area's
Mexican American
Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...
community, playing Spanish-language hits of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
On December 12, 1995,
Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...
purchased KKSB under the corporate name Rotijefco, Inc. for $299,000. The call letters were changed to KZBN, with the last two letters representing his initials. KZBN adopted an
adult standards format, featuring such artists as
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
,
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
,
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
, and
Dionne Warwick
Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host.
Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...
.
In 2005, Newhart sold KZBN to Santa Barbara Broadcasting Inc., owned by Dennis Weibling, and the call sign was changed to KZSB. Although Weibling is a friend of ''
Santa Barbara News-Press
The ''Santa Barbara News-Press'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California.
History
The oldest predecessor (the weekly Santa Barbara ''Post'') of the ''News-Press'' started publishing on May 30, 1868.
The Santa Barbara ''Pos ...
'' owner
Wendy McCaw
Wendy McCaw (née Petrak) is a businesswoman and the owner of the ''Santa Barbara News-Press''.
Early life and career
She was born Wendy Petrak in Palo Alto, California, in 1951. She attended Stanford University, where she majored in history a ...
, the ''News-Press'' does not actually own KZSB.
In December 2021, KZSB's 198-foot red-and-white transmitting tower, which it shares with
KOSJ
KOSJ (1490 AM) is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Santa Barbara, California and serves the Santa Barbara area. The station is owned by Rincon Broadcasting and broadcasts a rhythmic oldies music format branded "Old School 94.1 and 1 ...
and
KCLU, and had long been slightly bent, was shortened to 128 feet and topped with four 12-foot "whiskers" in a horizontal X shape, to give the tower extra electrical length. The tower, which is owned by
Rincon Broadcasting
Point Broadcasting LLC is an American radio broadcasting company based in Ventura, California. The company is the owner of several radio groups in Southern California, doing business as Gold Coast Broadcasting LLC in the Oxnard—Ventura radio mar ...
, was also painted dark green to better blend with its surroundings. Changes in the radiation properties of the shortened tower required a reduction in the station's night power from 122 to 114 watts.
See also
*
KZER
KZER (1250 AM, "Radio Lazer") is a commercial radio station located in Santa Barbara, California. Owned by Lazer Broadcasting, the station airs a regional Mexican music format. KZER is simulcast on FM translator K293CK (106.5 FM) in Santa Ba ...
, a radio station (1250 AM) in Santa Barbara that was co-owned with the ''News-Press'' from 1937 to 1985 and held the call sign KTMS
References
External links
*
FCC History Cards for KZSB
{{coord, 34, 25, 07, N, 119, 41, 10, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
ZSB
News and talk radio stations in the United States