KZWA (104.9 FM, branded as "Live 104.9") 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 ...

broadcasting an

Urban Adult Contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

format serving

Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcasieu ...

and licensed to

Moss Bluff, Louisiana Moss Bluff is a census-designated place (CDP) in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,522 at the 2020 census. Located just north of the city of Lake Charles, it is considered a suburb of that city. Moss Bluff is a bu ...

, United States. The station is currently owned by and licensed to B&C Broadcasting Ltd. The station's studios are located at the intersection of Enterprise Boulevard and

I-10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...

just east of downtown Lake Charles, and its transmitter is southeast of

Ragley, Louisiana Ragley is an unincorporated community in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, United States. The community is located at the junction of U.S. routes 171 and 190, north of Lake Charles. Ragley has a post office with ZIP code 70657. History Ragley bega ...

History

The construction permit that would become KZWA was requested in 1988 (BPH-19880602NO). It was granted on March 22, 1992. The station was licensed to Lake Charles, LA. The permit was transferred to the current ownership on November 23, 1992. The permit was extended a few times, and the facility tweaked. The station filed for a license to cover its construction permit (BLH 19940802KB) in April 1994. This was granted on June 22, 1995. The original facility was a class C2 with 50,000 watts at 150 meters (492'). A Continental Transmitter fed three inch coaxial line into a four bay Shiveley antenna. The station had a directional antenna located on a tower southwest of Lake Charles. The station was listenable in Lake Charles, LA as well as in the eastern portions of the Beaumont-Orange-Port Arthur area as "Live Vibe 105". In 1999 the licensee of a

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, area station conceived of a plan to upgrade their station. It required moving several stations (including KZWA) to new frequencies and locations. An agreement was made with the owner of KZWA to file for and relocate to a new site near Ragley, LA. The changed facility was on 104.9 MHz, licensed to Moss Bluff, Louisiana, (the FCC had a policy of encouraging changes that led to creation of "first local service" signals) with power of 25,000 watts at 100 meters (328'). As part of the agreement the benefiting party (Tichenor License Corporation in Houston) paid for the new site, site preparation, power line access, a building, tower, lines and antennas and new microwave equipment to link the studio feed to the tower site. Once the new site was on air, pieces of equipment from the old site (transmitter, line, antenna, STL dish, STL receiver, and more) were moved to the Ragley site so that KZWA had two of most all equipment.

References

External links

* Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States ZWA {{Louisiana-radio-station-stub