Lazer Broadcasting Corp. (commonly known as Radio Lazer) is an American radio broadcasting company based in

Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...

. The company owns several dozen radio stations in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and a television station in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

KSTV-LD KSTV-LD (channel 32) is a low-power television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with LATV. The station is owned by Lazer Broadcasting, the company's only television station. History On July 1, 2007, KSTV dropped ...

. Lazer Broadcasting stations all broadcast in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, carrying several Spanish-Language formats under "Radio Lazer", "Latino", "La Mexicana" and "La Maquina Musical" branding. Lazer Broadcasting is owned by Alfredo Placencia.

History

Radio Lazer began in 1991 in

with the launch of station KXLM (102.9 FM), which aired a

ranchera Ranchera () or canción ranchera is a genre of traditional music of Mexico. It dates to before the years of the Mexican Revolution. Rancheras today are played in virtually all regional Mexican music styles. Drawing on rural traditional folk music ...

format. The company then acquired two stations in the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities o ...

: KHYE (105.7 FM) in

Hemet Hemet is a city in the San Jacinto Valley in Riverside County, California. It covers a total area of , about half of the valley, which it shares with the neighboring city of San Jacinto. The population was 89,833 at the 2020 census. The foundi ...

in February 1994, and KTOT-FM (101.7 FM) in

Big Bear Lake Big Bear Lake is a reservoir in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is a snow and rain fed lake, having no other means of tributaries or mechanical replenishment. At a surface elevation of , it ...

in September 1995. In the late 1990s, Lazer Broadcasting expanded its operations in its home market. The company purchased

KXBS KXBS (95.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to Bethalto, Illinois, and serving Greater St. Louis. It is owned by Gateway Creative Broadcasting and broadcasts a Christian Rhythmic Contemporary radio format know ...

(96.7 FM) in November 1997, relaunching it in April 1998 as "Corazon" featuring Spanish romantic music, in contrast with its other stations' focus on traditional mariachi style music. In June 1998, Lazer added

KOXR KOXR (910 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Oxnard, California. It broadcasts a traditional ranchera music format featuring mariachi groups from Mexico. It is owned by Radio Lazer and calls itself "La Mexicana 102.1 y 910 AM." ...

(910 AM) in Oxnard to its portfolio. On October 30, 2008, Gold Coast Radio, owner of

KMLA KMLA (103.7 FM, "La M 103.7") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to El Rio, California, United States and serves the Oxnard-Ventura, California area. The station broadcasts a regional Mexican music format. KMLA is owned by Gold Coa ...

in Oxnard, sued Lazer Broadcasting in Ventura County Superior Court for unspecified damages. Gold Coast accused the defendant of interfering with its advertisers and customers to harm its business, beginning with the near-cancellation of a 2007 concert hosted by KMLA. Lazer filed a countercomplaint requesting an injunction to stop Gold Coast from claiming that KMLA is the number-one rated station in Ventura County, citing

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

ratings reports to the contrary. On November 6, a jury awarded $553,000 in damages to Gold Coast Radio and promoter Universo Musical. However, on November 20, Superior Court judge Henry Walsh agreed with Lazer's counterclaim, granting the injunction prohibiting Gold Coast from making false and misleading claims of having the top-rated station. On January 7, 2009, Walsh set aside the jury award and ordered a retrial, citing insufficient evidence presented by the plaintiffs; the second jury granted Gold Coast and Universo Musical a smaller award of $99,800 on August 28. Lazer Broadcasting acquired its first television station in 2014,

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. In October of that year, the company entered into the Sacramento and

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...

media markets when it purchased KSTV-LD and four radio stations from Adelante Media.

References

External links

* {{Radio Lazer Radio broadcasting companies of the United States