KSRZ (104.5 FM, "Star 104.5") 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

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

format. Licensed to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ...

, United States, the station serves the Omaha-Lincoln-Council Bluffs Metropolitan area. The station is owned by SummitMedia. KSRZ's studios are located on Mercy Road in Omaha's

Aksarben Village Aksarben Village is a mixed-use development in the central United States, located in Omaha, Nebraska. Measuring over , it is on the land of the former Ak-Sar-Ben coliseum and horse track. There is over of space for research and business office ...

, while its transmitter is located at the Omaha master antenna farm at North 72nd Street and Crown Point.

History

Country (1972-1979)

The station signed on the air in 1972 as KOOO-FM, 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, ...

station.

Beautiful music (1979-1989)

In 1979, the station changed their call letters to KESY and flipped to an automated

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 mu ...

format. Throughout the early 1980s, KESY was used on a local Limelight Movie Channel when it signed off the air for the night.

Soft adult contemporary (1989-1998)

By 1989, KESY evolved its format to

soft adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

, adopted the moniker "Y 104", and used live DJs once again.

Adult contemporary (1998-present)

On January 9, 1998, KESY moved to the 97.7 FM frequency. After a few days of simulcasting, 104.5 FM flipped to

modern adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

(which emphasizes on more modern rock hits targeting a female audience) as "Star 104.5", with new call letters KSRZ.Jim Minge, "Star 104 up, running," ''The Omaha World-Herald'', January 17, 1998. The format would later evolve to a more broad-based

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

. By 2008, KSRZ evolved into a mainstream

format, with a heavy reliance on songs from the 1980s.

Journal Communications Journal Media Group (formerly Journal Communications) was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based newspaper publishing company. The company's roots were first established in 1882 as the owner of its namesake, the ''Milwaukee Journal'', and expanded into br ...

and the E. W. Scripps Company announced on July 30, 2014 that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the E. W. Scripps Company name that owned the two companies' broadcast properties, including KSRZ. The transaction was completed in 2015. Scripps exited radio in 2018; the Omaha stations went to SummitMedia in a four-market, $47 million deal completed on November 1, 2018.

References

External links

* {{Adult Contemporary Radio Stations in Nebraska SRZ Mainstream adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1972 1972 establishments in Nebraska