KEZE

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KEZE
City of license Spokane, Washington
Broadcast area Spokane
Branding "Wired 96.9"
First air date 2005
Frequency 96.9 MHZ
Format Rhythmic Top 40
ERP 8,200 watts
Class C
Callsign meaning EZE="Easy" (The call letters were previously used at 105.7)
Owner Spokane Television Group
Website Wired 96.9's website

KEZE, also known as "WIRED 96.9", is a Rhythmic Top 40 station licensed to Spokane, Washington. The Spokane Television Group outlet broadcast at 96.9 MHz on the FM dial with an ERP of 8.2 kW. Its transmitter is located in Millwood, Washington.

[edit] History

KEZE is remembered by many born in the 1960s as an album-oriented hard rock FM radio station on 105.7 FM ("Rock 106"), sporting the slogan "Spokane's Best Rock". From the late 1970s through the 1980s, the station enjoyed large audience appeal on the strength of playing the "classics" (eg. Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin) as well as championing newer hard rock bands such as Night Ranger, Krokus, Ronnie James Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, and Def Leppard. With the emergence of grunge and "the Seattle sound" in the late 80s and early 90s, KEZE adopted the harder-edged sounds of heavy guitar-based alternative rock (eg. Soundgarden, Alice in Chains). As the public appeal of guitar-based alternative waned in the mid-90s, KEZE attempted a "back to our roots" as a Classic Rock station in 1996, only to flip to an all-80s Adult Top 40 format in 1999, known as Star 96.9.

Billboard promoting morning show for Wired 96.9
Billboard promoting morning show for Wired 96.9

On October 12, 2005 it flipped to Rhythmic Top 40, a move that might have been spurred by rumors that another move-in might fill the void after KYWL dropped the format in 2004. Those rumors became reality in December 2005 when KQQB-FM signed with the same format as KEZE's, even though KEZE does have a better advantage over KQQB in terms of signal coverage in Spokane County proper. KQQB, however, has evolved into a Mainstream Top 40 direction, thus leaving KEZE as the only Rhythmic in the market.

[edit] External links

Spokane/Coeur d'Alene FM radio stations (Arbitron #93)

 KHQ 87.7¹ | KAGU 88.7 | K206CQ 89.1 | KEWU 89.5 | KWRS 90.3 | KPBX 91.1/K214AR 90.7/K220BX 91.9 | KSFC 91.9 | KZZU 92.9/K223AN 92.5 | KDRK 93.7 | KHTQ 94.5 | KPND 95.3 | KIXZ 96.1 | KEZE 96.9 | KKRS 97.3 | KISC 98.1 | KKZX 98.9 | KXLY 99.9/K262AG 100.3 | KEYF 101.1 | KTSL 101.9 | KICR 102.3 | KCDA 103.1 | KBBD 103.9 | KQQB 104.5 | KEEH 104.9 | KZBD 105.7 | KSPO 106.5 | KAZZ 107.1 | KMBI 107.9 

¹ Audio for TV channel 6 (KHQ-TV/NBC)

See also: Spokane (FM) (AM)

Washington State Radio Markets
Pullman-Moscow (AM) (FM) · Seattle (AM) (FM) · Spokane (AM) (FM) · Richland-Kennewick-Pasco · Yakima
See also: List of radio stations in Washington and List of United States radio markets