KWJZ

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KWJZ
City of license Seattle, Washington
Broadcast area Seattle metropolitan area
Branding 98.9 KWJZ
Frequency 98.9 MHz (Also on HD Radio)
First air date 1948
Format Smooth Jazz
ERP 63,900 watts
HAAT 698 meters
Class C
Facility ID 57843
Callsign meaning Washington JaZz
Former callsigns KMCS
KEZX
Owner Sandusky Radio
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.kwjz.com

KWJZ (98.9 FM), known by the on-air brand 98.9 KWJZ, is a smooth jazz radio station based in Seattle, Washington. The Sandusky outlet broadcasts at 98.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 57 kW. Its transmitter is located in Issaquah, Washington.

[edit] History

KWJZ first went on the air in 1958 as KMCS. It was then locally owned by former Crown (later to be known as KING Broadcasting) executives. The format was beautiful music/easy listening until about 1980. Other formats included Adult Contemporary (1980-1991) and back to Beautiful music (1991-1993) before it flipped formats to its current incarnation in August 1993.

Up until 1972, the station played LP's. Rumor has it that the station was KOMO-FM, but actually KOMO-FM went to the University of Washington and is now KUOW.[citation needed] KMCS switched calls to KBBX in 1972. Then with a major promotional thrust and with TM syndicated Music Only For A Women format in 1972 the call letters were changed from KBBX to KEZX and 'Oceans of Beautiful Music'. Also from the late 1960s into the late 1980s, the sub-carrier 67 kHz SCA transmitted music and point of sale commercials to many of the retail outlets in the Puget Sound area.

The marketcasting portion was the reason that Roy Park, owner of Park Broadcasting purchased the station in late 1975.[citation needed] Park at the time was one of the largest broadcast firms in the US. At first the station was locally programmed, then with an anticipated power increase from 35 kW to 100 kW. The station increased its power in the spring of 1977 to 100,000 watts.

In 1995 they took the KWJZ calls to compliment its current format, which has become a favorite among listeners.

With the celebration of the 15th anniversary of KWJZ's format in 2008, the station dropped the "Smooth Jazz" part of its branding and became known simply as 98.9 KWJZ. While smooth jazz still makes up the majority of its programming, KWJZ has recently begun incorporating some chill out music, such as that featured on the syndicated program Chill with Mindi Abair (which airs on Sunday nights on KWJZ), as part of a more broadly-defined "smooth music" format.

[edit] KWJZ on-air schedule

12:00 AM 1:00 AM 2:00 AM 3:00 AM 4:00 AM 5:00 AM 6:00 AM 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM 9:00 PM 10:00 PM 11:00 PM
Monday-Friday Cedric James Jim Dai & Gina Tuttle Carol Handley Jay Phillips Citylights with Dianna Rose
Saturday Steve Mills Music block Paul Carlson Cedric James
Sunday Hillary Massa Public Affairs program Jazz Café with Hillary Massa Paul Carlson Heather Stark Dianna Rose Chill with Mindi Abair Cedric James

[edit] External links