KWDZ
Broadcast areaSalt Lake City
Frequency910 kHz
Programming
FormatDefunct
Ownership
Owner
KAAZ-FM, KJMY, KNRS, KNRS-FM, KODJ, KZHT
History
First air date
1945[1]
Last air date
April 30, 2017 (2017-04-30)
Former call signs
KALL (1945–2003)
Call sign meaning
K Walt DiZney
(co-founder of The Walt Disney Company, former owner)
Technical information
Facility ID2445
ClassB
Power5,000 watts (day)
1,000 watts (night)
Transmitter coordinates
40°30′48″N 112°0′23″W / 40.51333°N 112.00639°W / 40.51333; -112.00639

KWDZ (910 AM) was a broadcast radio station licensed to Salt Lake City, Utah, serving the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The station was owned and operated by iHeartMedia. The KWDZ broadcast license was held by Citicasters Licenses, Inc.[2]

History

The radio towers for KWDZ were located in Riverton, Utah. They have since been dismantled due to encroaching housing developments.

The station was founded in 1945 and originally held the callsign KALL. It was originally owned by Mr. and Mrs. George C. Hatch and Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Hinkley. In 1946, John F. Fitzpatrick, publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune (owned by the Kearns Corporation), representing the Tribune, purchased fifty percent interest in the station from the owners. The Tribune's interest (Kearns-Tribune, Corp.) sold its interest in 1954 to permit its owner (Kearns-Tribune, Corp.) to apply for a license to buy a television license and to purchase a fifty percent ownership in KUTV Channel 2.[3]

KALL had long aired a full service format.[4][5] In the early 1990s, the station began airing a news/talk format, carrying programming such as The Rush Limbaugh Show and The G. Gordon Liddy Show.[6][7][8] The station's ownership changed several times during the 1990s;[9] in 1992, Communications Investment Corp. sold the station to Apollo Radio Partners, owner of KKAT, ending George C. Hatch's ownership of KALL.[10][11] Apollo Radio sold its stations to Regent Communications in 1995;[12] Regent, in turn, sold its stations to Jacor in 1997.[13] Jacor merged with Clear Channel Communications in 1999.[14] On March 6, 2000, the station's format was adjusted when its sister station KNRS adopted a talk radio format, and the station adopted the slogan "talk radio with an attitude", carrying hosts such as Jim Bohannon and Phil Hendrie.[15]

Clear Channel sold KALL to Mercury Broadcasting Company after its 2001 acquisition of KTVX brought them over ownership limits;[9] it continued to sell advertising on the station under a joint sales agreement.[16] In 2003, Disney/ABC purchased the station for $3,700,000, while the intellectual property and callsign was purchased by Clear Channel Communications for $2,000,000.[17] Disney/ABC bought the station to clear its Radio Disney network, which was about to be dropped by previous affiliate KBEE.[17][18] Clear Channel moved KALL's talk programming and the KALL callsign to 700 kHz,[17][18] and on April 30, 2003, the station changed its call sign to KWDZ.[19]

In June 2013, Disney put KWDZ and six other Radio Disney stations in medium markets up for sale, in order to refocus the network's broadcast distribution on top-25 markets.[20] On August 17, 2013, KWDZ dropped the Radio Disney affiliation and went silent.[21] After almost one year, KWDZ resumed operations on August 14, 2014.[22] Initially broadcasting locally originated automated programming upon its return to the air, Radio Disney programming returned sometime around late September 2014. By that time, Disney had announced plans to sell all but one of Radio Disney's remaining 23 owned-and-operated stations. Originally planning to sign-off the stations on September 26, 2014, Disney later decided to keep the stations on the air until they were sold.

On May 29, 2015, Radio Disney Group filed an application to sell KWDZ to the Citicasters Licenses, Inc. subsidiary of iHeartMedia (the former Clear Channel Communications).[23][24] iHeart bought KWDZ (and WRDZ-FM) for $1.95 million.[25] The sale was approved by the FCC on July 14, 2015.[26] The sale was completed on July 17, 2015[27] and the station went silent again.[28] Following temporary operations in May 2016[29] and April 2017,[30] iHeartMedia surrendered the KWDZ license on April 25, 2018;[31] the Federal Communications Commission cancelled it on June 26, 2018.[32]

References

  1. ↑ "KALL First Air Date" (PDF). Broadcasting Telecasting Yearbook. 1950. p. 305. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  2. ↑ "KWDZ Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ↑ Malmquist, O.N.:The Salt Lake Tribune-The First 100 Years, 1971, p. 389.
  4. ↑ Lynn Arave, "`Full-Service Station' KALL Marks 45 Years of Wide-Ranging Appeal", Deseret News, September 29, 1990. Accessed August 20, 2015
  5. ↑ Lynn Arave, "KALL Moves News Staff, Joins Forces With KUTV", Deseret News, May 18, 1990. Accessed August 20, 2015
  6. ↑ Lynn Arave, "KJQ Sends Deejays Packing, Will be Going to New Format", Deseret News, October 2, 1992. Accessed August 20, 2015
  7. ↑ Lynn Arave, "KRSP Makes Change In Morning Team", Deseret News, February 7, 1992. Accessed August 20, 2015
  8. ↑ Lynn Arave, "Z-93's Biggest Event of Year, `Livestock '93,' Set for July 31", Deseret News, July 23, 1993. Accessed August 21, 2015
  9. 1 2 Sale splits KALL radio between 2 new owners - Deseret News
  10. ↑ Arave, Lynn (May 6, 1992). "KKAT-FM owner to buy KALL Radio". Deseret News. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Apollo radio boosts holdings in S.L. by buying KALL AM/FM". DeseretNews.com. Associated Press. October 8, 1992. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  12. ↑ Arave, Lynn (July 14, 1995). "KALL, KODJ and KKAT getting new owner". Deseret News. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  13. ↑ Arave, Lynn (October 25, 1996). "Once again, KSFI is king of the ratings hill". Deseret News. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Clear Channel buys Jacor in stock deal". Deseret News. Associated Press. October 9, 1998. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  15. ↑ Lynn Arave, "KNRS tunes in format change as an all-talk station", Deseret News, March 5, 2000. Accessed August 20, 2015
  16. ↑ Anderton, Dave (October 2, 2001). "Clear Channel finalizes buy of KTVX". Deseret News. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  17. 1 2 3 Lynn Arave, "Radio dial: A Utah radio first: separate deals on content, frequency", Deseret News, February 28, 2003. Accessed August 20, 2015
  18. 1 2 Arave, Lynn (April 25, 2003). "KALL is moving to 700 AM". Deseret News. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  19. ↑ "DKWDZ Call Sign History". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  20. ↑ Graser, Marc (June 4, 2013). "Radio Disney Stations Up for Sale (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  21. ↑ Notification of Suspension of Operations KWDZ - United States Federal Communications Commission
  22. ↑ "Resumption of Operations - KWDZ". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. August 14, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  24. ↑ Parties to the Application - FCC
  25. ↑ Venta, Lance (July 8, 2015). "Big 98.3 Indianapolis Update". Radio Insight. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Assignment of License". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division. July 14, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  27. ↑ "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. July 20, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. July 20, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. August 24, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  30. ↑ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. May 11, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  31. ↑ Davis, Stephen G (April 25, 2018). "Re: …Surrender of Station License…" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  32. ↑ "Broadcast Actions" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 29, 2018. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
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