KAZA (AM)

KAZA (1290 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Gilroy, California, and serving Santa Clara Valley. It airs a radio format of Vietnamese language music and talk, and is branded Viên Thao Radio. The station is owned by Tron Dinh Do, through licensee Intelli, LLC.[1]

KAZA
Broadcast areaSanta Clara Valley
Frequency1290 kHz
BrandingViên Thao
Programming
Language(s)Vietnamese music and talk
FormatTalk
Ownership
Owner
  • Tron Dinh Do
  • (Intelli, LLC)
History
First air date
August 31, 1957 (1957-08-31)
Former call signs
KPER (1957–1967)
Technical information
Facility ID54572
ClassD
Power1,500 watts day
19 watts night
Transmitter coordinates
36°57′49″N 121°29′22″W
Links
Websitewww.vienthao.com

By day, KAZA is powered at 1,500 watts. But to reduce interference to other stations on 1290 AM, it reduces power at night to 19 watts. It uses a non-directional at all times.[2]

History

KPER was founded by Don Bernard and Chuck Jobbins, co-owners of the Bernard & Jobbins Broadcasting Company.[3] After being granted a construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on January 23 that year, the station first broadcast on August 31, 1957, with call sign KPER and five watts of power.[4][5] The FCC officially granted KPER its broadcast license on November 21, 1957, and KPER increased its transmitting power to 500 watts and was licensed as a daytime-only station.[5] A member of the Keystone Broadcasting System, KPER also broadcast programming in Spanish and Portuguese.[3] KPER increased its power to 1,000 watts on January 21, 1959.[6] On May 2, 1963, KPER increased its power to 5,000 watts, a level continued to this day.[6]

On October 3, 1966, Bernard & Jobbins sold KPER to South Valley Broadcasters for $325,000.[7][8] KPER became KAZA on July 15, 1967.[5] By 1968, KAZA began broadcasting 85 hours of Spanish programming weekly, in contrast to seven hours of Portuguese.[8]

South Valley Broadcasters sold KAZA to Radio Fiesta on March 29, 1973, for $522,500.[9]

KAZA began carrying Spanish language broadcasts of Oakland Raiders games in 2002, the most recent season the Raiders made the Super Bowl.[10] The broadcasts continued for the 2003 season,[11] before they moved to KZSF in 2004.[12]

In November 2010, Tron Dinh Do's Intelli LLC began operating KAZA on a local marketing agreement with Radio Fiesta and began broadcasting the Vietnamese language Viên Thao Radio network. Radio Fiesta ultimately sold KAZA to Intelli for nearly a million dollars in October 2014.[13]

See also

References
  1. "KAZA Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
  2. Radio-Locator.com/KAZA
  3. 1958 Broadcasting Yearbook (PDF). Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications. 1958. p. A-245. Retrieved April 12, 2020 – via AmericanRadioHistory.com.
  4. "Station shorts" (PDF), Broadcasting-Telecasting, vol. 53, no. 8, p. 90, August 19, 1957, retrieved April 12, 2020 – via AmericanRadioHistory.com
  5. https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&facid=54572
  6. "KAZA history cards". FCC. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  7. "Changing hands" (PDF), Broadcasting, vol. 71, no. 15, p. 50, October 10, 1966, retrieved April 12, 2020 – via AmericanRadioHistory.com
  8. 1968 Broadcasting Yearbook (PDF). Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications. 1968. p. B-16.
  9. "Ownership changes" (PDF), Broadcasting, vol. 84, no. 16, p. 58, April 16, 1973, retrieved April 12, 2020 – via AmericanRadioHistory.com
  10. Almond, Elliott (January 11, 2003). "Raiders go deep for Hispanic fans". San Jose Mercury News. p. 1A. Archived from the original on February 25, 2003. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  11. "Oakland Raiders". www.raidersenespanol.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  12. "Oakland Raiders". raidersenespanol.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  13. "Gilroy radio operator going from renter to owner". Radio and Television Business Report. October 6, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
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