KAZA (AM)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| |
| Broadcast area | Santa Clara Valley |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1290 kHz |
| Branding | Viên Thao |
| Programming | |
| Language | Vietnamese |
| Format | Music and talk |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | August 31, 1957 |
Former call signs | KPER (1957–1967) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 54572 |
| Class | D |
| Power |
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Transmitter coordinates | 36°57′49″N 121°29′22″W / 36.96361°N 121.48944°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | vienthao |
KAZA (1290 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Gilroy, California, United States, and serving the Santa Clara Valley. It airs a 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.[2]
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.[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 $1,000,000 in October 2014.[13]
