KAAZ-FM

KAAZ-FM

City	Spanish Fork, Utah
Broadcast area	Salt Lake City, Utah
Branding	Rock 106.7
Slogan	Everything That Rocks
Frequency	106.7 MHz (also on HD Radio) (since 2015)
First air date	November 1, 1967 (as KONI-FM at 106.3)[1]
Format	Mainstream rock
ERP	25,000 watts
HAAT	1,140 meters (3,740 ft)
Class	C
Facility ID	63536
Transmitter coordinates	40°39′34″N 112°12′5″W / 40.65944°N 112.20139°W / 40.65944; -112.20139Coordinates: 40°39′34″N 112°12′5″W / 40.65944°N 112.20139°W / 40.65944; -112.20139
Former callsigns	KONI-FM (1967-1980) KTMP (1980-1984) KBHV (1984-1987) KBER (1987-1990) KQOL (1990-1994) KUJJ (1994-1995) KBKK (1995-1997) KOSY (1997-2002) KOSY-FM (2002-2013)
Former frequencies	106.3 MHz (1967-1990) 106.5 MHz (1990-2015)
Owner	iHeartMedia, Inc. (Citicasters Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations	KJMY, KNRS, KNRS-FM, KODJ, KWDZ, KZHT
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	1067rocks.com

KAAZ-FM (106.7 FM) is a mainstream rock formatted radio station broadcasting to the Salt Lake City, Utah area on 106.7 FM. The station's city of license is Spanish Fork, Utah. It was one of the few remaining soft AC stations in the United States until going in a more mainstream direction in June 2009, when the station dropped the calls for its branding and identified it as "Today's 106.5."^[2] The station's transmitter is owned by Citicaster Licenses (a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, Inc.).^[3] The station's studios are located in West Valley City and its transmitter site is located southwest of the city on Farnsworth Peak in the Oquirrh Mountains.

History

KAAZ-FM began broadcasting on 106.3 as KTMP, the original format mainly being country, from a transmitter on Lake Mountain, closer to its current city of license (Spanish Fork). In 1984 the frequency was changed to 106.5 (channel 293), the station call sign was changed to KBHV, and the format was changed to adult contemporary. It became the original KBER in 1986, as the original home of KBER which moved down the dial to 101.1 in 1990, replacing contemporary jazz KDAB, and relocated its transmitter to Farnsworth Peak. With the KBER station move completed, the station was then assigned the call letters KQOL on March 20, 1990. Originally stunting by playing a mix of Adult Contemporary and Country, it officially switched to an Adult Contemporary format in November of that year.

In June 1992, KQOL switched its format to all-sports 106.5 The Score. For several days they used the calls KSRE which it was found that someone had not properly filed for so they ran the format with the KQOL calls. It was Utah's first sports radio station, as well as the first in the country to broadcast on the FM band. The format lasted until September 1993, when the station adopted a country music format after it lost advertisers to AM station KISN (now KNRS (AM)).^[4] The station simulcast the country music format of KMXB 107.5 (now KKLV).^[5] In December 1993, the station began simulcasting the country music programming of KRGQ 1550 and KRGQ-FM 107.9.^[6]

On March 1, 1994, the station changed its call sign to KUJJ, and again changed its call sign on August 22, 1995, to KBKK, known as "K-Buck". On December 31, 1997, the current call letters became KOSY.^[7] Before flipping to 106.5, KOSY was simulcast on what is now KEGH in Brigham City to fill in the gaps created from Lake Mountain. KENZ and KKLV suffer from the same signal problems to date. Most of KOSY-FM's programming has been automated since late 2000.^[8]

On December 21, 2012, after playing Rod Stewart's "Let it Snow", the station flipped its format to classic rock, branded as "Rock 106.5", launching with Boston's "Peace of Mind".^[9] Joan Peterson, who hosted Sounds of the Sabbath on Today's 106.5 along with Laura Bedore, confirmed the change on the program's Facebook page. "Many of you may have noticed that the format for 106.5 drastically changed today to a rock station. Because of the new format, Sounds of the Sabbath will no longer be part of the station. Thank you so much for listening to us and making us one of the best shows in the Salt Lake area. Love to you all and a merry Christmas. Joan." The Sounds of the Sabbath program moved to KMGR out of Richfield UT.

On March 1, 2013, KOSY-FM changed their call letters to KAAZ-FM.

former logo, 2012-2015

At 12 Noon on 6 August 2015, KAAZ changed its broadcast frequency 106.7 FM (channel 294). The logo for the new "Rock 106.7" was already being used on the station's website for about a week beforehand. The station was licensed to broadcast on 106.7 FM on August 28, 2015.

Programming

Programming on KOSY included a local program hosted by "Fisher and Peggy," Donny Osmond's Eight Track Playback, Lori Bradley, Delilah, and several other local and voice tracked programs. Weekend special programming included "Show Tunes Saturday Night", dedicated to Broadway music,^[10] and a "Sounds of the Sabbath" program.

From 2006 to 2008, KOSY laid claim to being among the first non-stunting stations in America to change over to Christmas music for the season, traditionally changing formats at midnight local time on November 1. They were first in 2006 upon changing on October 30, and in 2007, they were second, having been beaten by KCKC in Kansas City, Missouri by only a few hours (though WEXM had been stunting with Christmas music as the "in-between" format since October 8). KOSY again changed formats at midnight local time November 1, 2008, good for third place, this time behind classic hits WRIT-FM and hot AC WMYX-FM, two rival stations in Milwaukee; these stations changed on October 31 at 3:13 and 3:21 p.m. local time respectively. (WMVN in St. Louis changed on October 10 of that year but again, used the format as an in-between format between its format change.)

In 2009, due to November 1 landing on a Sunday, KOSY forwent their move and continued airing their usual "Sounds of the Sabbath" that day.^[11] Listener demand prompted an announcement on November 3 that "Christmas music is coming soon!"^[12]

KOSY switched to Christmas music on November 4, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. local time, earlier than most stations but several days after the other first-in-the-nation stations. KOSY changed on the same date in 2011, this time at 8 a.m. local time. For 2012, the station changed on November 2 at 6:00 a.m.

After the December 21, 2012 format change, KOSY-FM, now self-branded as "Rock 106.5," "Utah's New Classic Rock," began airing a steady program of classic rock hits heavily weighted with songs from the 1970s and 1980s. The station regularly lists in its top songs of the week songs from Boston, ZZ Top, Heart, Guns 'N' Roses, Styz, Billy Idol, Scorpions, Rush, AC/DC, The Who, Def Leppard, Tom Petty, Journey and J. Geils Band, among others. More recently due to active rock KHTB flipping to Alternative, KAAZ added heavier rock from the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, White Zombie. Marilyn Manson and KORN to fill in the hole left by KHTB flipping to alternative. It used the slogan "Man Up" as it wanted to appeal to men 20 to 50 and to better compete against K-Bear 101 for rock listeners. Today the format could be defined as Jack fm like format as it playlist consists of classic rock mixed with active rock Recurrents.

References

External links

• Official Website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KAAZ
• Radio-Locator information on KAAZ
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for KAAZ