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KAZN

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Coordinates: 34°07′08″N 118°04′54″W / 34.11889°N 118.08167°W / 34.11889; -118.08167
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KAZN
Broadcast areaGreater Los Angeles
Frequency1300 kHz
BrandingKAZN AM 1300 中文廣播電臺
Programming
Language(s)Mandarin Chinese
Ownership
Owner
KAHZ, KALI, KALI-FM, KBLA, KMRB
History
First air date
July 22, 1948; 76 years ago (1948-07-22)
Former call signs
  • KAGH (1948–1950)
  • KWKW (1950–1989)
Call sign meaning
K-Asian
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID51426
ClassB
Power23,000 watts day
4,200 watts night
Repeater(s)1600 KAHZ (Pomona)
106.3 KALI-HD3 (Santa Ana)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.am1300.com
KAZN
Traditional ChineseKAZN AM 1300 中文廣播電臺
Simplified ChineseKAZN AM 1300 中文广播电台
Hanyu PinyinKAZN AM 1300 zhōng wén guǎng bō diàn tái

KAZN (1300 AM) is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to Pasadena, California, KAZN serves the Greater Los Angeles area with a Mandarin Chinese language format.

The station was founded in 1948 as KAGH. From 1950 to 1989, the station had call sign KWKW; it had a Spanish format for much of that time, including Spanish language broadcasts of Los Angeles Dodgers games. In 1988, the station was sold to NetworksAmerica; the following year, it converted to a multilingual Asian format in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese and became KAZN. Beginning in 1993, KAZN broadcast full time in Chinese.

Multicultural Broadcasting has owned KAZN since 1998. KAZN broadcasts talk and entertainment shows geared towards Mandarin speakers in the Los Angeles area. In the Pomona Valley, KAZN is simulcast on KAHZ.

History

As KAGH (1948–1950)

Founded as KAGH by Rose Bowl Broadcasters, a company headed by attorney Andrew G. Haley, the station signed on the air July 22, 1948 and was first licensed on August 6 that year as a 1,000-watt daytime-only station, with Pasadena its city of license.[2][3] Broadcasting-Telecasting magazine reported in August 1948 that KAGH had an "emphasis on public service as a community station."[3] KAGH also had an FM station, KAGH-FM, on 98.3 MHz.[3]

In 1949, Rose Bowl Broadcasters sold KAGH to the Southern California Broadcasting Company for $90,000.[4] By December 1949, KAGH was licensed to broadcast at night.[2]

As KWKW (1950–1989)

On February 16, 1950, KAGH changed its call sign to KWKW.[2]

Around the mid-1950s, KWKW began a full time Spanish format. In 1955, KWKW joined the Sombrero Network.[5] KWKW claimed to have had the first Spanish language broadcast of an American football game when it broadcast a game between Los Angeles State College and the University of Mexico.[6] Beginning in 1958, KWKW broadcast Los Angeles Dodgers games in Spanish right in the team's first season after moving from Brooklyn.[7]

In 1962, KWKW was sold for $1 million to Lotus Theatres, a company owned by Howard Kalmenson.[8][9] Beginning May 3, 1963, KWKW increased its daytime power to 5,000 watts.[2] KWKW continued its Spanish format upon purchase by Lotus.[10]

In 1988, KWKW was part of a swap where KFAC sold its 1330 AM frequency and transmitter site to Lotus for $8.75 million; Lotus then sold KWKW to NetworksAmerica.[11][12]

As KAZN (1989–present)

On January 18, 1989, KWKW officially changed its call sign to KAZN.[13][11] Co-founded by Dwight Case and George Fritzinger, NetworksAmerica converted KAZN into an Asian ethnic station branded "K-Asian" with programs in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.[14][11] In its first year, KAZN struggled to attract advertisers.[15]

In July 1991, Bang and Edward Kim purchased KAZN for $7.5 million.[16][17] Also that year, KAZN began broadcasting Los Angeles Dodgers games in Korean.[18]

Beginning in 1993, Edward Kim converted KAZN into an all-Chinese station.[19] On May 19 that year, KAZN carried the first Chinese broadcast of a Dodgers game in the U.S., a 5–2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.[20][21] KAZN initially broadcast in both Mandarin and Cantonese.[19]

In April 1998, KAZN was purchased by Multicultural Broadcasting for $12 million.[22] Multicultural Broadcasting also reformatted KAZN's programming to be completely in Mandarin and moved the Cantonese programming to KMRB.[23]

In June 2006, Arbitron ratings in Los Angeles and Orange counties found KAZN and KMRB to be the most popular non-English stations in the Los Angeles market.[24]

Operations and programming

Licensed to Pasadena as a Class B AM station, KAZN broadcasts from a six-tower transmitter in San Gabriel with 23,000 watts during the daytime and 4,200 watts at night.[25] Its studios are located on Green Street in Pasadena's Playhouse Village.[26]

KAZN's programming schedule consists of news, talk, and music.[19] Among its programs are talk shows Today's Topic (今日話題) and Rush Hour (尖峰時刻).[27] Those shows have attracted local media attention for their discussions of Chinese issues such as the death of Qian Xuesen, the Taiwan independence movement, the Tibetan independence movement, and the 2008 Tibetan unrest.[28][29][19][30]

KAZN simulcasts on KAHZ AM 1600, which is licensed to Pomona and whose signal reaches the Pomona Valley, Orange County, and parts of Riverside County.[31][19][32]

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KAZN". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ a b c d "History cards for KAZN". FCC. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Glickman, David (August 16, 1948). "The Los Angeles Radio Market" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting: 8, 20, 22.
  4. ^ "New Applications" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Vol. 37, no. 14. October 3, 1949. p. 80. Retrieved April 30, 2021 – via World Radio History.
  5. ^ "Spanish-Language Network Goes Coast-to-Coast" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Vol. 48, no. 12. March 21, 1955. p. 7. Retrieved April 30, 2021 – via World Radio History.
  6. ^ "Play-by-play in Spanish" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. Vol. 51, no. 14. October 1, 1956. p. 95. Retrieved April 30, 2021 – via World Radio History.
  7. ^ "Price of baseball goes up, too" (PDF). Broadcasting. Vol. 70, no. 9. p. 41. Retrieved April 30, 2021 – via World Radio History.
  8. ^ "Changing hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. Vol. 62, no. 17. April 23, 1962. Retrieved April 30, 2021 – via World Radio History.
  9. ^ Calvo, Dana (March 2, 2000). "It's All About the Audience". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  10. ^ 1963 Broadcasting Yearbook (PDF). Washington: Broadcasting Publications. 1963. p. B-22. Retrieved April 30, 2021 – via World Radio History.
  11. ^ a b c MacMinn, Aleene (January 11, 1989). "Radio". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  12. ^ Paik, Felicia (July 22, 1989). "The roots of KFAC". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  13. ^ "KAZN". FCC Data. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  14. ^ Aoki, Guy (September 5, 1988). "All-Asian Radio Set to Debut in November". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  15. ^ Shiver, Jube Jr. (July 31, 1989). "Asian Radio Is a Hard Sell for Ads, Broadcasters Find". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  16. ^ "Changing hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. Vol. 120, no. 22. June 3, 1991. p. 40.
  17. ^ "For the record" (PDF). Broadcasting. Vol. 121, no. 3. July 15, 1991. p. 40.
  18. ^ Puig, Claudia (April 15, 1991). "Radio Tunes-In Korean". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  19. ^ a b c d e Ni, Ching-Ching (November 24, 2009). "Chinese Americans find community on their radio dial". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 27, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  20. ^ Florence, Mal (May 14, 1993). "They Finally Threw the Book at This Fraud". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  21. ^ "Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers Box Score, May 19, 1993".
  22. ^ "Transactions at a glance" (PDF). Radio and Records. No. 1242. April 3, 1998. p. 6.
  23. ^ "Chinese Radio Rides Demographic Wave". Los Angeles Business Journal. June 13, 2005. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  24. ^ Lycan, Gary (June 18, 2006). "Miller's KTLK show rates a No. 2 ranking radio". The Orange County Register. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  25. ^ "KAZN-AM 1300 KHZ - Pasadena, CA".
  26. ^ "聯絡我們". KAZN. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  27. ^ "節目介紹" (in Chinese). KAZN. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  28. ^ Pierson, David (April 11, 2008). "Chinese Americans feel sting of Olympic protests". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 15, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  29. ^ Pierson, David (August 18, 2005). "Venting Years of Rage at Japan". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  30. ^ Pierson, David (April 3, 2005). "Split Over Taiwan's Future". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 5, 2005. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  31. ^ "Our stations". Multicultural Broadcasting. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  32. ^ "KAZN 1300/KAHZ 1600 Station IDs Update as of 3/26/21". Los Angeles EAS. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved May 1, 2021 – via YouTube.

34°07′08″N 118°04′54″W / 34.11889°N 118.08167°W / 34.11889; -118.08167

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