KZBD is a Top 40 (CHR)

Contemporary hit radio

Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...

 music formatted radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 serving the Spokane, Washington

Spokane, Washington

Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...

, USA area. The Mapleton Communications

Mapleton Communications

Mapleton Communications is a broadcast media company, formed in May 2001, operating in the western United States. The company currently owns and operates 41 radio stations in California, Oregon and Washington State....

 station broadcasts at 105.7 MHz with an effective radiated power

Effective radiated power

In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...

 of 100 kW. NOW 105.7 is Spokane's exclusive home for "Hit Music" and has consistently ranked high since it signed on the air in May 2010.

History

KZBD traces its legacy all the way back to the mid-1960's. The father-son team of Loren (father) and Terry W. (son) Denbrook doing business as Denbrook Enterprises was granted a construction permit in July 1965 to build an FM station in Spokane on 105.7 MHz using the call letters KTWD. KTWD's first official broadcast was on February 23, 1966. The station's transmitter and studio were located on 610 West Garland Avenue in Spokane and the station played popular music. KTWD was Spokane's first FM-only commercial station and Spokane's first FM stereo station. Terry Denbrook served as the station's chief engineer and station manager. The call letters stood for the younger Mr. Denbrook's initials.

In 1970, Denbrook Enterprises sold the station to Bellevue Broadcasters, who, in turn, changed the format to easy listening

Easy listening

Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...

 and the call letters to KEZE. The station used the identification "K.E.Z.E. e-z listening."

The station flipped to Rock in the mid-1970s. At first, the station's format was AOR

Album-oriented rock

Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...

; over time, the station shifted towards a mainstream rock

Mainstream rock

Mainstream rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.-Format background:...

. On November 13, 1995, the station flipped to AAA

Adult album alternative

Adult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats....

 as KAEP, "105.7 The Peak". The former classic rock format and KEZE call letters would be resurrected at 96.9 FM on March 4, 1996. 105.7 would morph to active rock

Active rock

Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays contemporary rock artists with a mix of songs common in the classic rock radio format.-Format background:...

 as "105.7 The Buzzard" in 2003. In 2008, the station switched back to "105.7 The Peak", but with an alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 format instead. It was also the Spokane area home of The Bob & Tom Show

The Bob & Tom Show

The Bob & Tom Show is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995....

 and Loveline

Loveline

Loveline is a syndicated radio call-in program in North America, offering medical and relationship advice to listeners, often with the assistance of guests, typically actors and musicians. Its flagship station is KROQ-FM in Los Angeles....

.

On May 19, 2010, KZBD flipped to a top 40 format, branded as "Now 105.7 FM". This marked the first time since 2005 that Spokane has had a full-powered Top 40/CHR format since KZZU

KZZU

-External links:*...

 flipped to Adult Top 40. The station added Elvis Duran

Elvis Duran

Elvis Duran is the host of the Elvis Duran and the Morning Show in New York on Z100 and in syndication on Premiere Radio Networks.Duran's show is now heard live in over 40 markets including New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Cleveland, Tampa, Syracuse, Atlanta, & Des Moines.Before his current job at...

's syndicated morning show to its lineup on May 24, 2010. Its midday features On Air with Ryan Seacrest

On Air with Ryan Seacrest (radio)

On Air with Ryan Seacrest is the name of an American syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. As of 2010, the daily morning radio show airs on Los Angeles top 40 station KIIS-FM and was launched at the same time as the television show with the same name, although Seacrest had hosted a...

, which was added the day of the switch. DJ KOWAX hosts PM Drive and B-Mega anchors nights, both local and live

It is one of seven local Spokane FM radio stations heard across Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 to subscribers of the Shaw Direct satellite TV

Satellite television

Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...

service.

External links