History

KZEL-FM was founded and funded in 1967 by Eugene lumberman George "Tirebiter" Zellner. When he purchased the station, its call letters were KWFS. Zellner changed the call letters to KZEL and sold the station to Jay and Barbara West in 1971.

The Wests led KZEL for most of the 1970s as a free format station. Its studios were located in Glenwood

Glenwood, Lane County, Oregon

Glenwood, Lane County, Oregon is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located between the cities of Springfield and Eugene, on the route of the former Pacific Highway, which is now named Franklin Boulevard...

, just outside of Springfield, Oregon

Springfield, Oregon

Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Separated from Eugene to the west, mainly by Interstate 5, Springfield is the second-most populous city in the metropolitan area...

. The master of KZEL's free form format was John Napier. Any given moment, you could always count on Napier to arc off onto a "rant" about how 'I think someone's watching me...." and then drift off and segue into something by Gil Scot-Heron or maybe a little, Little Feat.

Other DJs during the heyday included Gary 'The Wasted Potato' Palmatier, Stan 'Harry 'Til 6' Garrett, Michael Waggoner, Sleepy John (Cuthbertson),JET, Tom Krumm, Chris Kovarik ,Magic Mike, Peyton Mays...Anyone remember "Jaimie"?... KZEL was known for doing basically, whatever it wanted to do....Remember the time the legendary FIRESIGN THEATRE took over the afternoon drive news and did it all impromptu? Or how about those live concert broadcasts from "The Place" (could you believe you heard PATTI SMITH live...in Eugene...in fact Patti recorded those shows, and has released the KZEL show on several b-sides.

Additionally, KZEL distinguished itself with its alternative news presence with the long-form story format of "Daybreak" in the morning and "News & Information" in the afternoon. Notable news anchors included Melinda Coates, Rosemary Reed, Cal Turlock (real name Phillip Johnson) and Bryce Zabel

Bryce Zabel

Bryce H. Zabel is an American television producer, director, writer, and occasional actor. He is known as the chairman/CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences who was forced to twice postpone the Emmy Awards following the September 11 attacks...

.

KZEL-FM is currently owned by Cumulus Broadcasting, a major owner of 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...

s across the country. In Spring 2006, the program director, Mark Raney, locked himself in the station's control room for ten days in protest of the station's management's decision to scrap KZEL's classic rock format and replace it with a country station. Raney, with support of its listeners, was able to persuade the station's management to keep KZEL and its classic rock roots.

KZEL-FM has been slowly evolving from a classic rock format into an adult album alternative

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....

 music format, adding music like Coldplay

Coldplay

Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

, Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

, and Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson (musician)

Jack Johnson was born May 18, 1975 is an American folk rock singer-songwriter, surfer and musician known for his work in the soft rock and acoustic genres. In 2001, he achieved commercial success after the release of his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales. He has since released four more albums, a...

to the playlist.

Weekday personalities on the station include Mark Raney & John Frederick on mornings, Emma on mid-days, and C.Y.D. on afternoons.

External links