KZZO

Infobox Radio station
name = KZZO


city = Sacramento, California
area =
branding = "100.5 The Zone"
slogan =
airdate =
frequency = 100.5 (MHz) HD Radio
format = KZZO: Hot AC
KZZO-HD2: Adult Album Alternative
power =
erp = 115,000 watts
haat = 100 meters
class = B
callsign_meaning = ZOne
former_callsigns = KEBR, KQPT
owner = CBS Radio
licensee =
sister_stations = KHTK, KNCI, KQJK, KYMX, KSFM
"part of CBS Corp. cluster with KOVR and KMAX-TV
webcast = [http://player.play.it/player/player.html?id=105&onestat=kzzo Listen Live]
website = [http://www.radiozone.com/ radiozone.com]
affiliations =

KZZO (100.5 FM, "The Zone") is a Hot Adult Contemporary music formatted radio station in Sacramento, California. Unlike most HOT AC stations, The Zonefocuses on playing mainly rock from the 1990s to today. Top artists on the station include Maroon 5, Coldplay, Daughtry, and Katy Perry.

At 115 kilowatts, KZZO is one of the most powerful FM radio stations in Northern California, and can be received in the California Central Valley from as far south as Modesto, CA to just north of Chico, California, as well as the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east, and the Coast Ranges to the west.

History

The station signed on as KEBR, a religious station owned by [http://www.familyradio.com/ Family Radio] , a SF Bay Area based organization.After a lengthy period broadcasting Harold Camping's bible talks and largely orchestral religious music, Family Radio sold the station to commercial owners in 1988—a move that surprised radio insiders in the market.

The new owners installed a smooth jazz format, re-branded it as "The Point" and changed its call letters to KQPT.

It would last as "The Point" for nine years and a couple of ownership changes. Brown Broadcasting changed the branding to "The Zone" in 1995 and the format to a wide ranging music mix it promoted as "bands you've never heard of." [http://www.playlistresearch.com/sacramentoradio.htm Alex Cosper's Sacramento Radio History]

Brown sold KQPT, KXOA (AM) and KXOA (K-108FM) to [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_July_25/ai_18525510 American Radio Systems] in 1996, and a change in call letters to KZZO happened in 1997. There was a three-way battle for rock listeners during this period between KWOD, KRXQ (93 Rock) and "The Zone"

KZZO has not had much ratings success over the years. Now part of the [http://www.cbsradio.com/stations/index.html CBS Radio Sacramento cluster] , it still struggles.

The station's current website is [http://radiozone.com RadioZone.com] .

ervice area

The stations serves the Sacramento, California community, with a strong signal that can be heard as far north as Chico and to the south in parts of the San Francisco Bay area. KZZO is one of six stations owned and operated by CBS Radio in the Sacramento market(the other five including FM stations KQJK, KYMX, KSFM, KNCI and AM station KHTK) and one of eight broadcast stations owned by CBS Corporation in the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto market (the other two being KOVR and KMAX).

The station is host to several community events, including "A Day In The Zone" (a concert held during the summer months featuring outdoor performances by hot artists) and "Exotic Zone Ball" (a raunchy Halloween party held annually).

KZZO-HD2

KZZO's HD2 subcarrier, which has yet to sign on, will offer a Adult Album Alternative format, which by the way was KQPT's previous format [ [http://cbsr.itmftp.com/sacramento.html Sacramento HD radio guide] ] .

DJs

The current Zone DJs are as followed:
* ??? - The Zone Morning Show
* Monica Lowe - Middays
* Keith Brooks - Afternoons and "Zone Unsigned" on Sunday nights
* Lil Cee - Evenings
* Loveline - Sun - Thurs
* Camarco - Friday Overnight, Weekends
* Chris Ray - Weekends
* Montana - Weekends
* Brooke Davis - Weekends

Outlaw Scandal

In April 2008, The Zone began a contest in which a listener would be required to correctly identify an individual as "The 100.5 The Zone $25,000 Outlaw" in order to receive a monetary prize of $25,000 cash. [http://www.radiozone.com/Outlaw-Official-Contest-Rules/2006868] This was a variation of the popular radio promotion called "The $10,000 Fugitive" done on numerous stations across the country such as WBLI in Long Island. [http://wbli.com/fugitive/contestrules.html]

The Zone originally posted contest rules which stated that the prize was a share certificate valued at $3,400 from the Sacramento Credit Union, that matured to the total reward value of $25,000 after 10 years. This was only temporary rules set in place while the credit union gathered the funds for the entire $25,000 cash. Only if the "Outlaw" was caught in the first few days would these rules be put into place. By the 2nd week of the promotion, the entire $25,000 cash was value of the prize, and the rules reflected that change. [http://www.radiozone.com/Outlaw-Official-Contest-Rules/2006868]

On April 14th, 2008, the morning show of rival radio station KDND began to advertise on their station that they were going to give away the location of the $25,000. KDND, owned by Entercom not CBS like The Zone, used an full day worth of advertising promoting a contest on another radio station. The following morning, April 15th, KDND's morning show spent the entire 7:00am hour reading the then-expired contest rules on the air. The reasons for doing this were not completely clear.

The outlaw was "caught" outside of the Nugget Market in Rocklin, CA on April 29th, 2008 at noon. The winner was greeted by Zone Staff with the letter from Sacramento Credit Union redeemable for $25,000. The video can be seen on YouTube. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ-6JpiqtZk] .

References

External links

* [http://www.radiozone.com/ radiozone.com]
* [http://www.radiostationzone.com/Station.aspx/100.5-The-Zone/781 100.5 The Zone] on Radio Station Zone - ratings, comments and listen live links
*FMQ|KZZO
*FML|KZZO
*FMARB|KZZO