WKZV

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WKZV is a 1,000 watt, two-tower directional, daytime-only AM radio station in the Pittsburgh radio market, licensed to Washington, Pennsylvania. The station was among a round of daytime-only AM stations in the tri-state area that were granted applications for operation back in 1968, a time when FM started gaining momentum among its static-laden counterpart.

[edit] Beginnings: The WKEG Years

Known then as WKEG, the station was first believed to have signed on the air in August of 1968 with a full-service format of middle-of-the-road, country, and polka music. Unknown delays pushed the actual sign-on date to the summer of 1970. For many of its early years, the station operated out of a trailer at its transmitter site about two miles north of Washington just off Interstate 79. Managing to survive a "Johnny-come-lately" image of having to live in the shadow of WJPA-AM/FM, its well-marketed crosstown competitor, WKEG maintained its original owner for less than a year, when DiLeLo Broadcasting sold the station to Nascone Enterprises in the middle of 1971, which operated the station until 1987 when it was purchased by Ferguson Broadcasting.

[edit] Hard times

The new owner, William Ferguson, changed the station's format to adult contemporary, delivered via satellite through the Transtar Radio Network. Unfortunately, the station ended up going dark (off the air indefinitely) in two years. The station was then purchased for $100,000 by JJG Communications, a group headed by John Loeper, the former general manager of WKEG's main competitor in Waynesburg, WANB-AM/FM. JJG made another go of the station, this time with a news/talk/sports format, also mostly via satellite. The station failed again, and was off the air by October 1991.

[edit] Today as WKZV

The station made another return to the air in the spring of 1992 with a new set of call letters, WKZV "KZ Country" and another new owner, U.S. North Broadcasting Company, Inc. The station was purchased by U.S. North for $100,000, as it was by its former owner. Despite their best efforts and considerable investment in studio overhauls, the station was headed towards the brink of financial ruin once again until a little over a year later, when local Polka musician and disc jockey Mike Panjuscek and another investor, Helen Supinski, bought out the interests of the three minority doctors who had headed U.S. North Broadcasting Company for $267,000. Panjuscek immediately trashed the satellite-delivered country music format and hired two local announcers, each working half of the broadcast day. Panjuscek also shifted the format to more of a classic country sound, with special emphasis on local country music artists and those on independent record labels. The name of the licensee was later changed from U.S. North to My-Key Broadcasting, but maintained the same ownership.

The station still continues to operate under this format and ownership today, managing to survive three multi-station conglomerates that dominate Pittsburgh, with two of the three owning high-powered country-formatted FM stations.