KWYZ

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KWYZ
KSUH-AM logo.png
City Everett, Washington
Broadcast area Seattle metropolitan area
Branding Radio Hankook
Slogan June 1957
Frequency 1230 kHz
Format K-pop/News
Language(s) Korean
Power 1,000 watts (unlimited)
Class C
Facility ID 54040
Transmitter coordinates 47°58′06″N 122°10′24″W / 47.96833°N 122.17333°W / 47.96833; -122.17333
Former callsigns KQTY (1957-1962)[1]
Owner Radio Hankook, Inc.
Sister stations KSUH
Website radiohankook.com

KWYZ (1230 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Everett, Washington, United States. The station, which began broadcasting in 1957, is currently owned by Radio Hankook, Inc. Jean J. Suh, the owner of Radio Hankook, is a pioneer in Korean-language radio programming in the United States.

Programming[edit]

KWYZ broadcasts a mix of Korean language programming to the northern Seattle metropolitan area in a simulcast partnership with sister station KSUH (1450 AM).[2][3] In addition to Korean popular music (also known as "K-pop"), Radio Hankook airs up to six hours of daily talk radio programming, including local and Korean news, information for recent immigrants, and community affairs.[2][4] Other programming includes a program for children in both Korean and English plus a short twice-daily show for all ages that aims to teach basic English language skills.[2][4]

History[edit]

Launch as KQTY[edit]

This station signed on the air in June 1957 as KQTY broadcasting with 250 watts of power on a frequency of 1230 kHz.[1] KQTY was originally licensed to the Snohomish County Broadcasting Company which, along with stations in California, North Dakota, and Montana, was part of the Walter N. "Wally" Nelskog stations group.[1] In 1960, the station was granted a construction permit by the FCC to increase its daytime signal power to 1,000 watts while maintaining a 250 watt signal at night.[5]

Change to KWYZ[edit]

On April 1, 1962, the station was acquired by the Snohomish County Broadcasting Corporation, owned by Clifford H. Hansen who also served as the station's general manager.[6] The new owners had the FCC change the station's call sign to KWYZ.[6] This situation remained stable until February 16, 1972, when the Snohomish County Broadcasting Corporation was acquired by Robert Brown.[7] In June 1974, the new owners dropped the station's middle of the road music format in favor of country music.[7] In May 1975, Brown changed the name of the license holder to Prime Time Broadcasting, Inc.[8]

Money troubles[edit]

Facing a petition to deny its license renewal and a financial crisis, the broadcast license for KWYZ was involuntarily transferred in November 1991 from Prime Time Broadcasting, Inc., to Richard D. Carlson acting as receiver. The transfer was approved by the FCC on November 14, 1991.[9] In June 1992, receiver Richard D. Carlson reached an agreement to sell this station to Quality Broadcasting Corporation. The deal was approved by the FCC on March 29, 1993, and the transaction was consummated on June 28, 1994.[10]

KWYZ today[edit]

In March 1999, Quality Broadcasting Corporation agreed to sell KWYZ to Jean J. Suh, doing business as Radio Hankook, for a reported price of $480,000.[11] The deal was approved by the FCC on April 27, 1999, and the transaction was consummated on August 3, 1999.[12] Until this deal was consummated, KWYZ maintained its traditional country music format.[13] Suh applied to the FCC in October 2002 to transfer the broadcast license for this station to her company, Radio Hancook, Inc. The transfer was approved by the FCC on November 15, 2002, and the transaction was consummated on December 1, 2003.[14]

Jean J. Suh worked for five years as an actress as South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System before emigrating to the United States in 1964.[15] While studying at Columbia College Hollywood in 1965, Suh began hosting a 30-minute weekly program of music and news in Korean on a Los Angeles radio station. In 1966 the program was extended to one hour per week and in 1967 to two hours each weekday. In 1970, Suh and two financial partners launched an independent Korean-language radio station in Los Angeles, the first in the United States.[15] Suh purchased KKBY (1450 AM, now KSUH) in 1997 and KWYZ in 1999 to cover the southern and northern halves of the greater Seattle metropolitan area, respectively, as Korean-language "Radio Hankook".[4][15]

Controversy[edit]

Hiring practices[edit]

In January 1991, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People challenged the license renewal of KWYZ and five other Seattle-area radio stations.[16] The NAACP claimed each of the stations had "poor minority-hiring records" and were in violation of equal employment opportunity laws.[16] The FCC ultimately renewed KWYZ's license on March 29, 1993—just 2 days short of 30 months after the license renewal application was made and then only after the station had gone into receivership and been sold to new owners.[17]

Studio location[edit]

Faced with mounting debts and financial difficulties, Radio Hankook owner Jean J. Suh moved KWYZ and sister station KSUH out of their rented studios in a commercial area of Federal Way, Washington, to her private residence in May 2000.[18][19] This move brought on complaints from neighbors, visits from city code enforcement officers, and a public campaign by Radio Hankook to force the city to allow the studios to remain in Suh's home.[18] Ultimately, the city prevailed over increasing community resistance and the stations moved out of the home in late April 2001.[18][20]

FCC issues[edit]

During a series of inspections conducted by FCC agents from March 2001 to November 2001, they found that KWYZ had failed to "have operational Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment" and "to conduct required monthly and weekly EAS tests" and had failed to "post the ASR number on or near the base of" its broadcast tower in violation of FCC rules as well as finding similar violations by sister station KSUH.[20] After a January 2002 notice of these violations, licensee Jean J. Suh told the FCC that the station had modified its EAS equipment for automatic operation and that she did not own the KSUH tower but was leasing it from the station's previous license holder.[20][21] The FCC issued a "notice of apparent liability" against Suh for violations by KWYZ and KSUH on August 28, 2002, for a combined total of $22,000.[20][22] After determining that Suh did not in fact own the KSUH tower, they reduced the penalty to $10,000 in late August 2003.[20][21][22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Directory of AM and FM Radio Stations in the U.S.". 1958 Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1958. p. A-390. 
  2. ^ a b c Phuong Cat Le (July 18, 2001). "Spreading the news to thriving Korean community; Vigorous media give growing population in area both cohesion and a link to home". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 
  3. ^ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron. Retrieved April 20, 2009. 
  4. ^ a b c Virgin, Bill (June 10, 1999). "Korean-language stations a resource for immigrants". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. C6. 
  5. ^ "Directory of AM and FM Radio stations in the U.S.". 1960 Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1960. p. A-247. 
  6. ^ a b "Directory of AM and FM Radio stations in the U.S.". 1963 Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1963. p. B-195. 
  7. ^ a b "Directory of AM and FM Radio Stations in the U.S.". Broadcasting Yearbook 1973. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1973. p. B-213. 
  8. ^ "Directory of Radio Stations in the United States and Canada". Broadcasting Yearbook 1979. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1979. p. C-235. 
  9. ^ "Application Search Details (BAL-19911104EA)". FCC Media Bureau. November 14, 1991. 
  10. ^ "Application Search Details (BAL-19920608EA)". FCC Media Bureau. June 28, 1994. 
  11. ^ Holmes, Alisa (April 19, 1999). "Changing Hands". Broadcasting & Cable. 
  12. ^ "Application Search Details (BAL-19990311GF)". FCC Media Bureau. August 3, 1999. 
  13. ^ McCarthy, Sean L. (February 5, 1999). "Radio Waves". Kitsap Sun. 
  14. ^ "Application Search Details (BAL-20021023AAO)". FCC Media Bureau. December 1, 2003. 
  15. ^ a b c Limb Jae-un (November 23, 2004). "A pioneering voice for Korean-Americans". JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on November 24, 2004. 
  16. ^ a b "Six Radio Stations Accused On Job Bias". Seattle Times. January 18, 1991. 
  17. ^ "Application Search Details (BR-19901001B5)". FCC Media Bureau. March 29, 1993. 
  18. ^ a b c Derr, Erik (January 15, 2001). "Radio broadcasts from home at issue". Seattle Times. 
  19. ^ "Radio station in Federal Way home". Industry Watch. November 28, 2000. 
  20. ^ a b c d e "Forfeiture Order (File No. EB-01-ST-091)". Federal Communications Commission. August 29, 2003. 
  21. ^ a b "August 2003". Radio News Web. August 30, 2003. 
  22. ^ a b "$10,000 EAS Fine for Suh". Radio World. August 29, 2003. 

External links[edit]

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