KBZT

KBZT
	File:KBZT.gif
San Diego, California;
Broadcast area	San Diego, California
Frequency	94.9 (MHz)
Branding	FM 94/9
Programming
Format	Modern rock
Ownership
Owner	Lincoln Financial Media
History
First air date	2002
Former call signs	KRMX, KBZS
Technical information
Facility ID	58816
Class	B
ERP	26,500 watts
HAAT	209 meters
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.fm949sandiego.com

KBZT is a commercial modern rock music radio station in San Diego, California, broadcasting on 94.9 FM.

History

During the 1970s and '80s, KBZT was known as "KBest95" but in the 1980s morphed from oldies into soft rock, before being sold to Sandusky Radio and becoming "Y95" in 1987. At about the time, the station launched the local careers of morning show hosts Jeff Elliot and Jerry St. James (Jeff and Jer). In the early 1990s, Jeff and Jer moved to rival B100, and 94.9 changed its name to "Mix94.9" adding more gold based music, before reverting back to KBest95. Also in the early '90's, the call letters and "KBest" logo moved to Palm Springs, where it was briefy the numuber one station in that market. The call letters and logo reverted to San Diego after the Palm Springs station changed format to Spanish. During that period Sandusky sold the station to Anaheim Broadcasting, which in turn sold 94.9 to Jefferson-Pilot, making KBest95 a sister station to country-formatted KSON 97.3. In 2001, after struggling with oldies, the station switched to an "All '80s" format, just a day before rival Mix95.7 dropped Hot AC and adopted the same format. However, this format would also be short lived, and in 2002, KBZT dropped the 80s hits for the Alternative Rock based format it has now as FM 94/9. In 2006, Lincoln Financial Media bought this station and all the others that were owned by J-P.

Music Direction

As of October 2007, FM 94/9 is one of at least 5 stations in the San Diego market that plays modern based music. However, on its website, FM 94/9 purports to strive to be different from other radio stations by playing diverse music, broadcasting locally produced music and using real deejays. Shows on the station include

Big Sonic Chill - Hosted by Midori - Sundays through Fridays 10pm-2am
Brunch With Bob and Friends - Hosted by Tommy Hough - Sundays 9am-12noon
FTP - Hosted by Halloran - Sundays 7pm-8pm
The Local 94/9 - Hosted by Tim Pyles - Sundays 8pm-10pm
The Swami Soundsystem Saturdays 10pm-1am (The Swami is the alter-ego of John Reis, who is the guitarist of the band Sultans and formerly led Rocket From The Crypt and Drive Like Jehu, and owns Swami Records)
Treehuggers International - Hosted by Tommy Hough - Sundays 5:30am-6am

In April 2006, the Lincoln Financial Group completed a merger between themselves and the Jefferson-Pilot Corporation.^[1] The media assets of the new merged company (including several San Diego area radio stations) are now called Lincoln Financial Media. That same month midday host Tommy Hough returned to the Seattle, Washington area to work at alternative KNDD while continuing to host the popular Sunday morning program "Brunch With Bob and Friends." As of July 2007, Hough is back on the air at FM 94/9, also hosting an environmental affairs program.^{[citation needed]}

During the October 2007 wildfires in the San Diego area, KBZT became the temporary home of local public radio station KPBS-FM (89.5) after power to the KPBS-FM/TV transmitter on Mount San Miguel was interrupted on the morning of October 23^[2]. Within three hours KBZT had agreed to air KPBS' wildfire coverage until a backup transmitter could be estabilshed from the station's studio tower on the San Diego State University campus, which occurred the next day^[3].