What would you do with....Now 97.9

[CAwasinNJ]

Imagine you're given ownership and complete control of 97.9. You have the resources (money, personnel, etc.) to do whatever you want with the signal without having to worry about higher ups on the corporate ladder, what clustermate stations are doing, etc. You can leave it as is, completely change it, or anything in between, but the ideas should be at least plausible/possible. What do you do?

This one is a little trickier than most. The demos are probably pretty good. The ratings themselves are very good to excellent, but they do vary quite a bit over time. I'd want to figure out why that happens and try to flatten that curve and see where that leads.

[kenglish]

Weren't they called "Y-98 FM" back around 1983-84, and had studios in the Triad Center (upstairs from KSL)?
I forget what they played.

[oldiesfunhouse]

I believe Y98 was kind of a soft rock station. I want to say their call letters were KWYY. My first memories were of a country station called KZAN. I think they became a hard rock station called KGB for a bit. I would get HD and put the Wave on their HD2 signal and maybe KLO's old format on HD3. I'd also change the call letters to something that reflected the format better. I doubt KNOW is available. I wonder if KUNW or KNOR (now radio) are being used. They haven't been the Breeze for how long? KBZN needs to go or, if not, they should change their name to 979 The Buzz or Buzzin' 979. Or 979 KBZ. And their legal ID could be KBZ ... N-Ogden, etc.

[CAwasinNJ]

97.9's original callsign was KZAN, yes. That was listed by the old FCC history cards as being in use up until at least 1980 when the FCC's records were computerized. The FCC's current LMS system has the callsign dates completely screwed up and has for months, but the older CDBS system has the other callsign changes as KKGB on 10/27/1988, KKWY on 02/20/1989 & KBZN on 04/04/1990 and I believe those to be accurate.

The callsign is only relevant to a handful of radio geeks and any big ad agencies they might do business with. Changing it has no benefit and anyone who might care knows what the callsign is and would be looking for that wherever it might be listed. From an aesthetic perspective I agree changing it would make it look more "correct" but that ship sailed well over a decade ago. As for changing the station name, that's not happening unless they dump the format completely.

FWIW, none of the callsign alternative you mentioned are available.