KHWA

KHWA (102.3 FM, marketed as Highway 102.3) is a radio station based in Mount Shasta, California (city of license is Weed, California), owned by Mark & Cynthia Kay Baird's Buffalo Broadcasting, LLC, which also owns KSYC-FM in Yreka. KHWA broadcasts to the Siskiyou County and Redding markets, and has one of the largest geographical reaches of any FM station Northern California. The station plays an adult hits format.
History.
The station first signed on the air in 1983 as KSQU, in Weed, California. It was later purchased in 1984 by Tom Erickson of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, moved to Mount Shasta and renamed KWHO. The station was one of two country music radio stations in Siskiyou County and the first to broadcast country music on the FM band in the market.
KWHO was sold to Huth Broadcasting in 1997 and the format was changed to adult contemporary. Then the station was flipped to Four Rivers Broadcasting, which already owned KSYC-AM, KSYC-FM, KMJC, and KMJC-FM. The format remained until 2003 when the news talk format moved from the AM stations to KWHO. The call letters were changed to KNTK in 2004.
On August 1, 2008, KNTK — along with sister station KSYC-FM in Yreka — was sold to Jamison-Wolf Broadcasting. The new owners changed the station's format from news/talk to classic hits. In December 2008, the call letters were again changed, this time to KCWH.
On August 1, 2009, Jamison-Wolf entered into an LMA (Local Marketing Agreement) with TRC Enterprises, LLC, a company owned and operated by long-time morning show host and Program Director Rick Martin. The LMA was a precursor to an outright purchase of the station pending FCC approval. The sale became official in late August 2009. Rick Martin had been on the air in the market for 20 straight years, longer than any other local personality.
Martin sold the station and translators K257CA and K269AT to Buffalo Broadcasting, LLC, owned by Mark and Cindy Baird, and on July 24, 2012, KCWH went silent (off the air). The sale to Buffalo Broadcasting was consummated on December 26, 2012 at a purchase price of $295,000. The station would return to the air as a classic rock station under the new call letters KSIZ at the same frequencies with Joe Kesterson as lead deejay and the new program director. Kesterson also hosted the evening show on KSYC from 2013 to 2017 before leaving the station to battle esophageal cancer.
On March 23, 2017, the broadcast tower collapsed, knocking the station off the air once again. The station went dark as of March 23, 2017, but returned to the air on November 1, 2017. On September 28, 2017, Joe Kesterson died after a lengthy battle with esophageal cancer.
On April 29, 2019 the station changed its call sign to KHWA.
Translators.
KHWA's signal is transmitted up and down the Interstate 5 corridor from Weed to Orland at 102.3, to Yreka at 101.7, and locally in Mount Shasta at 99.3, all on the FM band.
Local sports.
KHWA was a longtime affiliate of the Oakland A's, and was the flagship station for Mount Shasta High School football with Rick Martin and the late Al Blackmore. It was also the flagship station for Mount Shasta High School basketball with Martin calling the action on a solo basis. They occasionally included Weed and Dunsmuir High School, and College of the Siskiyous games. The station was also home to Oregon State Beavers football games, as well as Sunday Night and Monday Night NFL Football games broadcast on Westwood One. However, due to the latest ownership change, it was uncertain whether or not local sports would return to the station.