KALZ

KALZ (96.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Fowler, California, and serving the Fresno metropolitan area. It airs a talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are located on Shaw Avenue in North Fresno. Programming is simulcast on sister station AM 1400 KRZR in Visalia.
KALZ's transmitter tower is on South Bliss Drive in the Roosevelt neighborhood of Fresno. The station broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format. The HD-2 subchannel carries a classic alternative rock format known as "Alternative Rewound Radio."
Programming.
KALZ and KRZR mostly carry nationally syndicated conservative talk shows from co-owned Premiere Networks. Weekdays begin with Glenn Beck, followed by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Buck Sexton, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and Ag Life. Two local hosts are heard in late afternoons, Trevor Carey and John Girardi. Most hours start with world and national news from Fox News Radio.
Weekends feature shows on money, health and guns. Some weekend hours are paid brokered programming. Several nationally syndicated shows are repeated from Friday, with Bill Cunningham heard on Sunday evenings.
History.
On October 6, 1980, the station first signed on as KTED. The station was originally owned by Salem Media and aired a Christian talk and teaching format. The studios were on East Kings Canyon Road.
In 1982, the station was bought by Bilmar Communications. The Christian format ended and the station flipped to a beautiful music sound. The call sign switched to KEZL in 1986, with the EZ representing Easy Listening music. The KEZL call sign and easy listening format had been heard on 98.9 for many years before that station changed to KSOF, airing a soft adult contemporary format. By the 1990s, 96.7 KEZL made the transition to a smooth jazz format.
The station was acquired by San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications in 2000. Clear Channel was the forerunner to today's owner, iHeartMedia.
The station was co-owned with "Alice 102.7," which aired a mix of alternative rock and hot adult contemporary music. In 2006, management decided to swap formats and call letters, moving Alice KALZ to 96.7 while switching Smooth Jazz KEZL to 102.7.
In 2012, iHeart management decided to take several of its most popular talk shows off Cumulus Media-owned 580 KMJ and use them on one of its own stations in the Fresno radio market. So the decision was made to set up 96.7 as a talk station with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity as its cornerstones. Alice 96.7 changed to Power Talk 96.7 on January 1, 2013.