KZOT

KZOT (1180 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Bellevue, Nebraska, United States. The station is owned by NRG Media and the broadcast license is held by NRG License Sub, LLC. The station changed its call sign from "KOIL" to "KZOT" to reflect its current format and branding on June 4, 2012. Its studios are located at Dodge Street and 50th Avenue in Midtown Omaha, and its transmitter site is located in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Programming.
Since flipping from news/talk on June 4, 2012, KOIL broadcasts a sports talk format branded as "The Zone 2" to the Omaha metropolitan area. Weekday programs include shows hosted by John Harris, Steve Czaban, Tim Brando, Dan Patrick, Craig Shemon, Travis Rogers, Doug Russell, plus a special Thursday night program hosted by Pat Forde and Dan Wetzel.
History.
This station received its original construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a new station licensed to serve Bellevue, Nebraska, at the 1180 kHz frequency on May 21, 1984. The new station was assigned the call letters KNPE by the FCC on August 15, 1984. On January 22, 1987, while still under construction the station applied for and was granted new callsign KKAR. After several extensions, two transfers, and a permit renewal, Mitchell Broadcasting Company finally received its license to cover for KKAR from the FCC on April 26, 1989.
In September 1990, the station applied to the FCC for an increase in daytime power to the current 25,000 watts. The construction permit was granted in February 1991. On August 24, 1993, this station was first assigned the KOIL call letters, a heritage Omaha broadcast callsign that dates back to 1925; the original KOIL then became KKAR. After a lengthy series of extensions KOIL was licensed to operate at the new signal strength on June 23, 1998.
In September 1999, the station dropped its sports radio programming to become a full-time affiliate of Radio Disney.
In April 2000, Mitchell Broadcasting Company, Inc., applied to transfer the broadcast license for KOIL to JCM Broadcasting Co., LLC. The deal was approved by the FCC on May 19, 2000, and the transaction was consummated on July 5, 2000.
In December 2001, JCM Broadcasting Co., LLC (John C. Mitchell, president) reached an agreement to sell this station to Waitt Radio, Inc. (Norman W. Waitt Jr., chairman) as part of a 16-station deal valued at $36.6 million. The deal was approved by the FCC on February 26, 2002, and the transaction was consummated on March 5, 2002.
On April 22, 2003, the station was assigned the callsign KYDZ to better match its service as the local Radio Disney affiliate. The KOIL callsign was moved to sister station KKSC (now KMMQ).
In 2005, the entire Waitt Radio station group, including KYDZ, was transferred to NRG Media, also owned by Norman W. Waitt Jr.
In June 2006, the station's format was flipped to Spanish Classic Hits, including a blend of Mexican and other Latin American music from the 1970s and 1980s, and given the on-air branding "La Bonita."
On January 1, 2009, the station returned to the historic KOIL call sign as the format flipped to syndicated news/talk. As a news/talk station, notable syndicated programming on KOIL includes "Morning in America" hosted by Bill Bennett, plus syndicated talk shows hosted by Neal Boortz, Clark Howard, Dennis Miller, Dave Ramsey, Rusty Humphries, Lars Larson, and Mike Gallagher.
The station adopted a sports talk format and changed its call sign to KZOT on June 4, 2012; the KOIL call sign was returned to its location prior to 1993, 1290 AM.