KWCD (92.3 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

broadcasting a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format. It is licensed to

Bisbee, Arizona Bisbee is a city in and the county seat of Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. It is southeast of Tucson, Arizona, Tucson and north of the Mexican border. According to the 2020 United States census, ...

, United States. This station serves southern

Cochise County Cochise County ( ) is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after Cochise, a Chiricahua Apache who was a key war leader during the Apache Wars. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and a small piece of northern

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The station is currently owned by

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

History

This station went on the air using the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

KBAZ (meaning: Bisbee AriZona) on October 12, 1979. This station was the second FM radio station in southern Cochise County. In 1982, under new ownership, this station rebranded itself, changed its call sign to KZMK (meaning: cosmic) and was called "The Starship". For several months prior to the change,

billboards A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large out-of-home advertising, outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboard ...

appeared around Cochise County featuring a

flying saucer A flying saucer, or flying disc, is a purported type of disc-shaped unidentified flying object (UFO). The term was coined in 1947 by the United States (US) news media for the objects pilot Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, Kenneth Arnold claimed fl ...

with the words "the starship is coming", leaving people to wonder what they meant. Just prior to the change, the call sign and the frequency were added to the billboards as well as the wording was changed to "the starship is here". KZMK entered into direct competition with KTAZ-FM, which was at the time the number 1

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

station in the area. KZMK was broadcasting with considerably less

power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

than its rival KTAZ, (55 watts vs. 3,000 watts) and was called by broadcasters "the 50 watt blowtorch", however KZMK's signal covers a greater area, to include all of the populated areas in southern Cochise County as well as parts of northern Cochise County and parts of northern Sonora, Mexico because its transmitter is located on a mountain peak, at an approximate elevation of 7,000 feet above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. Ironically both stations are now owned by the same company On September 1, 1993, the station changed its call sign to the current KWCD, and changed its format to Country Western. The call sign KZMK was assumed by its old rival KTAZ-FM. The station's power was later increased to 90 watts.

History of ownership

1979–1982 Wrye and Associates 1982–1996 Copper Valley Broadcasting 1996–2000 DB Broadcasting 2000–2003 Commonwealth Broadcasting 2003–2022 Cherry Creek MediaRadio Almanac 2022–present Townsquare Media

References

External links

*
FCC History Cards for KWCD
{{Townsquare Media Country radio stations in the United States WCD Townsquare Media radio stations