WKDZ-FM (106.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) 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 ...

licensed in

Cadiz, Kentucky Cadiz ( ) is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Trigg County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,540 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Clarksville metropolitan area. Cadiz is a historic town located close to Lake Ba ...

. WKDZ-FM is owned by Ham Broadcasting. Beth Mann serves as Ham Broadcasting owner/president. The station's studios are located in a facility at Broadbent Square along

US 68 U.S. Route 68 (US 68) is a United States highway that runs for from northwest Ohio to Western Kentucky. The highway's western terminus is at US 62 in Reidland, Kentucky. Its present eastern terminus is at Interstate 75 in Findlay, Ohio, thou ...

KY 80 Kentucky Route 80 (KY 80) is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. The route originates on the state's western border at Columbus in Hickman County and stretches across the southern portion of the state ...

in east Cadiz near the

Interstate 24 Interstate 24 (I-24) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It runs diagonally from I-57, south of Marion, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at I-75. It travels through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennesse ...

interchange. The station's transmitter is located on Bailey Road off Kentucky Route 117 near its junction with

in southwestern

Christian County Christian County is the name of several counties in the United States: * Christian County, Illinois * Christian County, Kentucky * Christian County, Missouri Christian County is located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. ...

History

The station first signed on the air at 106.3

megahertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base ...

on May 18, 1972. It began as a 3,000-

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

FM simulcast station of WKDZ-AM for its first 24 years on the air. At that time, WKDZ-AM broadcast a Variety format. In 1986, the station became separate from the AM counterpart, and began broadcasting an

Adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format under the WBZD callsign. Sometime later in that decade, it changed to an easy listening format. In 1991, when current owner Ham Broadcasting purchased the station and its AM counterpart, the FM station's callsign was reverted to the original WKDZ-FM callsign it held as a repeater of the AM station, and it began broadcasting a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

format, which remains with the station today.

Change of frequency and studio relocation

The station switched frequencies to its current 106.5 MHz on August 23, 2001. In May 2004, Ham Broadcasting relocated the studio from its pre-existing Will Jackson Road facility to its current location near

U.S. Route 68 U.S. Route 68 (US 68) is a United States highway that runs for from northwest Ohio to Western Kentucky. The highway's western terminus is at U.S. Route 62 in Kentucky, US 62 in Reidland, Kentucky. Its present eastern terminus is at Interstate 7 ...

's junction with

. The state-of-the-art studio facility, a former

Hardee's Hardee's Restaurants LLC is an American Fast food restaurant, fast-food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurants, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. ("CKE") with locations primarily in the Southern and Midwestern United States. The company has ...

restaurant building, was remodeled to house WKDZ-FM and its AM counterpart, as well as the home of

WHVO WHVO (1480 AM broadcasting, AM) and WKDZ (1110 AM) are a pair of radio stations simulcasting an oldies radio format, format. Licensed to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, United States, WHVO serves the Clarksville-Hopkinsville area. WKDZ is licensed to Ca ...

's technical operations. The previous studio now serves as a backup studio and maintenance facility.

Programming

Format and coverage area

WKDZ-FM broadcasts 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 and its primary coverage area, as part of the Clarksville-Hopkinsville radio market, consists of Trigg,

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Caldwell Caldwell may refer to: People * Caldwell (surname) * Caldwell (given name) * Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized First Nation in southern Ontario, Canada Places Great Britain * Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet * Caldwell, Ea ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, and

Todd Todd or Todds may refer to: Places Australia * Todd River, an ephemeral river United States * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated c ...

counties in

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, along with nearby Montgomery and Stewart counties in

Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. However, it's 100,000 watt signal allows the station to be heard in many areas between

Paducah Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in the Upland South, and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located in the Southeastern United States at the confluence ...

's eastern outskirts and

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

's northwestern outskirts, including the easternmost counties of Kentucky's

Jackson Purchase The Jackson Purchase, also known as the Purchase Region or simply the Purchase, is a region in the U.S. state of Kentucky bounded by the Mississippi River to the west, the Ohio River to the north, and the Tennessee River to the east. Jackson's P ...

region in the west, the southern part of the

Western Coal Fields The West Kentucky Coal Field, alternatively The North Pennyrile or simply Northwest Kentucky, comprises an area in the west-central and northwestern part of the state, bounded by the Dripping Springs Escarpment and the Pennyroyal Plateau and the O ...

region in the north, much of

Logan County Logan County is the name of ten current counties and one former county in the United States: * Logan County, Arkansas * Logan County, Colorado * Logan County, Idaho (1889–1895) * Logan County, Illinois * Logan County, Kansas * Logan County ...

in the east, as well as other areas of northwestern Middle Tennessee to the south.

Sports programming

In addition to its usual music programming, WKDZ-FM is an affiliate of the

Tennessee Titans Radio Network The Titans Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 42 radio stations which carry English-language coverage of the Tennessee Titans, a professional football team in the National Football League (NFL). Nashville market station WGFX ...

, which broadcasts live games involving the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

's Tennessee Titans based in

. WKDZ-FM also serves as one of three affiliates of the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...

in the Clarksville-Hopkinsville market (the other two are WHOP-AM and WHOP-FM), broadcasting games of their

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and men's and

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

programs. WKDZ-FM also broadcasts Trigg County High School football games on Friday nights from mid-August through November and Trigg County High School basketball games (boys and girls) from November to March. On August 1, 2017, the station launched '' YourSportsEdge.com'', a sports website dedicated to covering sports at Trigg County High School, Caldwell County High School, Lyon County High School,

Hopkinsville High School Hopkinsville High School is a four-year public high school located in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, with over 1,000 students. It is operated by the Christian County Public Schools school district. History There was controversy in 1925 when the Christ ...

, Christian County High School, Heritage Christian Academy, University Heights Academy,

Fort Campbell High School The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is a federal school system headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on beh ...

, and Todd County Central High School. In addition, the site covers college sports and the Hoptown Hoppers Ohio Valley League baseball team.

News operation

WKDZ-FM is unique in that it, along with sister stations

and WKDZ-AM, boasts a full-time news department in house. The one-hour newscasts, branded as News Edge, are broadcast at 12 Noon and 5:00 p.m. Central Time over all three Ham Broadcasting-owned stations. Shorter newscasts are run at 6, 7, and 8 a.m. CT. Hourly national news updates are provided by

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

at the top of each hour.

Awards and recognitions

WKDZ-FM has been recognized many times for its community service. The station also has won a Marconi Award for "Small Market Station Of The Year" in 2002, 2008, 2013, and 2017. WKDZ-FM has also been consistently nominated for the coveted NAB Crystal Award for Community Service, which they won in 2013.

References

External links

WKDZ-FM official websiteWKDZ News EdgeWKDZ Sports Edge
* * {{coord, 36.808, N, 87.636, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title KDZ-FM Radio stations established in 1972 1972 establishments in Kentucky Country radio stations in the United States Cadiz, Kentucky