WTAW (AM)

WTAW originated as the expanded band "twin" of an existing station on the standard AM band. On March 17, 1997 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that eighty-eight stations had been given permission to move to newly available "Expanded Band" transmitting frequencies, ranging from 1610 to 1700 kHz, with the then-WTAW on 1150 kHz authorized to move to 1620 kHz.[2] An application for the expanded band station was filed on June 16, 1997, which on January 9, 1998 was assigned the call letters KAZW, which were changed on March 1, 2000 to KZNE.[3]

The FCC's initial policy was that both the original station and its expanded band counterpart could operate simultaneously for up to five years, after which owners would have to turn in one of the two licenses, depending on whether they preferred the new assignment or elected to remain on the original frequency.[2] However, this deadline has been extended multiple times, and the stations on both 1150 and 1620 kHz have remained authorized. One restriction is that the FCC has generally required paired original and expanded band stations to remain under common ownership.[4][5]

On May 3, 2000 the stations on 1150 and 1620 kHz swapped identities, with 1150 becoming sports radio KZNE (while maintaining its longtime role as the flagship of Texas A&M Aggies athletics), and 1620 inheriting the historic WTAW call letters and its talk radio format. Although for the average listener this meant that WTAW had moved from 1150 to 1620 kHz, and KNZE had done the reverse, according to FCC regulatory practices the same station on 1620 kHz continued to be licensed (Facility ID 87145 in FCC nomenclature), with just call letter changes taking place.[3]

On December 4, 2003, WTAW and KZNE were sold to Bryan Broadcasting.[6]