WLVZ

On January 10, 1977, Covington County Broadcasters, Inc., filed for a new FM radio station on 101.7 MHz in Collins. The Federal Communications Commission granted the construction permit on February 13, 1978.[1] The station went on air that August 15[2] and immediately adopted a format including country music during the day and adult contemporary in the afternoon and at night.[2] Covington County Broadcasters was owned by Ottis Wolverton and operated by the Blakeney brothers.[2] By 1984, however, WKNZ had gone all-country.[3] Wolverton acquired WBKH in Hattiesburg in 1988.[4] Both stations were sold the next year to Southern Air Communications, owned by Bruce Easterling, in a $648,000 transaction;[5] the new owners flipped WKNZ to oldies.[6]

Financial problems grounded Southern Air in 1993. The Associated Press sued Southern Air that year for unpaid wire service bills in 1990.[7] By that time, however, WKNZ's ownership was already in the process of changing, as Wolverton repurchased the FM outlet.[8] Southern Air owed Covington County Broadcasters, the former licensee, $423,000.[9]

As part of a reassignment of FM allotments in several Mississippi communities approved in 1991, WKNZ had been relocated to 107.1 MHz;[10] the frequency change came into effect on August 26, 1994, by which time WKNZ was again a country music outlet.[11]

After being purchased by Thomas F. McDaniels under the name Sunbelt Broadcasting Corporation, WKNZ switched to classic rock "Zoo 107" on December 29, 1994.[12] The station became a partner of the Hattiesburg Zoo, which was its new namesake;[12] it sponsored the zoo's name-a-zebra contest in 1996.[13]

Radio Broadcasters, controlled by Ken Rainey and owners of WMXI, acquired WKNZ and WXHB in 2000 for $690,000.[14] The station's format remained unchanged until the station was sold in 2005 to the Educational Media Foundation and converted into a K-Love transmitter. The station immediately dropped its programming, including sports programming, on April 1, 2005.[15]