Founded by Jeffrey Eustis, KZSJ had its first construction permit on January 18, 1991, with the call signKSJI.[4] The call letters changed to KZSJ on November 1, 1995.[4] Later that month, KZSJ began broadcasting with a Regional Mexican music format that played genres including banda and ranchera as part of the Z-Spanish Radio Network operated by Redwood City entrepreneur Amador Bustos.[5][6][7]
Eustis finalized a sale of KZSJ for $450,000 in late January 1996 to Bustos.[8] KZSJ was granted its first broadcasting license on February 21, 1996.[4]
In March 1999, KZSJ entered a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Quê Hương Inc. and changed to a Vietnamese language format.[9] Founded in 1994 on KSJX, Quê Hương was the first 24-hour Vietnamese-language radio station outside of Vietnam.[10][11] Programming on the Quê Hương radio network has included music, community events, and legal advice geared towards Vietnamese-American communities.[10] By 2003, Bustos moved KZSJ to his Bustos Media company.[12]
As of 2003, Quê Hương Radio reached about 200,000 listeners in the San Francisco Bay Area.[13] In July 2003, KZSJ broadcast public service announcements from the San Jose Police Department in Vietnamese expressing condolences to the family of police shooting victim Bich Cau Thi Tran.[14] In September 2003, three relatives of dissident Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý were charged by Vietnamese officials for corresponding with Quê Hương Radio and the San Jose–based Commission for Religious Liberty in Vietnam.[15][16]
Beginning around 2014, KZSJ began broadcasting Korean-language programming on weekday mornings from Santa Clara-based Hanmi Radio.[17]
On February 1, 2018, Bustos Media obtained a construction permit for an FM translator for KZSJ. K269GX broadcasts on 101.7 MHz. The FM translator was formally licensed on April 8, 2020.[18]
Programming
Quê Hương Radio broadcasts throughout the day. Among the local Vietnamese-language media outlets, Quê Hương is known for its stridently anti-communist viewpoint. During the late 1990s, it was a sharp critic of Việt Nam Thời Báo, a local daily newspaper, for the latter's less critical coverage of the Vietnamese government.[19]
^Tran, De (October 23, 1995). "Vietnamese play evokes hopes, conflicting perspectives: audience sees critical drama as a sign of opening in homeland, while emigres outside theater see only a symbol of their pain". San Jose Mercury News. p. 1B – via NewsBank.
^Marshall, Matt (July 18, 2003). "Valuable ventures – investments in minority businesses on par with industry levels, study says: minority firms bring worthy returns". San Jose Mercury News. p. 1E – via NewsBank.
