Kansas City's first FM broadcaster, KOZY, dates to the pre-war FM band. It was started by Everett L. Dillard, earlier the founder of WLBF (now KCKN), and later the founder of WASH(FM) in Washington, D.C. Studios and transmitter were at the Porter Building at 34th & Broadway.
Dillard was the experimental licensee of W9XA at 26.45 mHz 1937-39, operating both in AM and FM modes. His first FM station application was submitted to the FCC on March 1, 1940. K49KC was on the air in 1942 at 44.9 mHz. When numeric FM calls were discontinued, Dillard chose the KOZY calls. KOZY moved to 99.9 mHz during the postwar change of the FM band to 88-108 mHz, and then to 98.1 mHz in 1947 when interstation spacing was changed from 0.4 to 0.8 mHz.
KOZY went off the air early in 1950 after it lost its lease on studio and transmitter site. Dillard requested deletion for economic reasons, which was granted by the FCC on February 15, 1951. The 98.1 allocation was reactivated by KCBM(FM) March 3, 1958 (one source says 1959), which later became KCJC-FM, and is now KUDL(FM).
Mark RobertsOakland, California
E-mail: Please see the Contact Information page.