KZSJ

Founded by Jeffrey Eustis, KZSJ had its first construction permit on January 18, 1991, with the call sign KSJI.{{Cite web|url=https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&pn=134970&facid=30906|title=FCCdata.org - powered by REC|website=fccdata.org|accessdate=27 November 2023}} The call letters changed to KZSJ on November 1, 1995. 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.{{citation|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:ORGB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EF7AEB01A43F89E&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated4&req_dat=0D10F2CADB4B24C0|title=KMEL's bold to stray, and that's the way I like it|last=Kava|first=Brad|work=San Jose Mercury News|date=November 24, 1995|page=Eye 29|access-date=March 26, 2020|via=Newsbank}}{{citation|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-1995-11.pdf|title=Format changes|work=The M Street Journal|date=November 8, 1995|volume=12|issue=45|page=1|access-date=March 26, 2020|via=AmericanRadioHistory.com}}{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970414053519/http://zspanish.com/p0000022.htm|archive-date=April 14, 1997|url=http://zspanish.com/p0000022.htm|title=Radio Stations|publisher=Z-Spanish Radio Network|access-date=March 27, 2020|url-status=dead}}

Eustis finalized a sale of KZSJ for $450,000 in late January 1996 to Bustos.{{citation|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1996/R&R-1996-02-01.pdf|title=Transactions|work=R&R|date=February 2, 1996|issue=1131|page=9|via=AmericanRadioHistory.com}} KZSJ was granted its first broadcasting license on February 21, 1996.

In March 1999, KZSJ entered a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Quê Hương Inc. and changed to a Vietnamese language format.{{citation|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-M-Street/M-Street-Journal/M-Street-1999-03.pdf|title=Format Changes & Updates|work=The M Street Journal|date=March 17, 1999|volume=16|issue=11|page=1|access-date=March 26, 2020|via=AmericanRadioHistory.com}} Founded in 1994 on KSJX, Quê Hương was the first 24-hour Vietnamese-language radio station outside of Vietnam.{{cite news|title=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|first=De|last=Tran|work=San Jose Mercury News|date=October 23, 1995|page=1B|via=NewsBank}} Programming on the Quê Hương radio network has included music, community events, and legal advice geared towards Vietnamese-American communities.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050911000608/http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=a0708b6e11b4c2bc9830af6c8dcdad06|archive-date=September 11, 2005|url=http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=a0708b6e11b4c2bc9830af6c8dcdad06|title=Quê Hu'o'ng - Radio Free Vietnam|last=Shore|first=Elena|publisher=New California Media|date=February 20, 2003|access-date=March 26, 2020|url-status=dead}} By 2003, Bustos moved KZSJ to his Bustos Media company.{{Cite web|url=https://recnet.com/owr/?appid=676503|title=Ownership Report | REC Networks|website=recnet.com|accessdate=27 November 2023}}

As of 2003, Quê Hương Radio reached about 200,000 listeners in the San Francisco Bay Area.{{cite news|title=Valuable ventures – investments in minority businesses on par with industry levels, study says: minority firms bring worthy returns|first=Matt|last=Marshall|work=San Jose Mercury News|date=July 18, 2003|page=1E|via=NewsBank}} 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.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030802042506/http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/6349315.htm|archive-date=August 2, 2003|title=Police air condolences over Vietnamese radio|last1=Woolfolk|first1=John|last2=Khánh|first2=Truong Phuoc|work=San Jose Mercury News|url=http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/6349315.htm|date=July 21, 2003|access-date=March 26, 2020|url-status=dead}} 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.{{cite news|title=Relatives of dissident priest on trial|work=San Jose Mercury News|agency=Mercury News Wire Services|date=September 10, 2003|page=13A|via=NewsBank}}{{cite report|title=A People Silenced: The Vietnamese Government's Assault on the Media and Access to Information|first=Nina|last=Shea|authorlink=Nina Shea|publisher=U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom|location=Washington, D.C.|date=October 1, 2003|accessdate=April 2, 2024|url=https://www.uscirf.gov/resources/people-silenced-vietnamese-governments-assault-media-and-access-information-1}}

Beginning around 2014, KZSJ began broadcasting Korean-language programming on weekday mornings from Santa Clara-based Hanmi Radio.{{cite web|url=http://www.hanmiradio.com/media-kit/|title=Media Kit|publisher=Hanmi Radio|language=Korean, English|accessdate=March 25, 2021}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-363644A1.pdf|title=FCC Daily Digest|work=Federal Communications Commission|date=April 10, 2020|access-date=January 1, 2024}}

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.{{cite news|title=Ethnic press gets hot: Vietnamese-language papers on rise in Valley|first=De|last=Tran|work=San Jose Mercury News|date=March 4, 1998|page=1A|via=NewsBank}}

{{Reflist}}

{{AM station data|30906|KZSJ}}

{{Bustos Media}}

{{San Jose Radio}}

{{AM Stereo radio stations}}

{{AM Stereo radio stations in the United States}}

Category:1995 establishments in California

Category:Radio stations established in 1995

ZSJ

ZSJ

Category:Korean-American culture in California

Category:Santa Clara County, California