Kent has a new radio station as Punjabi Radio added an FM signal on 95.3 to simulcast with KZIZ 1560 AM.
Programming on Punjabi Radio targets the southeast Asian population, according to a media release last month from the Washington State Association of Broadcasters. XL Communications, Inc., bought KZIZ for $680,000 in March and began its multicultural programming. Licensee XL Communications broadcasts Punjabi Radio to reach people who have moved here from India and Pakistan.
The Federal Communications Commission last year authorized construction permits for up to 26 new hyper-local low-powered FM radio stations mainly covering Seattle with a few scattered in outlying areas from Tacoma to Tulalip.
Earlier this year, the FCC made it possible for a handful of AM radio stations to join the FM band, too. But unlike their non-commercial, low-powered predecessors, these FM signals can have more than twice the power and can operate as commercial signals, according to the media release. Six new FM radio signals in the Seattle area will be a simulcast of the AM signals.
“Radio reaches 91 percent of all Americans age 12 or older every week,” said Keith Shipman, president and CEO of the Washington State Association of Broadcasters. “Radio is the original social media and still has greater audience reach than social media, mobile devices or television.”
Recent rule changes at the FCC made it possible to add new FM signals to a crowded radio dial. Pairing FM signals with existing AM radio stations is part of a broader initiative championed by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai called “AM Revitalization.”
According to the Punjabi Radio website, station leaders are inspired by Punjabi cultural values of service, friendship, laughter, peace and humanity to bring its community together. Individuals who started the stations believe in the beauty of the Punjabi culture and in the importance of preserving their cultural roots.
Punjabi Radio has about a dozen stations in Washington, California and Nevada.
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