City | Bellevue, Nebraska |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Omaha, Nebraska |
Branding | 1620 The Zone |
Slogan | Omaha's Sports Radio |
Frequency | 1620 kHz |
Format | Sports |
Power | 10,000 watts day 1,000 watts night |
Class | B |
Facility ID | 87182 |
Callsign meaning | K Omaha ZoNe |
Affiliations | Fox Sports Radio |
Owner |
NRG Media (NRG License Sub, LLC) |
Sister stations | KMMQ, KOIL, KZOT, KQKQ, KOOO, KOPW |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | 1620thezone.com |
KOZN is a sports talk station in Omaha, Nebraska. The station broadcasts at 1620 kHz on the AM dial. It is owned by NRG Media, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Its studios are located at Dodge Street and 50th Avenue in Midtown Omaha, and its transmitter site is located in Bellevue, Nebraska.
The station originally signed on as KAZP, an expanded band station of KOIL 1180, owned by Mitchell Broadcasting, in September 1999. KOZN carries Creighton University Baseball, Dial Global NFL Football and NCAA Basketball and University of Nebraska-Omaha Basketball. KOZN originates and produces all game broadcasts of the NCAA Men's College World Series, held each June in Omaha, and distributed nationally by Dial Global. Play by play is provided by eight-time Nebraska Sportscaster of the Year Kevin Kugler. KOZN streams most of its programming on its website [1].
Some of the station's first local hosts were:
The original morning team of John Desjardins and Mike Steele, aka "Louie & The Animal" was called The Cage. It was replaced by the Bruno-Golic Morning Show when the station debuted the ESPN Radio full-time lineup. The current morning show is hosted by Gary Sharp and former Nebraska football I-Back Damon Benning, airing from 7 – 11am weekdays.
The current afternoon show, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, began with Kevin Kugler and Bob Bruce in 2000, and has been on the air continually since. Mike'l Severe (former reporter for KETV Channel 7) was added after Bruce left the station. Kevin Kugler left the show in July 2012 to assume new duties with the Big 10 Network. He is retained by the station as "National Correspondent". John Bishop, formerly of sister station KLIN in Lincoln, Nebraska joined Mike'l Severe as co-host of "Unsportsmanlike Conduct" in August 2012. John Bishop and Mike'l Severe were named to the list of the "Top 30 Sports Talk Hosts in America" in 2012 by Radio INK magazine. Matt Schick, former host of the morning show "Schick and Nick" with former Creighton Bluejay Nick Bahe announced that he has taken a job with ESPNU. Nick Bahe has also left the station.