There’s a change on the airwaves across Valley and Adams counties.
Local radio stations KUJJ and KDZY have new owners — and new sounds.
KUJJ, long known as Star 95.5, and KDZY, 98.3 Heartland Country, are now owned by Nelly Broadcasting of Clarkston, Washington. The stations were sold by Inspirational Family Radio of Boise for $200,000, plus a “promissory note” of $180,000. The deal was announced in February and closed last month.
After the deal became official, Nelly made a number of changes to the stations. It rebranded KUJJ as “Big Star 95.5,” while the country station is now Big Country 98.3. The music and formats for the stations have also been tweaked, with 98.3 adding nationally syndicated morning show Big D & Bubba and 95.5 piping in national show Pop Crush Nights.
In a Facebook post, Nelly Broadcasting Operations Manager Brad Moore said they planned to launch a third station in the market — Big Rock 94.5. Last year, Nelly purchased the 94.5 frequency from the Idaho Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which operates KTSY in Boise. 94.5 FM had been airing KTSY’s “Project Nation” service.
The “Big” names for the stations follow Nelly’s branding for several of its stations serving the Lewis-Clark Valley, Camas Prairie, and Palouse regions. Nelly also operates the online site Big Country News. The company is owned by Jim and Darcy Nelly of Clarkston.
Nelly Broadcasting officials didn’t return a request for comment from Valley Lookout.
Inspirational Family Radio purchased KDZY in 2001, alongside its Boise station KBXL. In 2013, KUJJ launched in McCall, filling a gap left by KMCL, which was moved to Boise in 2008 and became Wild 101 FM.
KDZY & KUJJ officially became sister stations in 2016. KDZY broadcasts from a site on Brundage Mountain while KUJJ’s transmitter is on No Business Mountain near Tamarack.
