It is a listener-supported public radio station with a news, talk and information format and is owned and operated by the California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB).
After a series of managers and program directors, the station struggled to survive high rents for the new studios and the old transmitter site.
The locally produced music and talk programming remained popular with the community, but financial support did not grow sufficiently to cover the new expenses.
Both KUSP in Santa Cruz, and Cal State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) offered to take over KAZU operations.
On April 5, 2017, CSUMB filed applications with the Federal Communications Commission to purchase the licenses of three FM translators: K207CN (Santa Cruz), K217EK (Palo Colorado Canyon) and K237EV (Big Sur Valley) owned by KUSP.