Originally intended as a community station for southern Snohomish County under the KURB and KAAR call signs, it cycled through formats and failed financially.
A sale was approved in 1980, but under KKNW and later KKZU call letters, the daytime-only, low-power station continued to be unable to find its footing.
[1] Broadcasting began a year later, on September 23, 1968, after Federal Communications Commission approval came sooner than expected and caught the owners off guard.
[3][4] That format lasted less than a year; in December, the station converted to a primarily talk lineup that consisted of call-in shows, radio dramas, and sponsored religion programs, alongside other items.
Despite promising that it would seek a buyer, no application to sell KKZU ever materialized, and after the FCC initiated a hearing on whether to revoke the broadcast license, the company offered no objection.