SLO County has a new radio station, and zebras inspired its call letters

The new, mostly jazz sounds floating over North Coast air waves these days are coming from KZRP-LP 93.3 FM radio, which has been broadcasting around the clock since Sept. 18.

The nonprofit, 100-watt station had been in the works for a couple of years, with an FCC construction permit granted in late 2023, according to Daniel Brown of San Simeon. He’s the president and chairperson of the Zebra Radio Project.

“One of the objectives of the station is local (and hyper-local) news. The signal coverage is Harmony, Cambria and San Simeon,” Brown told The Tribune in February 2024.

“It’s true community radio producing local programming,” he said in a media release earlier this year.

Wider news is provided by SRN News (Salem Radio Network News).

The federal radio agency issued the Zebra Radio Project’s low-power operating license on Sept. 17, 2025, and Brown and his wife, Tran Quach, have been on a fast track since 9 a.m. the next day.

She’s the nonprofit’s secretary/treasurer. Longtime Cambrian Ashley Gracey is the corporation’s vice chairperson.

It cost about $12,000 to establish the nonprofit and get the station licensed, up and running, Brown said.

Low-power FM stations operate under different rules

“According to FCC rules, only nonprofits, governments or schools can own a low-power FM station,” Brown said.

Being a nonprofit station also means KZRP cannot accept advertising or commercial programming, he said, “and all shows must be non-political (per FCC guidelines) and music or general interest.”

“However, local businesses can use enhanced underwriting, stating products and services, and receive on-air mentions as well as full advertising on our website at a fraction of the cost of commercial radio stations,” Brown said on the website.

All underwriting costs and donations are tax deductible, he said.

The broadcasts originate from the Browns’ home.

That base location had a lot to do with the station’s call letters, he said.

“We live in San Simeon and occasionally see the zebras from our window. I just thought it would be a fun name and one that identifies the station with the area and highlights one of its attractions,” he said with a smile, adding, “It was either that or Nitt Witt Ridge Radio, or maybe Elephant Seal Radio.”

Some specialty programming is produced at studios in the homes or offices of the DJs or on-air talent.

What is KZRP?

KZRP bills itself on its website as “a true community radio station producing local programming … providing weather and emergency information vital to the people of Cambria and San Simeon.”

It promises diverse music programming, offering “much airtime devoted to variations of jazz standards, smooth jazz and acid jazz, with some world music and exotica added throughout the day.

“On Saturday nights, a three-hour rock program is featured as well as a classical music program on Sunday morning that begins at 8 a.m. and runs until noon,” the website said.

The station will be promoting local musicians and promises to provide broadcasting opportunities to locals, and public service announcements to local nonprofit organizations.

KZRP isn’t webstreaming its programming yet, though, so listeners have to tune in via FM radio.

Being on the web is quite expensive, Brown told The Tribune on Thursday, so it will take time and a lot of tax-deductible donations before the nonprofit can consider adding that service.

The North Coast is familiar territory

The radio couple knows the area well, having visited often and even honeymooned in Cambria, Brown said.

He was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Long Beach, he said.

Brown’s experience ranges from owning a photo lab, being staff photographer/videographer/editor for AARP’s Modern Maturity Magazine to being owner/producer of the “Classic Car Garage” show, an auto-restoration show broadcast nationwide.

In 2012, Brown retired from his longtime job as video specialist for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, moving to Morro Bay where he started KCCF TV-46.

After selling the TV station, the couple moved to San Simeon.

North Coast radio has some history

KZRP is not the first radio station to be based in the county’s far northwestern corner.

KTEA 103.5 FM has been based in Cambria since 2003, with its sister station KCJZ 105.3. KPYG SLO (KPIG) from Santa Cruz has links to the area, after it absorbed Cambria’s previous station, the much-missed funky, free-form KOTR 94.9 FM.

The latter station, nicknamed “The Otter,” came on the air in 1984. KOTR’s slogans were “real music for real people” and “where music is played by humans.” The latter was a nod to the rapidly expanding automation of radio tunes, which has since become ubiquitous.

Other stations elsewhere also broadcast into the area, but the diverse geography can interfere with reception.

For details, go to the website. To donate to the KZRP nonprofit, go to the website’s donation page.

Kathe Tanner

The Tribune

805-781-7904 (voicemails only)

Kathe Tanner has been writing about the people and places of SLO County’s North Coast since 1981, first as a columnist and then also as a reporter. Her career has included stints as a bakery owner, public relations director, radio host, trail guide and jewelry designer. She has been a resident of Cambria for more than four decades, and if it’s happening in town, Kathe knows about it.