It was 35 years ago today that KZEW 98FM Dallas - signed on the air for the first time. What began with a call letter and format change of Dallas-Ft.Worth's WFAA-FM beautiful music station, the new progressive music station would become the legendary ZOO. KZEW was the first station ever to refer itself as a zoo. The brainchild of KZEW's first program manager and original Zoologist, Ira Lipson. The ZOO was a leader in creative promotions, live concerts, and connecting with the listeners. It also had great DJ's who could put together killer sets of music.

The name of morning show, The Morning ZOO, was ripped off by stations across the USA, and at one time almost every major radio market had at least one station with a Morning ZOO, but KZEW was the original.

KZEW took off so well, that it was soon noticed how much the fans were "in to" this station. So enamored, that the listeners would soon be referred to as ZOO-freaks and I was definitely one of them. There was something special about this station and till this day, I still can't define what one thing about the station that made it better than all the others. Was it the music, the airstaff, the ZOO-stickers, the ZOO attitude, even the ZOO lifestyle? It was all cool. And when you're a fan of something, you collect stuff. My first ZOO collectible was a ZOO-sticker, then I began grabbing up anything ZOO, and that even included recording ZOO radio transmissions. Today those recordings are some of my most prized possessions. I have also found that I was not the only big fan of this station, there were others that have collections that even dwarf mine.

By creating a KZEW community website, I hope to bring together as many ZOO collectibles in one place for all to share and discuss. Ask anybody (over 30) and they will have something great to say about the ZOO. Many will talk about that one Zoo item they still have, even after all these years. The one thing they ALL have is their own ZOO story to tell. Here, we will give you that voice.

When I decided to create a ZOO site and begin contacting ex-ZOO-staffers for information about the station. I begin learning about the ZOO behind the scenes and I soon realized that I really don't know the ZOO as much as I thought. Yeah, I could attempt to write all the text on this site myself, but I realized I alone could never achieve the degree of integrity that the KZEW story deserves. In fact, I'm not sure any one zoo staffer could accomplish such a feat...I mean, not the complete story.

North Texas deserves a place to go to remember this great radio station The ZOO staffers I have spoke to so far all agree that there's a great story that needs to be told, but also it needs to be done right. After much thought, I found a way for all interested parties to have their say or add their chapter, so to speak. With a editable wikipedia type site, this can be done. I contacted the staffers and asked, "If I were to create a site with the basic framework and tools to moderate, edit and review the content, would they participate? The answer was yes.

What you see today is 98KZEW.com beta. A community driven website dedicated to the memory of KZEW. The site is still going through test stages. I am only opening up the site today (09-18-2008) to commemorate what would have been KZEW's 35th birthday.

What's Coming

ZOO History - A year by year history of the ZOO, exploring various ZOO events with comments from actual ZOO airstaff.

ZOO Images - Loads of pictures, many never seen before.

ZOO Audio - Actual ZOO audio from every year. Ex-ZOOstaff have opened up the vaults and are letting us hear some gems from the past.

ZOO Blogs - Some of the ZOO staff will be presenting us some great ZOO stories from the past.

ZOO Glossary - A look at some ZOO terms we remember oh so well.

ZOO Airstaff Bios - Bios pages for all the ex ZOO-staff that come and gone through the years.

DFW Concerts - A look at the great concerts in the DFW area.

DFW Venues - A look at the great clubs and concert venues past and present in the DFW area.

ZOO stickers - A look at the cool ZOO stickers.

ZOO Wear - The ZOO T-shirts, jackets, hats, etc.

ZOO Stuff - Other ZOO promotional items like lighters, pens, coffee cups, fresbees, etc.

ZOO Advertising - Print ads, flyers and other promotional items.

ZOO Droppings - A look at original programming from the ZOO.

Today in Rock History - A daily look at major events in Rock History.

This entire website and its contents are copyright 2008-10 98KZEW.com. Images are copyright of their respective owners. If you feel your copyright is being infringed upon by its appearance in this website, please email me and it will be removed or credited properly. I am not responsible for errors, omissions, incomplete information, misrepresentations or dead links. Information was gleaned from newspapers, broadcasting yearbooks, magazines, personal recollection, recollections of others and the like. Copying of any or all information or images for use on other websites, in print or for other purposes, is prohibited without permission. Links are provided for the user's convenience; I claim no responsibility for the contents, accuracy or relevance of other sites that may be linked to from this site. This entire website is considered a not-for-profit "fan site," to be enjoyed for entertainment and informational purposes only. Usage of this site and/or any sites, sub-sites or pages or images contained within, however accessed, constitutes your agreement to these Terms and Conditions. Proceeds from advertising or donations are directly used for site maintenance, hosting fees and research costs.