KZWA was founded by Mrs. Faye Brown Blackwell, the first African American to own an FM radio station in southwest Louisiana.

Faye Blackwell was a graduate of Southern University and a member of the Lake Charles City Council for twelve years. It was then that an opportunity came for Ms. Blackwell to start up a radio station.

It all started in 1987 when Joe Mims approached Mrs. Blackwell, a former city council member, and Carol Collins to interest them in “becoming station owners” of a frequency on the FCC “80/90 docket” designated for the Lake Charles area. Collins and Blackwell were “local residents with deep community ties” and “minority women.” As Mims put it, “they reviewed the information that he presented to them about the opportunity for minority females to become station owners, based upon this new federal policy to increase minority ownership of radio stations in the United States.” Eventually, Collins and Blackwell became general partners in a venture known as B&C Limited Partnership–Vera Foster (the alter ego of her son) and Ralph Frank  joined as limited partners.  

So, Ms. Blackwell decided not to run for another term as a city councilman and take the opportunity. She felt that she was prepared for this responsibility because she helped take care of her nine younger siblings, which taught her not only about responsibility, but also how to make responsible choices. The decision to leave the city council and start a radio station led to her becoming the first black to own an FM radio station in southwest Louisiana. Although this was a great honor for Ms. Blackwell, she said that the journey was so difficult it used to gives her nightmares when she thought about it. Saying, “I had many trials and went to many trials in order to finally obtain it, but it was worth it. If I had to do it all over again I would probably do it the same way.”

Ms. Blackwell said that her success resulted in her taking advantage of every opportunity she could and most importantly, God.

Arbitron ratings has ranked KZWA as the number one urban radio station. Blackwell says it’s goal is to promote the live and local aspects of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas. This is all the result of one lady. Her dream, her legacy, her gift to the world is Live 104.9 KZWA.