KTAR-AM

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KTAR-AM/KMVP-AM
City of license	Phoenix, Arizona
Broadcast area	Phoenix, Arizona
Branding	Sports 620 KTAR
First air date	1922/1953
Frequency	620/860 (kHz)
Format	ESPN Radio/sports
ERP	5,000 watts (day), 1,000 watts (night)
Class	B
Callsign meaning	Keep Taking the Arizona Republic (reference to co-ownership with The Arizona Republic at one point)/K Most Valuable Player
Owner	Bonneville Holding Company
Website	http://www.ktar.com/

KTAR-AM is the callsign for the radio station licensed to 620 kHz in Phoenix, Arizona. It airs programming from ESPN Radio, in addition to KTAR-acquired broadcast rights for local teams. KTAR-AM is owned by Bonneville International Corporation. KTAR-AM simulcasts on KMVP-AM at 860 kHz, also owned by Bonneville.

KTAR-AM is the radio flagship home of the National Basketball Association's Phoenix Suns, the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals, the Arizona State University Sun Devils' football games, the Arena Football League's Arizona Rattlers, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. KTAR-AM owns all but a few of the sports team rights in the Phoenix market.

Contents 1 History 1.1 KTAR-AM 1.1.1 1920s to 1979: Early history 1.1.2 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s 1.1.3 2006: Move to FM 1.1.4 2007 onward: Sports 620 KTAR 1.2 KMVP 1.3 Show schedule 2 References 3 External links

[edit] History

[edit] KTAR-AM

[edit] 1920s to 1979: Early history

KTAR-AM began in June 1922 as KFAD, Arizona's first radio property. In 1929, the station was purchased by the owners of the major newspaper in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic, who changed the call letters to KREP (for REPublic). In 1930, the call letters changed to the present KTAR (for "Keep Taking the Arizona Republic"). [1][2]

From 1939 to 1975, KTAR was the flagship of a statewide radio network called the "Arizona Broadcasting System"; this network had affiliates in key Arizona towns and cities such as Tucson, Globe, Prescott and Yuma.

In 1944, the Republic sold KTAR to Chicago advertiser John J. Louis, Sr.. In 1955, Louis bought two-year-old KTYL-TV (channel 12), Phoenix' second television station from Harkins Theatres, and changed the call letters to KVAR-TV. In 1959, KVAR-TV became KTAR-TV. The same year, the stations moved to a new studio on Central Avenue in Phoenix. The Louis family bought several other broadcasting interests in the 1960s. Eventually, the Louis broadcasting interests became known as Pacific & Southern Broadcasting, headquartered in Phoenix with KTAR-AM-FM-TV as the flagship stations.

In 1968, Pacific & Southern was acquired by local billboard advertising magnate Karl Eller, who merged it with his advertising business to form Combined Communications; in 1973, the station affiliated with ABC Radio, which is the network affiliation to this day; the NBC affiliation would be dropped the following year.

In 1979, after Eller's media empire was purchased by Gannett, the FCC barred it from keeping both the radio stations and KTAR-TV (now KPNX). KTAR-AM was acquired by Pulitzer Publishing Company, the then-owners of Tucson's major morning newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star. KPNX kept the Central Avenue studio.

[edit] 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s

The station was purchased by Hearst-Argyle in 1999, then Emmis Communications in 2001, and in 2004 by Bonneville as part of a multi-station swap with Emmis. [3] Ironically, when it was sold to Bonneville, it began a news-sharing relationship with KPHO-TV: it was once sister to rival KPNX.

[edit] 2006: Move to FM

In 2006, Bonneville bought another Emmis property, CHR formatted KKFR-FM 92.3, licensed to Glendale, with intents to simulcast the AM property. KKFR would become KTAR-FM to match its new ownership. On 18 September of that year, KTAR started the simulcast.[4] [5] To keep the programming on 92.3 before the sale, Bonneville sold the intellectual property of the Power format (including the call letters) to Riviera Broadcast Group, which placed them on KKLD Prescott Valley, which moved to Mayer to bring its signal closer to the area; it is now operated by Riviera, but owned by Sunburst Media as Riviera tries to acquire the license. The simulcast continued until 1 January 2007, when 92.3 became the home of the news/talk format and the format of ESPN Radio-affiliated KMVP moved to 620.[6] Both stations retained the KTAR call letters.

[edit] 2007 onward: Sports 620 KTAR

The last sport event carried on News 620 KTAR was the Arizona Cardinals facing the San Diego Chargers on 31 December 2006. In contrast, the first event carried on Sports 620 KTAR was the Fiesta Bowl between the Boise State Broncos and the Oklahoma Sooners on 1 January 2007.

[edit] KMVP

860 AM signed on the air as early as 1953 with the call letters KIFN. KIFN was Phoenix's first full-time Spanish-language radio station. [7] From the time it signed on until the early 1980s, KIFN operated as a daytime-only station. For many years, KIFN was owned by the Tichenor family, which owned a group of Spanish-language stations that ultimately became the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. After being sold in 1982, the call letters became KVVA ("Viva"), and the new owners retained its Spanish-language format.

In 1996, Pulitzer Broadcasting Company purchased the station out of bankruptcy with intentions on moving play-by-play sports contracts from KTAR (then a news and talk outlet) as KMVP. Eventually, station and team owners found the KMVP nighttime signal too weak to cover the entire Phoenix metropolitan area for play-by-play coverage, and the Suns and Diamondbacks moved back to KTAR with KMVP retaining broadcasts of the Mercury and Rattlers games. Over time, KMVP added more national sports talk (including ESPN Radio) and less local programs.

Since then, ownership has passed from Pulitzer to Hearst-Argyle, Emmis Communications, and now Bonneville. ^[1]

The simulcast of KTAR and KMVP is expected to end at some point in 2007; the new format of 860 AM is yet to be determined. KMVP could be sold to another company, which might also bring back the ESPN Radio brand and some of the shows dropped by KTAR (for example, Mike and Mike in the Morning has been replaced by the Doug and Wolf Show).

[edit] Show schedule

11:00pm-4:00am: AllNight with Jason Smith
4:00am-5:00am: Mike and Mike in the Morning
5:00am-9:00am: Doug and Wolf Show
9:00am-11:00am: The Herd with Colin Cowerd
11:00am-1:00pm: The Dan Patrick Show
1:00pm-6:00pm: Gambo and Ash
6:00pm-9:00pm: SportsLine with Dave Burns
9:00pm-11:00pm: ESPN GameNight

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• KTAR website
• News 92.3 KTAR - a message board for suggestions regarding the new news/talk FM
• 620 Sports KTAR - a message board for suggestions regarding the new all-sports AM
• Bonneville International
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KTAR
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KMVP