KTAR (AM)
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| KTAR | |
| City of license | Phoenix, Arizona |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Phoenix metropolitan area |
| Branding | Sports 620 |
| Frequency | 620 (kHz) (Also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | 1922 |
| Format | Sports Talk |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | Keep Taking the Arizona Republic[citation needed] (reference to co-ownership with The Arizona Republic at one point) |
| Owner | Bonneville International |
| Sister stations | KMVP, KPKX, KTAR-FM |
| Website | sports.ktar.com |
KTAR (620 AM) is the callsign for a radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. It airs programming from ESPN Radio, in addition to KTAR-acquired broadcast rights for local teams. KTAR is owned by Bonneville International Corporation.
KTAR 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 owns all but a few of the major sports team rights in the Phoenix market.
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[edit] History
[edit] KTAR
[edit] 1920s to 1979: Early history
KTAR 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, Illinois 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 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.
Until April 14, 2007, KTAR used to simulcast on KMVP at 860 kHz, also owned by Bonneville.
[edit] Awards
The station was one of 10 stations awarded the 2007 Crystal Radio Award for public service awarded by the National Association of Broadcasters.[1] Winners were honored at the Radio Luncheon on April 17, 2007, during the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
[edit] References
- ^ NAB Announces Crystal Radio Awards Winners. National Association of Broadcasters (2007-04-17).
[edit] External links
- KTAR official website
- Bonneville International
- Query the FCC's AM station database for KTAR
- Radio Locator Information on KTAR
- Query Arbitron's AM station database for KTAR
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