KAZG (1440
AM) is a
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
broadcasting an
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
format. Licensed to
Scottsdale, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Winfield Scott
, image_skyline =
, image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg
, image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg
, nick ...
, United States, the station covers the
Phoenix metropolitan area
The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – also the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Metro Phoenix (known by most locals simply as “the Valley”) – is the largest metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States, centered on the city ...
. KAZG is owned by
Hubbard Broadcasting
Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. is an American television and radio broadcasting corporation based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded by Stanley E. Hubbard.
The corporation has broadcast outlets scattered across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, ...
, Inc. and licensed to Phoenix FCC License Sub, LLC. The station's studios are located in North 52nd Street west of
Papago Park
Papago Park () is a municipal park of the cities of Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona, United States. It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride.
It includes Hunt's Tomb, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Description
...
and its AM transmitter is in Scottsdale. KAZG can also be heard on 92.7 FM via an
FM translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
and brands itself as "Oldies 92.7."
Call letters
KAZG signed on in 1956 as KPOK ("Cowpoke") in Scottsdale. Like many stations in the Phoenix area at the time, it originally ran a country-music format. KPOK became KWBY in 1961.
Beginning in 1964, AM 1440 was known as KDOT; it aired an adult-standards format until 1976, when it changed calls to KSGR ("K-Sugar") to fit an oldies format. This lasted until 1978 when it became KOPA. Beginning in the 1960s, it simulcasted on FM 100.7, which continued under various formats and call letters until the mid-1990s.
The station was assigned the call letters KOPA on April 24, 1978. On September 1, 1980, the station changed its call sign to KXAM, and adopted an urban format. On March 25, 1982, they reverted to KOPA, then on February 19, 1996, to KSLX, and on April 1, 2001, to the current KAZG. For about a year in the mid-1990s, the format was
CNN Headline News
HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming.
The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...
.
Programming
KAZG currently programs an
automated
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
format of
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
from the 1960s and 1970s. Occasionally, the station will play only 1960's music during "Super 60s Weekends" or only 1970's music during "Super 70s Weekends".
In 2018, Steve Goddard, a well-known local radio host, became the afternoon host for KAZG, bringing his two nationally syndicated radio shows, "The 70's with Steve Goddard" and "Goddard's Gold", with him. In 2021, KAZG began playing
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...
every weekday at noon.
Steve Goddard's local radio show can be heard every weekday from 3PM-7PM, "The 70's with Steve Goddard" can be heard every Saturday morning from 7AM-10AM, and "Goddard's Gold" can be heard every Sunday morning from 9AM-12PM.
Transmitter
KAZG is popularly referred to as "The Lumberyard" or "Lumberyard 1440" due to the location of its transmitter, directly behind an actual
lumber yard
A lumber yard is a location where lumber and wood-related products used in construction and/or home improvement projects are processed or stored. Some lumber yards offer retail sales to consumers, and some of these may also provide services suc ...
at the corner of 64th Street and Thomas Road in south Scottsdale. From this intersection, the transmitter building is accessible via a dirt path bordering the eastern side of the
Salt River Project
The Salt River Project (SRP) is the umbrella name for two separate entities: the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, an agency of the state of Arizona that serves as an electrical utility for the Phoenix metropolitan a ...
's Crosscut Canal.
The station transmits at 5,000 watts daytime, and is thus listenable throughout much of the Phoenix metro area. It has a single-tower, non-directional antenna.
Since AM 1440 was originally licensed as an AM
daytimer
A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-coun ...
before the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) abolished the designation, it had been required to turn off its transmitter at local sundown, and allowed to turn it back on at local sunrise. Although KAZG was now licensed by the FCC to transmit at 52 watts of power at night, former owner Sandusky Radio usually opted to turn off the transmitter, apparently to avoid the electricity expense of transmitting at such an unusable power level. On rare occasions, such as when it carried Arizona State baseball or University of Arizona football as an "overflow" station of
KDUS
KDUS ( AM 1060) is a sports talk radio station broadcasting out of Tempe, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan radio market. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. and licensed to Phoenix FCC License Sub, LLC. Its studios are locat ...
, the station would switch to its nighttime power.
Radio observers liked to refer to the station's regulator of sunrise/sunset power switches as the "lamp timer," since the times of switching were irregular and tended to drift away from FCC specifications over time, as if the switches were driven by a cheap mechanical lamp
timer
A timer is a specialized type of clock used for measuring specific time intervals.
Timers can be categorized into two main types.
The word "timer" is usually reserved for devices that counts down from a specified time interval, while devices th ...
.
In March 2012, KAZG began transmitting at its fully licensed 52 watts of power during nighttime hours, becoming a 24/7 station for the first time in its history. When the Sandusky Radio stations were purchased by Hubbard in 2013, this practice continued.
On January 25, 2016, KAZG rebranded as "Oldies 92.7" (the 92.7 in the branding is for FM translator K224CJ 92.7 FM Phoenix). K224CJ had been independently owned and had simulcast several stations in its history. It was not until 2017 that Hubbard bought the translator for $1.8 million, setting a record for the highest sale price ever commanded by an FM translator.
References
External links
*
{{Hubbard Broadcasting Inc.
AZG
Radio stations established in 1978
Oldies radio stations in the United States
Hubbard Broadcasting