KNIX-FM (102.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 ...

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, owned and operated by

iHeartMedia, Inc. iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

The station airs a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

. The studios and offices are located on East Van Buren Street in Phoenix near Sky Harbor Airport. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is in

South Mountain Park South Mountain Park in Phoenix, Arizona is the largest municipal park in the United States, and one of the largest urban parks in North America and in the world. It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride. Geography and ecology South ...

, off Road B, amid other towers for Phoenix-area FM and TV stations.

History

Early Years

The station originally

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

the air on December 25, 1961. Because there was no associated AM station, the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

was simply KNIX. It has kept the call letters KNIX or KNIX-FM throughout its history. KNIX previously transmitted with 3,100 watts, a fraction of its current output, only heard in Phoenix and its adjacent suburbs. KNIX aired a

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...

format. The license was held by Aztec Radio, Inc., with owners John and Donna Karshner also serving as on-air staff and programmers. Their son, John P. Karshner II, became one of the youngest DJs in America at age 16.

Buck Owens Ownership

In May 1968, country singer

Buck Owens Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), known professionally as Buck Owens, was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was the lead singer for the Buckaroos, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 ...

bought KNIX. The purchase documents used his formal name, Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. In addition to KNIX, Owens acquired KYND AM 1580 in Tempe from a different owner. The year before, Owens had purchased an AM and FM station in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

KUZZ KUZZ (550 kHz) and KUZZ-FM (107.9 MHz) are American radio stations licensed to serve Bakersfield, California, United States. The stations are owned by Buck Owens Production Company (which is controlled by the estate of country star Buck Owens) and ...

-AM-FM, which had been a profitable move. Under Owens' ownership, the AM station in Phoenix became country music KTUF 1580, while 102.5 KNIX changed to

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

in August 1968. In early March 1969, KNIX-FM switched to country and the power was dramatically boosted to 100,000 watts. KTUF and KNIX-FM began

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

ing the country format, allowing listeners with FM radios to hear it in

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

, while the AM signal could be received on all other radios. Station bumper stickers proclaimed "K-TUF/KNIX, We Stamped Out 3-Letter Radio." The bumper sticker referred to

KOY KOY (1230 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Phoenix, Arizona, and is owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station broadcasts a Regional Mexican radio format and is branded as "93.7 El Patrón". The studios are located in Phoe ...

AM 550 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 550 kHz, which the Federal Communications Commission classifies as a regional frequency. Argentina * La Primera in Neuquén, Neuquén. (still have no call sign assigned) Bolivia * CP 1 ...

, the leading radio station in Phoenix at the time, and the only one with a three-letter call sign. In 1976, the AM call letters switched to KNIX, while the FM station added the -FM

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

, creating KNIX-AM-FM. The AM station began programming

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

music, becoming the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...

for a network called "

Real Country Real Country is a 24-hour radio format produced by Westwood One. Real Country is marketed at the demographic of men aged 35 to 64. Its programming consists of a fairly broad playlist of "Today's Stars and the Legends." Classic country is the st ...

." Meanwhile, KNIX-FM concentrated on contemporary and recent country hits. AM 1580 KNIX ended its association with the Real Country Network in 1985 and the AM-FM simulcast was restored. KNIX-FM not only led the Phoenix

radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...

, but was considered one of the premier country radio stations in the United States. Under the leadership of Buck Owens' son, General Manager Michael Owens, and Programming/Operations Manager Larry Daniels, KNIX-FM was consistently number one in Phoenix. It topped the market in all but one ratings period between 1980 and 1990.

Clear Channel Acquisition

In 1998

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

acquired the FM station from Owens, while the AM station was sold to

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. KNIX-FM was sold for $84 million. The Disney Company used the AM station for its

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

children's radio Children's radio is a radio format aimed primarily at preteen children. Examples include the now defunct Radio Disney network of radio stations, Kids Place Live satellite radio channel and in the UK Fun Kids. Stations See also *List of children ...

format, while KNIX-FM kept its successful country format. On September 16, 2014, Clear Channel renamed itself

, to bring its corporate name in line with its

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...

internet platform.

Awards

KNIX-FM has won many prestigious awards in the country music and radio industry. They include honors from the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...

, the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country music ...

, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine, and the Marconi Award for excellence in broadcasting. The CMA honored KNIX-FM as its "Major Market Station of the Year" in 2019, its sixth time receiving the award.

HD Radio

KNIX-FM broadcasts in the

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

format. The main signal is a simulcast of KNIX's country programming. On April 25, 2006, Clear Channel announced that KNIX's HD2 subchannel would carry a format focusing on music from new and up-and-coming Country artists. Several years later, the HD2 subchannel began carrying the audio of co-owned

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

station

KFYI KFYI (550 AM) – branded ''News/Talk 550 KFYI'' – is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to serve Phoenix, Arizona. Owned by iHeartMedia, KFYI serves the Phoenix metropolitan area as the market affiliate for Fox News Radio, ''The ...

550 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 550 kHz, which the Federal Communications Commission classifies as a regional frequency. Argentina * La Primera in Neuquén, Neuquén. (still have no call sign assigned) Bolivia * CP ...

. The third channel carries iHeartMedia's Total Traffic Network (TTN), a data only service broadcasting real-time traffic streaming to GPS devices with HD Radio receivers, providing accident, traffic flow, and road construction information. Devices capable of receiving traffic data are available from manufactures such as

Garmin Garmin Ltd. (shortened to Garmin, stylized as GARMIN, and formerly known as ProNav) is an American, Swiss-domiciled multinational technology company founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao in Lenexa, Kansas, United States, with headquart ...

and Cydle.

Former staff

*Charlie Ochs (mornings) *W. Steven Martin (mornings) *J.D. Freeman (afternoons) *"Layback" Lenny Roberts (afternoons) *John Buchannon (evenings, midday, music director) *Brian McNeal (evenings) *

Buddy Alan Alan Edgar "Buddy" Owens (born May 23, 1948 in Mesa, Arizona), known professionally as Buddy Alan, is an American country music artist. The son of Buck Owens and Bonnie Owens and stepson of Merle Haggard, Alan recorded four albums for Capitol Rec ...

(music director, midday, son of Buck Owens) *George King *Steve Harmon *Jim West *Steve Wood *Bill Kramer *Brian Kelly *John Michaels *RJ Curtis *Susan Geary *Bobby Lewis *Steve Goddard *Tim & Willy (mornings) *Dick Leighton (traffic) *Bill Denny (sports) *Larry Clark (news) *Mary Ganier (news) *Stephan Kaufman (news) *Marti McNeil (news) *Gwen Foster *Scott Fisher *Russ Knight *Larry Daniels (midday) *Red Skyler *Bobby Butler *Mike Scott (afternoon drive & Music Director) *Camille Wood (traffic & voice work) *Robin Lee (overnights) *Gary Gardner (weekends) *Carolyn Coffey (mornings) *Garry D (Creative Imaging/Voice) *Marty McFly (Hunter) (Mornings) *Hawk Harrison (Mornings)

References

External links

KNIX official website

FCC history cards for KNIX
{{IHeartMedia Country radio stations in the United States NIX-FM Radio stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in Arizona IHeartMedia radio stations