| Broadcast area | East Valley (Phoenix metropolitan area) |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1260kHz |
| Branding | 97.3/1260 The Buzz |
| Programming | |
| Format | Jazz |
| Affiliations | Compass Media Networks United Stations Radio Networks |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KIKO | |
| History | |
First air date | January 27, 1968; 57 years ago (1968-01-27) (as 1250 KSWWWickenburg) |
Former call signs | KSWW (1968–1981) KUUK (1981–1987) KCIW (1987–1989) KTIM (1989–1996) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 11217 |
| Class | D |
| Power | 4,500watts day 50 watts night |
Transmitter coordinates | 33°22′56″N111°32′09″W / 33.38222°N 111.53583°W /33.38222; -111.53583 |
| Translator | 97.3 K247CF (Payson) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
KBSZ (1260AM; "The Buzz") is acommercialradio station broadcasting ajazzradio format.Licensed toApache Junction, Arizona, the station is owned by 1TV.com.[2] The studios and offices are on Broadway inMiami, Arizona.
By day, KBSZ is powered at 4,500watts. But to protect other stations onAM 1260 from interference, it must reduce power at night to 50 watts. KBSZ uses an extremely short (85-foot (26 m)) lower efficiency fiberglass whip antenna, broadcasting anon-directional pattern day and night. Thetransmitter is on South Royal Palm Path in Apache Junction.[3] Programming is also heard on 250-wattFM translatorK247CF at 97.3MHz inPayson.
The Wickenburg Radio Company received aconstruction permit for a new radio station inWickenburg, Arizona, on October 25, 1967. Itsigned on the air on January 27, 1968; 57 years ago (1968-01-27).KSWW broadcast as a 500-wattdaytimer at 1250 kHz.[4] The majority stockholder was W. Schuyler Thurber, a former department store owner.[5]
KSWW was the second attempt to build a radio station on the frequency in Wickenburg. The first was KAKA, which had signed on August 28, 1960.[6] It was owned by Mamie Gander and Paul Mullenix; Lowell F. Beer bought out Gander in 1962.[7] However, KAKA and short-lived sister stationKTPM inSun City went into receivership and were shuttered in 1963.[8] It’s license was deleted on November 8, 1965.[9]
Thurber's share in KSWW was bought in 1972 by Jack Hughes, the General Manager of KSWW radio at the time. The station went bankrupt in December 1979 and wassilent for 16 months.[10] Lee Shoblom bought the silent KSWW for $80,000 and returned it to air on March 11, 1981, ascountry music stationKUUK.[10] Shoblom lost out on its first attempt to acquire an FM counterpart to KUUK in 1982 when Hassayampa Broadcasting was awarded the permit.[11] However, the two stations would eventually be united. In 1983, Shoblom sold KUUK to the Wickenburg Broadcasting Company, and two years later, the same principals acquired the FM permit. On January 1, 1987, the FM station launched, and the two stations becameKCIW-AM-FM with a country music format.[12] Kenyon Communications bought the stations in 1988. When the FM station got a power increase to 50,000 watts, on August 2, 1989, the two stations changed to anadult standards format asKTIM-AM-FM.[13]
Interstate Broadcasting Systems of Arizona acquired both stations in the fall of 1990, but the acquisition was primarily for KTIM-FM, which Interstate planned to use as an FM counterpart to itsKRDS 1190 AM. On November 27, 1990, KTIM-FM became KRDS-FM (today'sKHOV-FM).[14] With no plans to keep the AM station, Interstate sold it to Circle S Broadcasting, owned by Harold Shumway. Shumway renovated a former Big W restaurant to serve as station offices.[15] Shumway then obtained an FM construction permit for Wickenburg on 93.7 MHz and signed it on asKFMA in 1992.
On March 1, 1996, KTIM becameKBSZ, call letters then in use by the sister FM station.[16] However, the FM flipped to country music soon after, using the call letters KSWG.[17]
The next year, Circle S sold KBSZ to SBD Broadcasting. Four years later, SBD sold the station to Richard (Pete) and Joann Peterson. The Petersons relaunched the station with entirely local programming, includingWickenburg High School football games.[18]
On November 7, 2007, the Petersons filed to move KBSZ's transmitter andcity of license from Wickenburg (about 60 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix) to Apache Junction (35 miles east of downtown Phoenix). The move was accompanied by a frequency change to 1260 kHz. The switch to 1260 AM allowed it to broadcast around the clock. A month later, the station was sold to 1TV.com, Inc., owned by John Low.
In 2010, KBSZ signed on from its new Apache Junction location with aClassic Hits/Oldies format targeting the residents of Phoenix's growing eastern suburbs.[19] After only four months, the station adopted atalk radio format on Sept. 7.[20] It was the first radio station on the frequency in Pinal County sinceKFAS Casa Grandesigned off in the mid-1990s.
After a short time as a talk station, KBSZ flipped to an all-comedy format. It used asyndicated comedy programming service known as "24/7 Comedy." When the network ceased operations, the station wanted to keep its comedy format, so it switched programming to "Today's Comedy." In 2012, KBSZ was issued aU.S. Federal Communications Commissionconstruction permit to increase its daytime power to 4,500 watts from its previous 3,500 watts.[21]
Around July 1, 2019, KBSZ fell silent without any explanation. On July 8, 2019, the station posted a message on its website that KBSZ had ceased broadcasting the comedy format "due to circumstances beyond our control." It would soon be simulcastingsister stationKIKO-FM'soldies format.[22]
After nearly two weeks of broadcasting withdead air, KBSZ returned with aclassic rock format named "The Rattler". The programming is largelyautomated. The station carries the weekly syndicated program "Floydian Slip," focusing on the music ofPink Floyd.
The station also airs Bob Stei's "Grunge Garage" throughout the weekend.
