| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Phoenix metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1360kHz |
| Branding | FaithTalk 1360 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Christian radio |
| Affiliations | SRN News USA Radio Network |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KKNT,KXXT | |
| History | |
First air date | 1947 (1947) |
Former call signs |
|
Former frequencies | 1340 kHz (1947–1957) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 55912 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 33°30′28.00″N112°13′1.00″W / 33.5077778°N 112.2169444°W /33.5077778; -112.2169444 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | faithtalk1360.com |
KPXQ (1360AM) is a commercialradio station licensed toGlendale, Arizona, United States, and serving thePhoenix metropolitan area. Owned bySalem Media Group, it airs aChristian radio format with studios on East Camelback Road in Phoenix.[2] KPXQ'stransmitter is also sited on Camelback Road, but at a different location near North 73rd Avenue.
KPXQ signed on in 1947.[3] The originalcall sign was KRUX and it was owned by Gene Burke Brophy. The studios were in the historicHotel Westward Ho.
At first, the station broadcast on 1340 kHz. KRUX moved to 1360 in 1957 after being denied a frequency change to 910 kHz ten years prior.
From the late 1950s until the 1970s, KRUX was a majorTop 40 station in Phoenix. During its heyday, it competed head to head withKRIZ 1230 AM for Top 40 radio dominance in Phoenix. KRUX and KRIZ went back and forth in the ratings game before both stations succumbed to the more popular FM stations by the late 1970s.
On January 20, 1967,MonkeesDavy Jones,Micky Dolenz andMike Nesmith "took over" the KRUX studios (Peter Tork was ill that day), in order to promote their concert at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum the next day. Portions of this broadcast were used in the first season finale episode, "Monkees On Tour".
Program Directors during the station's heyday included Larry "Lucky Lawrence" Wright andAl McCoy, who went on to become the long-time play-by-play voice of theNBAPhoenix Suns.
Some of the station's all time ratings getters were the personalities of the 1960s, known as the "KRUX Good Guys": Lucky Lawrence, "Bobby-Poo" Bob Shannon (later heard onWCBS-FM, "Your Boy"Al McCoy, Charles L. "Kit" Carson, Norm Seeley, Dick Gray, Dennis Wilkerson, "Mighty" Ed Mitchell and Don Daro overnights. The jocks of the 1970s were John Driscoll aka the 2nd Bob Shannon, John Sebastian, Dave Trout, Chuck Browning, Harry Scarborough, Rhett Walker and Rich "Mother" Robbins.
For a brief period in the mid-1970s, KRUX experimented with anall-news format featuringNBC's short-lived "News and Information Service" (NIS Network). When that experiment failed, the station went back to anAdult Top 40 format, with Richard Ruiz of Downey, California, as program director. Ruiz pre-dated the switch to all-news in 1975.
With the insurgence of FM competition, it was difficult for an AM music station to compete for listeners. KRUX's owner, theLotus Corporation, brought in several radio vets from other stations to try to help KRUX. Those radio personalities included "KC in the Morning" Kennedy from 5 AM to 10AM, Daniel (Oshe) from 10AM to 3 PM, Program Director Bobby Rivers 3PM to 7PM. They were heard on KRUX from the late seventies till January 1981. OtherDJ's included Greg Mills from 7PM - midnight and Morgan Evans from midnight to 6am. Evans later moved to morning drive at Anchorage, Alaska AOR rocker KRKN. CW MCMUffin on Weekends doubled also as the engineer for over five years.
In 1981, KRUX became KLFF with the "Music of Your Life" format ofadult standards. Then in 1992, KRUX tried another attempt at all-news radio, featuring theCNN Headline News audio feed. The call letters switched to KNNS. After two years, the station switched tosports radio asKGME, now at 910 AM.[citation needed]The Howard Stern Show was heard on KGME andKHOT-FM early in 1995.[4] In 1998, KGME upgraded its power from 5000 to 50,000 watts daytime, while remaining at 1,000 watts at night.
In April 1999, AM/FM Broadcasting purchased the call letters, studio, and programming of KGME, moving them to 550 kHz. In turn, co-ownedKOY, which was the first radio station in Arizona and had been on 550 since 1941, moved to 1230 where it remains to this day. KGME and news/talk sister-stationKFYI swapped frequencies in 2000, with sports on 910 and news/talk on 550.
New Planet Radio kept the 1360 transmitter, changing the call letters to KFDJ, and began simulcasting co-ownedKEDJ 106.3 until the AM station was sold to Salem.
Salem purchased the station in 1999, with intentions of creating a newconservative talk station in Phoenix to pair with its Christian Talk and Teaching format at 960 AM (which was then called "Q96"). Instead, Salem moved the religious programming to 1360 AM. That allowed AM 960 to become the home for secular conservative talk.[5]
