KMXZ-FM


KMXZ-FM is a radio station serving Tucson, Arizona. Owned by Lotus Communications, it broadcasts an adult contemporary format. It is based from studios co-located with television station KGUN-TV in Tucson, and a transmitter site is at Tower Peak in the Tucson Mountains.

History

The Graham Broadcasting Company, owned by Norman and Eva Graham, built 94.9 FM as KAYN and signed it on in the third week of February 1972. "Stereo 95", however, only lasted three months. It went silent in May, and that fall, it was sold to Number One Radio, the Frank Kalil-owned company that also operated KAIR 1490, and became KAIR-FM. The Surrey Broadcasting Company bought KAIR-AM-FM in 1978 and changed the FM callsign to KJYK "K-Joy FM 95", with an easy listening format; it was one of the stations that carried Chuck Cecil's "Swinging Years" for many years in Tucson. In 1984, KJYK was acquired by Citadel Broadcasting, who sold it to Duchossois Communications.
In 1988, KJYK became "Cloud 95" and then years later as "Cloud 94.9", it changed its callsign to KKLD in 1989 to match the format. During this period, the station cycled through owners; Behan Broadcasting bought it in 1992, only for it to be sold to Apogee Radio in 1994 and then to Journal Communications a year later. At the same time, the callsign changed to KMXZ-FM and the format to Hot AC as "Mix FM".
In December 2007, KMXZ and Brad Behan of the Bobby and Brad Morning Show parted ways , with former KZPT afternoon drive personality Greg Curtis joining the morning show.
In July 2014, Journal announced that it had agreed to sell its broadcasting assets to the E. W. Scripps Company, and that both companies would spin off their publishing assets into a new company known as Journal Media Group. The transaction was completed in April 2015.
In January 2018, Scripps announced that it would sell all of its radio stations. In August 2018, Lotus Communications announced that it would acquire Scripps' Tucson and Boise clusters for $8 million. The deal closed on December 12 of that year.