KPHX is a Spanish Christian radio station that broadcasts in Phoenix, Arizona. During the day, it runs a directional 5,000 watts and 500 watts directional at night. The station has a construction permit with the FCC to broadcast with 950 watts daytime and 320 watts nighttime; a two-tower directional antenna array would be used. This information was found on the FCC link on May 31, 2019.
History
The station at 1480 AM signed on the air on June 10, 1958 as a daytime-only Country music station called KHAT. This format stayed in place until 1972, when it went all-news as KPHX, which only lasted about a year. The format and callsign changes accompanied a 1972 sale to Phoenix Broadcasting Co. This period saw additional changes, including a power increase from 500 to 1,000 watts. Around 1974, with its sale to the Riverside Amusement Park Company, KPHX became a Spanish language station and remained one for approximately 30 years. By 1982, KPHX had started operating at night, using two transmitter sites to provide the daytime and nighttime service. Starting in 2004, KPHX aired a syndicated all-comedy format which remained for nearly two years. KPHX flipped to an adult standards format in 2006, with the Music of Your Lifenetwork.
Progressive talk format
After KXXT, the Phoenix affiliate of Air America Radio since the fall of 2004, was sold to a station group known as Communicom in January 2006, and as a result changed to a Christian radio format by March 2006, the progressive format disappeared from the Phoenix radio airwaves. In late March 2006, the owners of KPHX entered into a local marketing agreement with Sheldon Drobny's Nova M Radio thus bringing the Air America progressive/liberal talk format to KPHX.
On January 1, 2009, KPHX switched to an Adult standards format as "The Lounge Sound". Brad "Martini" Chambers, the man behind KPHX's new format, succeeded in getting the format back on the air after being "exiled" from the Fabulous 690 in Los Angeles for more than 2 years. Chambers, who had the morning show, "Martini In The Morning," continued The Lounge Sound format on the internet from his studios in Studio City, California .
Return to Progressive Talk
On July 6, 2009, KPHX discontinued the Lounge Sound and switched back to the progressive talk format. Mike Newcomb hosted an afternoon drive program; the nationally broadcast programs of Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann, Bill Press, Stephanie Miller, Mike Malloy and Ed Schultz also returned to the KPHX lineup. KPHX also began carrying the Alan Colmes show, and also the independently syndicated news programDemocracy Now! on a tape delay basis. Several times per day, national news updates from Westwood One are heard at the top of the hour. Rhodes' and Schultz's radio shows both ceased in the spring of 2014. As of fall 2015, Bill Press, Thom Hartmann, Stephanie Miller and Alan Colmes remain on the schedule from this group of hosts. In January 2016, a locally produced progressive call-in talk show made its debut, hosted by progressive commentator Sam Kelley. Kelley's program aired weekday afternoons, replacing the Jim Rome sports talk show on the schedule. This was the first locally produced afternoon drive program on the station since Mike Newcomb's program ended in 2014. On June 15, 2016, a new afternoon drive-time show debuted from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM. "Daily Voice" with long time station personality and former producer for the Mike Newcomb show, Eric Reinert. Eric was also a co-host on "Team America" which also aired on KPHX briefly. Daily Voice is produced by Kathleen Osborn who is also on the show as Eric's cohost.
In the fall of 2014, KPHX added selected weekday/weeknight programming from the recently established CBS Sports Radio network. The Jim Rome Show, The Doug Gottlieb Show and the Amy Lawrence overnight show are on the schedule. KPHX dropped Rome's and Gottlieb's shows on December 11, 2015, in favor of political shows, while Lawrence's show remains on the schedule to fill overnight hours. All remaining CBS Sports Radio programs left KPHX when a new sports talk outlet, KQFN, began broadcasting in February 2017. Some locally produced sports talk programming had been on the station on weekends since 2012. On July 1, 2017 KPHX stopped broadcasting; the station's website stated that "KPHX 1480 is no longer broadcasting progressive talk in Phoenix...Thank you for listening". It has gone silent because the AMC-8satellite that supplied its programming was taken out of service at midnight on June 30, 2017. AMC-8 has been replaced by AMC-18, which is at a different location in the sky, requiring repointing the station's dish. Effective October 31, 2017, Continental Broadcasting Corp. of Arizona sold KPHX to Vic Michael's Cedar Cove Broadcasting, Inc. for $100,000.
