KBSZ

The Wickenburg Radio Company received a construction permit for a new radio station in Wickenburg, Arizona, on October 25, 1967. It signed on the air on {{Start date and age|1968|1|27}}. KSWW broadcast as a 500-watt daytimer at 1250 kHz.[https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=45032 FCC History Cards for KBSZ] The majority stockholder was W. Schuyler Thurber, a former department store owner.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34066663/|work=Arizona Republic|date=December 14, 1966|title=Radio Permit Sought for Wickenburg|access-date=July 20, 2019}}

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.{{cite news|title=Wickenburg Radio Station Opening Set|date=August 27, 1960|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34066495/|work=Arizona Republic|access-date=July 20, 2019}} It was owned by Mamie Gander and Paul Mullenix; Lowell F. Beer bought out Gander in 1962.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1962/1962-06-11-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=June 11, 1962|page=121|title=KAKA, Wickenburg Bcstg Inc., Wickenburg, Ariz.|access-date=July 20, 2019}} However, KAKA and short-lived sister station KTPM in Sun City went into receivership and were shuttered in 1963.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1963/1963-06-17-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=June 17, 1963|title=Actions By FCC|page=138|access-date=July 20, 2019}} It’s license was deleted on November 8, 1965. {{cite thesis |last=Leffingwell |first=Robert Down |date=1983 |title=Causes and Indicators of Commercial AM Radio Station Failure: 1962-1976 |type=Dissertation |section=KAKA |publisher= The Ohio State University |docket= |oclc= |id={{ProQuest|303192463}} |page=426}}

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 was silent for 16 months.{{r|again}} Lee Shoblom bought the silent KSWW for $80,000 and returned it to air on March 11, 1981, as country music station KUUK.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34067035/|first=Bud|last=Wilkinson|date=March 17, 1981|access-date=July 20, 2019|title=Former anchor for Channel 3 now working weekends at 10|work=Arizona Republic}} Shoblom lost out on its first attempt to acquire an FM counterpart to KUUK in 1982 when Hassayampa Broadcasting was awarded the permit.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34067117/|title=Wickenburg FM station wins FCC board approval|date=November 30, 1982|work=Arizona Republic|access-date=July 20, 2019}} 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 became KCIW-AM-FM with a country music format.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34067264/|work=Arizona Republic|first=Bud|last=Wilkinson|date=November 12, 1987|title=HBO mystery maze keeps viewer guessing till end|access-date=July 20, 2019}} 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 an adult standards format as KTIM-AM-FM.{{cite news|title='Roseanne' is skipped by Emmys — rightly so|work=Arizona Republic|date=August 4, 1989|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34067344/|access-date=July 20, 2019}}

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 its KRDS 1190 AM. On November 27, 1990, KTIM-FM became KRDS-FM (today's KHOV-FM).{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34067494/|title=KGRX waves goodbye to soft sounds|date=November 10, 1990|first=Julie|last=Newberg|access-date=July 20, 2019|work=Arizona Republic}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34067632/|work=Arizona Republic|first=Julie|last=Newberg|date=April 3, 1993|title=KMEO appearance: Wickenburg owner sets sights on big city}} Shumway then obtained an FM construction permit for Wickenburg on 93.7 MHz and signed it on as KFMA in 1992.

On March 1, 1996, KTIM became KBSZ, call letters then in use by the sister FM station.{{Cite web|url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=11217&Callsign=KBSZ |title=KBSZ Call Sign History |work=United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division }} However, the FM flipped to country music soon after, using the call letters KSWG.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33318022/|work=Arizona Republic|first=Charlie|last=Van Dyke|date=July 27, 1996|title=KSWG throws its hat into country-radio ring|access-date=June 27, 2019}}

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, including Wickenburg High School football games.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34067845/|title=Homegrown radio|first=Michelle|last=Craig|date=November 23, 2001|access-date=July 20, 2019|work=Arizona Republic}} ([https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34067814/ Continued])

On November 7, 2007, the Petersons filed to move KBSZ's transmitter and city 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 a Classic Hits/Oldies format targeting the residents of Phoenix's growing eastern suburbs.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ajnews.com/vol14/050310/pdfs/0503_com_AJNW_A1.pdf |title=Apache Junction Radio Station To Debut |author=Fuoco-Karasinski, Christina |work=Apache Junction-Gold Canyon News |date=2010-05-03|archive-date=2011-07-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707100809/http://www.ajnews.com/vol14/050310/pdfs/0503_com_AJNW_A1.pdf}} After only four months, the station adopted a talk radio format on Sept. 7.{{Cite news|title=Host Says KBSZ To Flip To Talk|url=http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/80215|access-date=September 3, 2010|newspaper=All Access|date=September 2, 2010}} It was the first radio station on the frequency in Pinal County since KFAS Casa Grande signed off in the mid-1990s.

After a short time as a talk station, KBSZ flipped to an all-comedy format. It used a syndicated 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 a U.S. Federal Communications Commission construction permit to increase its daytime power to 4,500 watts from its previous 3,500 watts.[https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?call=kbsz&arn=&state=&city=&freq=530&fre2=1700&type=0&facid=&class=&list=0&ThisTab=Results+to+This+Page%2FTab&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9 FCC.gov/KBSZ]

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 simulcasting sister station KIKO-FM's oldies format.{{Cite web|url=http://funny1260am.com/thank-you-to-our-loyal-comedy-listeners/ |title=Thank you to our loyal comedy listeners|work=funny1260am.com }}

After nearly two weeks of broadcasting with dead air, KBSZ returned with a classic rock format named "The Rattler". The programming is largely automated. The station carries the weekly syndicated program "Floydian Slip," focusing on the music of Pink Floyd.

The station also airs Bob Stei's "Grunge Garage" throughout the weekend.

Former KBSZ logo as "NBC 1260"

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{{Portal|Arizona|Radio}}

{{AM station data|11217|KBSZ}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130529071549/https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101507716&qnum=5150©num=1&exhcnum=1 FCC construction permit]

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{{Phoenix Radio}}

{{Classic Rock Radio Stations in Arizona}}

BSZ

Category:Radio stations established in 1968

Category:Classic rock radio stations in the United States

Category:1968 establishments in Arizona