KUMA (Arizona)
{{Short description|Radio station in Arizona (1925–1940)}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name = KUMA
| frequency = 1420 kHz
| city = Yuma, Arizona
| airdate = {{ubl|{{start date|1925|12|10}} (as KFXY in Flagstaff)|{{start date|1932|6|22}} (as KUMA in Yuma)}}
| last_airdate = {{end date|1940|2|1}}
| owner = Alfred H. Schermann
| power = 100 watts
| former_callsigns = KFXY (1925–1932)
| former_frequencies = 1460 kHz (1925–1928)
}}
KUMA was a radio station broadcasting in Yuma, Arizona, United States. It had operated since 1925 as KFXY, based in Flagstaff, becoming KUMA and moving to Yuma in 1932. As a result of an unauthorized transfer of control of the radio station, the Federal Communications Commission ordered its license revoked in 1939 and the station off air as of February 1, 1940.
History
=KFXY in Flagstaff=
KUMA traces its roots to the first radio station to broadcast from Flagstaff, Arizona, KFXY, which went on air December 10, 1925.{{cite web|url=https://www.womensheritagetrail.org/women/MaryCostigan.php|work=Arizona Women's Heritage Trail|title=Mary M. Costigan (b. 1885, d. unknown)|accessdate=November 29, 2019|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620111544/https://womensheritagetrail.org/women/MaryCostigan.php|url-status=dead}} KFXY operated with 25 watts from facilities backstage at the Orpheum Theater; it was put on the air by Mary M. Costigan, who was the first woman to be a licensed radio broadcaster in the state.{{r|trail}} At the time she obtained the license, national newspapers in the United States claimed that Costigan was thus the only woman known to own a radio station{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39822054/|page=41|work=Oakland Tribune|title=Woman Receives Class A Radio Station License|first=Robert|last=Mack|date=October 9, 1925|accessdate=November 29, 2019}} anywhere in the world.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39822153/|work=Evening Sun|date=November 14, 1925|accessdate=November 29, 2019|title=Woman Operates Station|page=4}} After being moved from its initial frequency assignment of 1460 kHz{{Cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Register/Radio-Register-1928-04.pdf|work=Radio Register|date=April 1928|title=Log of Broadcasting Stations|page=19|accessdate=November 29, 2019}} to 1420 kHz under General Order 40 in 1928,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39822377/|work=Arizona Republican|date=September 11, 1928|title=Arizona Radio Stations Affected In Government Re-Allocation Of Power|page=9|accessdate=November 9, 2019}} the station relocated its facilities to room 105 of the Hotel Monte Vista in 1929.{{r|trail}}
Costigan sold the station to Albert H. Schermann of Flagstaff; the license was assigned to Schermann on July 28, 1931.{{cite news|url=https://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1931/1931-11-01-BC.pdf|date=November 1, 1931|work=Broadcasting|page=37|title=Actions of the Federal Radio Commission|accessdate=November 29, 2019}} The sale came the same year that Costigan left town, afraid she would witness another family death after her father and brother both died in Flagstaff.{{cite news|url=https://azdailysun.com/entertainment/forging-the-businesses-of-flagstaff-the-impact-of-marianna-herman/article_71fe48ee-82c3-59b8-809a-7df61207b2a0.html|work=Arizona Daily Sun|date=September 15, 2019|title=Forging the businesses of Flagstaff: The impact of Marianna Herman and Mary Costigan|accessdate=November 29, 2019|first=Svea|last=Conrad}}
=Long-distance move=
On February 3, 1932, KFXY filed for a construction permit to move its facilities from Flagstaff to Yuma,{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1932/1932-02-15-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=February 15, 1932|title=Actions of the Federal Radio Commission|accessdate=November 29, 2019|page=26}} a relocation spanning {{convert|243|mi|km|sp=us}}. The May 31, 1932 Radio Service Bulletin announced that KFXY's call letters had been changed to KUMA,{{cite news|work=Radio Service Bulletin|page=10|date=May 31, 1932|url=https://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Other-Documments/320531.pdf|title=Broadcasting Stations, By Call Signals|accessdate=November 29, 2019}} which it began using upon commencing broadcasts from Yuma on June 22.{{cite news|url=https://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1932/1932-06-15-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=June 15, 1932|accessdate=November 29, 2019|page=26|title=KUMA Is New Call}}
Schermann sold an interest in KUMA to E. B. Sturdivant, the operator of movie theaters in Yuma and Somerton, in February 1934, and in June 1935, Sturdivant took outright control of the radio station.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39801757/sturdivant_controls_yuma_radio_station/|title=Sturdivant Controls Yuma Radio Station|page=2|work=Arizona Republic|date=June 28, 1935|accessdate=November 29, 2019}} Under Sturdivant, the station commissioned a new, taller tower in 1937, built at a cost of $20,000 by D. H. Harrel of Chicago.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39801909/kumas_tower_is_attracting_lot_attention/|title=KUMA's Tower Is Attracting Lot Attention|date=November 19, 1937|work=The Yuma Weekly Sun and the Yuma Examiner|page=6|accessdate=November 29, 2019}}
=License revocation=
On February 20, 1939, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it was revoking KUMA's license due to false statements made by Schermann in his application to renew it.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1939/1939-03-01-BC.pdf|page=26|date=March 1, 1939|work=Broadcasting|title=License of KUMA Revoked By FCC|accessdate=November 29, 2019}} The FCC claimed that Schermann—who was still the licensee—had certified that he was in control, though Sturdivant had been operating the station for five years.{{r|rev1}} KUMA was ordered off the air by April 1 unless it asked for a hearing, in which case the outcome was stayed.{{r|rev1}} Ahead of the July 24 hearing, Sturdivant filed to take control of the KUMA facilities itself, while the Yuma Broadcasting Company, 45 percent owned by KTAR radio of Phoenix, filed to build a station at 1210 kHz.{{cite news|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1939/1939-07-01-BC.pdf|date=July 1, 1939|accessdate=November 29, 2019|title=Seek New Yuma Station As KUMA Hearing Nears|work=Broadcasting|page=51}} The application from KTAR was significant, as KUMA was a supplementary member of its Arizona Broadcasting Company statewide chain.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30963272/|work=Arizona Republic|date=October 12, 1939|title=Globe ABC Unit Power Boosted|page=9|accessdate=April 25, 2019}} The station also suffered through the collapse of its transmitter tower in early June, causing $5,000 in damage.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39802253/tower_on_yuma_station_tumbles/|date=June 5, 1939|page=2|work=Arizona Daily Star|title=Tower On Yuma Station Tumbles|agency=Associated Press|accessdate=November 29, 2019}}
The hearing was held on December 1, 1939, before FCC hearing examiner Paul Walker. At the hearing, Schermann's lawyer indicated that he was willing to relinquish the license because the station had been an unprofitable venture and the new Yuma station application, taking the KYUM call letters, had been accepted, but he requested that KUMA be allowed to remain in operation until KYUM was ready to sign on.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30717680/station_license_hearing_is_held/|date=December 2, 1939|accessdate=November 29, 2019|title=Station License Hearing Is Held|page=9|work=Arizona Republic}} The financial difficulties had led to Schermann suing E. B. and E. N. Sturdivant in Yuma County court that July to recover $8,000 in equipment and other property,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39802281/flagstaff_man_sues_yuma_pair/|title=Flagstaff Man Sues Yuma Pair|work=Arizona Republic|date=July 15, 1939|page=6|accessdate=November 29, 2019}} a lawsuit Schermann won.{{r|held}} In a newspaper advertisement that served as a notice to creditors, E. B. Sturdivant announced that he had sold his remaining interest in KUMA to Schermann effective November 11, 1939.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39802347/notice_to_creditors_of_radio_station/|title=Notice to Creditors of Radio Station KUMA|date=November 24, 1939|page=9|accessdate=November 9, 2019|work=The Yuma Weekly Sun and The Yuma Examiner }}
On January 25, 1940, the FCC announced it had upheld the revocation order and ordered KUMA off the air February 1.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30717690/board_revokes_kuma_license/|work=Arizona Republic|agency=Associated Press|title=Board Revokes KUMA License|date=January 26, 1940|page=11|accessdate=November 29, 2019}} It additionally denied Schermann the authority to keep the station running until KYUM was ready to broadcast.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39802383/station_kuma_ruled_off_air/|title=Station KUMA Ruled Off Air|date=February 2, 1940|page=10|work=Arizona Republic|agency=Associated Press|accessdate=November 29, 2019}}
Radio service would return to Yuma the next month when the new KYUM began operations on March 3. KYUM became a dual-network NBC affiliate in addition to broadcasting the same Arizona Broadcasting Company programs formerly carried by KUMA.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39803018/kyum_new_yuma_radio_station_joins_nbc/|title=KYUM, New Yuma Radio Station, Joins NBC Networks Today|date=March 15, 1940|page=3|accessdate=November 29, 2019|work=Arizona Republic}}