
KUAZ

KUAZ is a radio station operated out of The University of Arizona that serves the Tucson, Arizona, metropolitan area. It operates on 1550 on the AM dial (during the daytime) and 89.1 on the FM dial with a combination of news and National Public Radio format during the day and jazz in the evenings.
KUAZ also broadcasts over KUAS-FM on 88.9 MHz in Sierra Vista, as well as three translators that fill in service gaps in Tucson and southeastern Arizona., K217GI on 91.3 MHz, that serves the immediate Sierra Vista area. An additional translator, K227DE on 93.3 MHz (now K283DC on 104.5 MHz), was commissioned to provide service to the Catalina and Saddlebrooke areas.
History.
1550 AM in Tucson began as KSWC, but changed its calls to KFIF before signing on the air on June 26, 1961. It was owned by the Southwest Broadcasting Corporation.
In 1967, John B. Walton, who had bought KFIF in 1965, bought a station at 580 AM, which he would christen KIKX. The station on 580 could operate 24 hours a day. 1550 AM was donated to the University of Arizona and became KUAT on October 7, 1968. KUAT initially held a format of classical and jazz music, going all-jazz when KUAT-FM was built in 1975.
The U of A put 89.1 FM on the air on April 27, 1992 under the call sign of KUAZ-FM, so as to distinguish itself from KUAT-FM. The AM station adopted the KUAZ calls on August 11, 2000.
Repeaters.
On October 11, 2018, after an 11-year process, KUAS-FM 88.9 came to air for the first time, broadcasting to Sierra Vista, Bisbee, Benson, Huachuca City, and Douglas; previously, Sierra Vista received KUAZ via translator K217GI (91.3 MHz). A second dependent translator, K283DC at 104.5 MHz, fills service gaps in the Catalina and Saddlebrooke areas to the north of Tucson and began operating in 2019.