KBLU (AM)

KBLU (560 kHz) is a currently silent commercial AM radio station in Yuma, Arizona. It is owned by El Dorado Broadcasters and last aired a talk radio format. The studios and offices are on West 28th Street in Yuma. The transmitter is off South 20th Avenue in Yuma, at West Main Canal Road.

KBLU is powered at 1,000 watts, non-directional by day and using a directional antenna at night. With its low dial position, KBLU can be heard around much of Southwest Arizona and Southeast California, including the communities of El Centro, Brawley and Blythe. It also covers parts of Baja California and Sonora, Mexico.

KBLU is the descendant of two radio stations: KYUM, which went on the air in 1940 and moved to 560 kHz in 1951; and the original KBLU (1320 AM), which signed on in 1959; the two stations merged under KBLU's call sign and KYUM's license in 1969, with the 1320 facility donated to Arizona Western College to become KAWC. After El Dorado Broadcasters sold its FM stations in the market to K-Love Inc. in 2026, KBLU was taken off the air.

Weekday mornings began with a local news and conservative talk show hosted by Russ Clark. The rest of the weekday schedule was made up of syndicated talk shows, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Dave Ramsey, Clyde Lewis, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal. Weekends included shows on money, health, pets, law, real estate, house repair and technology. Weekend syndicated hosts included Kim Komando, Bill Handel, Leo Laporte and Bill Cunningham. Some hours were paid brokered programming. Most hours began with world and national news from Fox News Radio.

The station is descended from two early radio stations, KYUM and KBLU, and operates on the oldest active radio license in the Yuma market.

KYUM signed on March 3, 1940, at 1210 kHz. KYUM restored broadcasting to Yuma after the revocation of the license of KUMA forced it off the air a month prior. Twelve days after signing on, on March 15, KYUM became an affiliate of the NBC Red Network, with secondary affiliation with the NBC Blue Network (after 1945 ABC). The Yuma Broadcasting Company, 45 percent owned by KTAR radio in Phoenix, was a stockholder, and KYUM also became a link in its Arizona Broadcasting Company (later Arizona Broadcasting System) chain. It operated with 250 watts during the day and 100 watts at night. KYUM carried NBC and ABC's dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio".

With the enactment of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), KYUM moved to 1240 AM on March 29, 1941. In 1948, the Yuma Broadcasting Company received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move KYUM to 560 AM with 1,000 watts full-time; the move became effective on April 1, 1951. In 1961, KTAR bought out the remaining shareholders in Yuma Broadcasting Company, owning KYUM outright.

Another Yuma radio station signed on September 6, 1959, as a 500-watt, daytime-only station at 1320 AM, with the call sign KBLU. It was owned by the Desert Broadcasting Company, founded by Robert Crites, who served as the first general manager. KBLU began airing a Top 40 format.