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KFYI
KFYI (550 AM) – branded News/Talk 550 KFYI – is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to serve Phoenix, Arizona. Owned by iHeartMedia, KFYI serves the Phoenix metropolitan area as the market affiliate for Fox News Radio, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, The Sean Hannity Show, the Glenn Beck Radio Program and Coast to Coast AM.
Established as KFCB in 1922 by Earl A. Nielsen after a year of experimental broadcasting, this station adopted the KOY call sign in 1929. Sold to interests controlled by the Prairie Farmer/WLS in 1936, KOY was the Phoenix outlet for CBS radio in the 1930s and 1940s as well as an early home for Steve Allen and Jack Williams, the latter a part of the station from 1929 until his election to Arizona governor in 1966.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, KOY featured a popular adult contemporary format headlined by Bill Heywood, but declining ratings resulted in a 1988 flip to satellite-fed adult standards. As a result of mass consolidation, KOY's call letters and standards format were moved in 1999 to 1230 AM, with 550 AM assuming the KGME call sign and sports format. Since 2000, this station has featured the KFYI calls and talk format—which had previously originated on 910 AM—after a second intellectual property swap.
Studios for KFYI are located near 48th and Van Buren streets, near Sky Harbor Airport, and the transmitter is located on South 36th Street near East Vineyard Road in Phoenix. In addition to a standard analog transmission, KFYI is simulcast over the second HD subchannel of KYOT (95.5 FM) and streams online via iHeartRadio.
KFYI was first licensed as a broadcasting station, with the call sign KFCB, on September 6, 1922. However, the station's history includes earlier broadcasting experimentation by the station's founder, Earl A. Nielsen, and the station has claimed a 1921 start date on several occasions.
From 1912 to 1927, radio communication in the United States was regulated by the Department of Commerce, and originally there were no formal requirements for stations, most of which operated under Amateur and Experimental licenses, making broadcasts intended for the general public. In order to provide a common standard, the department issued a regulation effective December 1, 1921 requiring that broadcasting stations would now have to hold a Limited Commercial license that authorized operation on two designated broadcasting wavelengths: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports". The first two Phoenix broadcasting station authorizations were issued to Smith Hughes & Company for KDYW on May 15, 1922, and McArthur Brothers Mercantile Company for KFAD (now KTAR) on June 21, 1922, both for 360 meters.
In 1921, Earl A. Nielsen, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, received a license for an amateur station, with the call sign 6BBH, located at 115 South 21st Avenue in Phoenix. The Nielsen Radio Supply Company was incorporated in 1922 to purchase and distribute radios in Phoenix. The Department of Commerce's December 1, 1921, broadcasting regulations barred amateur stations from making broadcasts intended for the general public. Despite this, it was reported that on May 23, 1922, the Nielsen company, operating on the standard amateur radio wavelength of 200 meters (1500 kHz), had conducted what were described as the "first broadcasting tests in the Salt River Valley".
On September 6, 1922, the Nielsen Radio Supply Company was granted a broadcasting license with the call letters KFCB, for operation on 360 meters. This call sign was issued randomly from an alphabetical roster of available call letters. Because at this time only the single entertainment broadcasting wavelength of 360 meters was available, stations in a given region were encouraged to devise time-sharing agreements. In April 1923, KFCB's time slots were 7 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. KDYW shut down in early 1924, leaving KFAD and KFCB as the only stations in the state capital. There were several frequency changes in the early years. KFCB was deleted in mid-1923 but quickly relicensed on 1280 kHz, which was changed to 1080 kHz later in the year. In 1924, KFCB was moved to 1260 kHz, which was followed by a reassignment to 1230 kHz on June 1, 1927, with 125 watts.
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KFYI
KFYI (550 AM) – branded News/Talk 550 KFYI – is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to serve Phoenix, Arizona. Owned by iHeartMedia, KFYI serves the Phoenix metropolitan area as the market affiliate for Fox News Radio, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, The Sean Hannity Show, the Glenn Beck Radio Program and Coast to Coast AM.
Established as KFCB in 1922 by Earl A. Nielsen after a year of experimental broadcasting, this station adopted the KOY call sign in 1929. Sold to interests controlled by the Prairie Farmer/WLS in 1936, KOY was the Phoenix outlet for CBS radio in the 1930s and 1940s as well as an early home for Steve Allen and Jack Williams, the latter a part of the station from 1929 until his election to Arizona governor in 1966.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, KOY featured a popular adult contemporary format headlined by Bill Heywood, but declining ratings resulted in a 1988 flip to satellite-fed adult standards. As a result of mass consolidation, KOY's call letters and standards format were moved in 1999 to 1230 AM, with 550 AM assuming the KGME call sign and sports format. Since 2000, this station has featured the KFYI calls and talk format—which had previously originated on 910 AM—after a second intellectual property swap.
Studios for KFYI are located near 48th and Van Buren streets, near Sky Harbor Airport, and the transmitter is located on South 36th Street near East Vineyard Road in Phoenix. In addition to a standard analog transmission, KFYI is simulcast over the second HD subchannel of KYOT (95.5 FM) and streams online via iHeartRadio.
KFYI was first licensed as a broadcasting station, with the call sign KFCB, on September 6, 1922. However, the station's history includes earlier broadcasting experimentation by the station's founder, Earl A. Nielsen, and the station has claimed a 1921 start date on several occasions.
From 1912 to 1927, radio communication in the United States was regulated by the Department of Commerce, and originally there were no formal requirements for stations, most of which operated under Amateur and Experimental licenses, making broadcasts intended for the general public. In order to provide a common standard, the department issued a regulation effective December 1, 1921 requiring that broadcasting stations would now have to hold a Limited Commercial license that authorized operation on two designated broadcasting wavelengths: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports". The first two Phoenix broadcasting station authorizations were issued to Smith Hughes & Company for KDYW on May 15, 1922, and McArthur Brothers Mercantile Company for KFAD (now KTAR) on June 21, 1922, both for 360 meters.
In 1921, Earl A. Nielsen, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, received a license for an amateur station, with the call sign 6BBH, located at 115 South 21st Avenue in Phoenix. The Nielsen Radio Supply Company was incorporated in 1922 to purchase and distribute radios in Phoenix. The Department of Commerce's December 1, 1921, broadcasting regulations barred amateur stations from making broadcasts intended for the general public. Despite this, it was reported that on May 23, 1922, the Nielsen company, operating on the standard amateur radio wavelength of 200 meters (1500 kHz), had conducted what were described as the "first broadcasting tests in the Salt River Valley".
On September 6, 1922, the Nielsen Radio Supply Company was granted a broadcasting license with the call letters KFCB, for operation on 360 meters. This call sign was issued randomly from an alphabetical roster of available call letters. Because at this time only the single entertainment broadcasting wavelength of 360 meters was available, stations in a given region were encouraged to devise time-sharing agreements. In April 1923, KFCB's time slots were 7 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. KDYW shut down in early 1924, leaving KFAD and KFCB as the only stations in the state capital. There were several frequency changes in the early years. KFCB was deleted in mid-1923 but quickly relicensed on 1280 kHz, which was changed to 1080 kHz later in the year. In 1924, KFCB was moved to 1260 kHz, which was followed by a reassignment to 1230 kHz on June 1, 1927, with 125 watts.