KTAN (1420 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

broadcasting a

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. It is

licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

Sierra Vista, Arizona Sierra Vista (; ) is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population of the city is 45,308, and is the 27th most populous city in Arizona. The city is part of the Sierra ...

, and serves the Southwestern

Cochise County Cochise County ( ) is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after Cochise, a Chiricahua Apache who was a key war leader during the Apache Wars. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county ...

area. The station is owned by

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

and features programing from

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It is th ...

. By day, KTAN is powered at 1,500

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s non-directional. But at night, to avoid interfering with other stations on

1420 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1420 kHz: 1420 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * LRI220 in Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires Mexico * XEEW-AM in Matamoros, Tamaulipas * XEF-AM in Ciudad Juárez, Chi ...

, it reduces power to 500 watts and uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

with a two-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. Programming is also heard on 50-watt

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

K251CQ at 98.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

History

KHFH

This station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on . It was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

station, powered at 1,000 watts and required to go off the air at night. Its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was KHFH (Historic Fort Huachuca). KHFH was the first radio station in Sierra Vista and the third radio station in

. The first, KSUN in Bisbee (now

defunct Defunct may refer to: * Defunct (video game), ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also

* * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence {{Disambiguation ...

), went on the air in 1933, and the second, KAWT (later KDAP, now defunct) in

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, came to air in 1947. All three stations were owned by Carleton Morris and KHFH was the most powerful of the three. The studio was located at the intersection of Carmichael Avenue and DePalma Street (now 700 Carmichael Ave.) and the transmitter was located in an undeveloped area in the southeast part of town, now 2300 Busby Drive. In 1958, the license holder requested permission from the FCC to operate at night for one night only in order to broadcast election result; the FCC denied the request. The station was finally granted nighttime operations on September 5, 1962, with a power of 500 watts using a directional pattern. At the same time that nighttime operations began, the studios were relocated to the transmitter site. KHFH was the only radio station in a small town adjacent to military base

Ft. Huachuca Fort Huachuca is a United States Army installation, in Cochise County in southeast Arizona, approximately north of the border with Mexico and at the northern end of the Huachuca Mountains, adjacent to the town of Sierra Vista. Established on ...

. For that reason, KHFH broadcast a variety of programming to suit everyone's preferences. The station aired a middle of the road (MOR) format in the morning,

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

in the afternoon,

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

and

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

at night and even

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

on Sunday evenings. Due to a significant number of German speaking people in the area, the station also broadcast one hour a week of programming in German, both music and talk. Even the commercials were in the German language. In addition to the variety of musical formats, KHFH also broadcast the local high school football, basketball and baseball games, both home and away, along with local news several times a day. Huachuca Broadcasting Company became the licensee in 1966 in the wake of Carleton Morris's 1962 death.

KTAN

The call sign was changed to KTAN in September 1973 when a

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

was added, KTAN-FM 100.9 (now co-owned KZMK). The KTAN call sign had previously been used at 580 AM in Tucson between 1959 and 1967, so listeners in the Sierra Vista area were familiar with it. The FM station carried a Top 40 format while the AM station broadcast a middle of the road (MOR) music. The country and classical formats were dropped, but the local news and local high school sports broadcasts remained. KTAN changed back to country music from 1979 to 1998, which continued under four different owners. From 1998 to 1999, it broadcast a

Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

sound. In 1999, KTAN switched to a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

format, that became popular with AM stations in the 1990s. KTAN aired popular

nationally syndicated Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

shows plus some local talk programs. Cherry Creek Radio acquired the station from Commonwealth Broadcasting in 2003. In July 2015, KTAN switched to classic country music. This was done because of declining advertising revenues for the talk format. Some local advertisers were becoming leery of having their business names associated with controversial topics and programs. On June 6, 2019, KTAN flipped from classic country to

, branded as "Thunder 98.1." Programming began to simulcast on

K251CQ at 98.1 MHz.Thunder 98.1 Rolls in Sierra Vista
Radioinsight – June 6, 2019 Effective June 17, 2022, Cherry Creek Radio sold KTAN as part of a 42 station and 21 translator package to

for $18.75 million.

References

External links

* * * ( Guide to reading History Cards) {{Townsquare Media TAN Radio stations established in 1957 1957 establishments in Arizona Classic rock radio stations in the United States Townsquare Media radio stations