Broadcast Coverage Maps

FM Stations - Detail         FM Stations - Printable

AM Stations - Detail         AM Stations - Printable

FM Stations
KNAU		88.7	Flagstaff		KJZZ		91.5	Phoenix
KPUB	N	91.7	Flagstaff		KJZA1	N	89.5	Drake
KNAG	N	90.3	Grand Canyon		KNAI2	N	88.3	Phoenix
KNAD	N	91.7	Page		KGHR	N	91.5	Tuba City
KNAQ	N	89.3	Prescott		KUAT		90.5	Tucson
KNAA	N	90.7	Show Low		KUAZ	N	89.1	Tucson
KUYI	N	88.1	Hotevilla		KXCI		91.3	Tucson
KBAQ	N	89.5	Phoenix		KNNB	#	88.1	White River
					KAWC	N	88.9	Yuma

AM Stations
KUAZ		1550	Tuscon		KAWC		1340	Yuma

¹ Licensed to Saint Paul Bible College, Williams, AZ. Operated by KJZZ, Phoenix, AZ.
² Operated by KUFW, Woodlake, CA.

 

General Comments

Public radio service in Arizona is provided by four educational licensees, three community licensees and three Native American tribal entities.  Both of the state’s public television broadcasters are affiliated with public radio facilities.  KUAZ-AM/FM and KUAT are operated in conjunction with KUAT(TV) and provide multiple program services in Tucson.  KBAQ and KJZZ are affiliated with KAET(TV) and provide multiple program services in Phoenix.  Both KJZZ and KUAZ provide regional service through repeater stations or translators.  KNAU Flagstaff provides multiple program services across northern Arizona through a series of repeater stations and translators.  There are two public AM stations in Arizona.

FM Service

Since the 1989 PTFP study, twelve new stations and twelve new translators have been built to add services to existing coverage and extend service.  The stations have been built in growing areas of the state outside the main population corridor that follows US 89 from Page on the Arizona-Utah border to Flagstaff and I-17 from Flagstaff through Phoenix to Tucson. 

KNAU Flagstaff constructed four new stations to extend service across Arizona north of the Mogollon Rim, a 200 mile escarpment stretching across the state from west of Flagstaff to the southeast below Show Low, Arizona. Four new stations KPUB, KNAG, KNAD, and KNAA serve population centers above the rim.  KNAU also constructed a station in Prescott, KNAQ, and two translators in Prescott and Kingman to extend its program service to the west.  KJZZ Phoenix negotiated a local management agreement (LMA) to program KJZA located west of Flagstaff.

KNAU also assists with programming two new tribal stations, KGHR and KUYI, which were built on the Navaho and Hopi reservations, respectively, in northeast Arizona.  A third tribal station, KNNB, serving the White Mountain Apaches, utilizes translators to extend its service to outlying reservation communities.

Three new stations provide additional services to the state’s two largest population centers. Two stations were added in Phoenix: KBAQ, the classical sister service of KJZZ, and KNAI, operated by the National Farm Worker Service Center in Keene, California.  KUAZ(FM) is KUAT’s new FM station in Tucson. 

The percentage of Arizona residents that receive public radio increased from 86% in 1989 to 92.4% currently.  The population of Arizona increased by 89% or 2,412,632 between 1980 and 2000.  The number of people not receiving a public radio station remained stable with 382,000 unserved in 1989 and 388,005 currently.  

AM Service

Two AM stations provide public radio service in Arizona.  KUAZ(AM) 1550 kHz Tucson operates at 50 kW and broadcasts only during the daytime.  KAWC(AM) 1340 kHz Yuma operates at 1 kW during the day and 147 watts at night.  Prior to the FM construction projects listed above, KUAZ(AM) provided the only public radio coverage to much of the state south of Phoenix.  KAWC(AM) covers the far southwest corner of the state and adjacent areas in California across the Colorado River.

Service from Adjacent States

Two facilities in Arizona are operated by broadcasters headquartered outside the state. KNAI is operated by the National Farm Worker Service Center in Keene, California and KNPR Las Vegas operates a translator at Lake Havasu City on the Arizona-California border.

Broadcast facilities in Nevada, Utah and New Mexico generate signals that extend across their boundaries with Arizona and cover residents living near these state boundaries.

Unserved Areas

Most FM public radio coverage in Arizona is found on and adjacent to the highway corridor formed by US 89 from Page on the Utah border south to Flagstaff and along I-17 from Flagstaff to Tucson. Outside this corridor there are large uncovered areas of the state, areas larger than some East Coast states. Much of this uncovered territory is national park, forest or monument, military reservations and Native American reservations. The population density in these areas is very low with residents widely dispersed and any of the towns found in these areas are small.

Region A

Mohave County, in the northwest corner of Arizona along the Nevada and Utah borders, has 92,000 unserved residents.  Public broadcasters from bordering states may have a better opportunity to extend public radio coverage in Mohave County. The far western edge of the county is adjacent to Las Vegas.  The portion of the county that lies north of the Grand Canyon, known as the Arizona Strip, may be more easily served from Utah.  In 2000, PTFP awarded a grant to KNAU to build a repeater station in Fredonia in the Arizona Strip.  In 2002, the grantee voluntarily terminated the grant after determining that it was not financially feasible to sustain the repeater station.

Region B

The northeast corner of the state is home to Navajo and Hopi reservations.  While there are stations on both reservations, about 81,000 people are not served by public radio in Apache and Navajo counties.  Navajo station KGHR Tuba City has received a PTFP grant for equipment to increase power from 0.l kW to 50 kW, which will extend the signal to provide first service to 20,000 residents in the area.

Region C

East of Phoenix lays Gila County.  Most of the county is national forest and Apache reservations.  Approximately 44,000 persons are without FM Service in the county, although KUAZ-AM in Tucson does cover the area during the daytime.

Region D

On the Arizona-New Mexico border, the entire population of Greenlee County, approximately 8,600 people, are without FM public radio service.  National forest occupies most of the land in the county.

In the southeast corner of Arizona, Cochise County has 60,000 unserved residents.  The county borders Mexico. It does have translators which rebroadcast KUAZ and KUAT(FM).  KUAZ(AM) also covers the area during the daytime.

Region E

In south central Arizona on the Mexican border, Pima County contains 15,000 unserved people in the western portion of the county.  Much of this area is within the Tohono O’Odham reservation. The tribal government has a construction permit to build an FM station in 2004 with support from PTFP.   KUAZ(AM) also covers the area during daytime hours.

Yuma County and La Paz counties in the southwest corner of Arizona have more than 50,000 unserved residents. KAWC(AM) does provide service to some of the residents in this area of the state. 

Translators listed by operating station
Facilities in italics operated by out‑of‑state broadcasters

KNAU Flagstaff, AZ					KUAT Tucson, AZ
K209AN		89.7	Kingman		K205CG	N	88.9	Bisbee-Douglas
K207BR	N	89.3	Prescott		K219BU	N	91.7	Nogales
KJZZ Phoenix, AZ					K208BT	N	89.5	Safford
K242AC1	N	96.3	Bagdad		K209AG		89.7	Sierra Vista
K208AA		89.5	Cottonwood		K209AF		89.7	Tucson
K208AB		89.5	Flagstaff		KUAZ Tucson, AZ
K292CI	N	106.3	Little Acres		K219CR	N	91.7	Sierra Vista
K211AA		90.1	Prescott		KNNB White River, AZ
K219DZ	N	91.7	Rio Verde		K210AB	#	89.9	Cibecue
K209DV	N	89.7	Scottsdale		K215AE	#	90.9	McNary Indian Pine
K207CO	N	89.3	Sun Lakes		K205AD	#	88.9	Mud Cat Tank
K255AC	N	98.9	Tucson		KNPR Las Vegas, NV
					K220DS	N	91.9	Lake Havasu City

¹ Licensed to Cyprus Bagdad Copper Corporation, Bagdad, AZ. Operated by KJZZ, Phoenix, AZ.