Early years Maricopa County Broadcasters, owned by Sheldon Engel, built KALF in 1962. The station
signed on the air on November 1. It was a
daytimer, required to go off the air at sunset. On June 1, 1970, it was relaunched as KMND ("Command Radio"), airing a country music format; the call sign had already been in use on
KMND-FM 93.3. KMND-AM-FM was acquired by the Dwight-Karma Broadcasting Corporation in 1971. The
call signs switched to KDKB and
KDKB-FM, playing an
album-oriented rock format. In 1978, the simulcast was broken, and 1510 AM flipped to an
oldies sound of the 1950s and 1960s under a new KDJQ call sign. In 1980, the format at KDJQ changed to
new wave music for a brief time.
WABQ, Inc., acquired KDJQ in early 1984 and sold it to B.J. Glascock of Texas. The station went off the air on June 5 and returned on November 5 as KNTS with a news-talk format and
ABC Talkradio programming. On August 23, 1986, the station changed its call sign to KJAA with a country format, known as "KJ Country". The brand traded on the heritage of
KJJJ (910 AM), a longtime country music station.
KFNN On December 12, 1988, 1510 AM changed its call sign to KFNN. The station adopted a financial news format under the ownership of Ron Cohen, a former real estate agent. The station's transmitter and towers at the time of the change were located in Mesa, its
city of license as stated on its
Federal Communications Commission license. It was originally a 10,000-watt daytime signal until 1991, when the station towers were relocated to North Phoenix. From there the signal was authorized to increase to 22,000 watts daytime, and nighttime authorization was added. In 2013, KFNN began
simulcasting on FM, through translator station K257CD on 99.3 MHz. In 2017, the 99.3 translator began simulcasting co-owned
KQFN's
sports radio format. KFNN's FM signal began using a new translator, K287BX on 105.3 MHz.
Business and financial format Along with two other original partners, Ronald Cohen began the station's format with largely syndicated format from
Bloomberg Radio and other radio networks. However, after several years, live, local programming began airing throughout the week. Don McDonald's financial planning program was one of the first major national shows broadcast on the station, along with
Ken and Daria Dolan, who featured a money and investment related program syndicated from the
WOR Radio Network. KFNN introduced a local wake up show,
Business for Breakfast. Ken Morgan was its original host. He had been a long time morning show host and station manager, with much of his career spent in
Cleveland. Mark Asher is the current host. Other national business and money shows heard on KFNN included
Clark Howard,
Gary Kaltbaum and
Ray Lucia. In 2011, KFNN re-branded from "1510 KFNN, Financial Newsradio" to "Money Radio 1510 & 99.3 FM". The station's brand was changed to reflect the broader nature of program content that relates to all matters money. Some programs were also heard in the Palm Springs market on co-owned
KPSF. In 2019, KFNN began adding some conservative and libertarian-leaning political talk, including
Todd Schnitt,
Chris Plante,
Michael J. Knowles and
Ben Shapiro. It airs
Bloomberg Radio in the early morning, evenings and some weekend hours. Some paid
brokered programming is also on the schedule. Most hours begin with an update from
USA Radio News. ==References==