The station signed on the air on April 16, 1960; 64 years ago (1960-04-16). The original call sign was KUPD (pronounced Cupid). It was owned by the Tri-State Broadcasting Co. and by the 1960s featured Phoenix veteran disc jockey Bill Heywood in the morning. KUPD had a full-serviceMiddle of the Road (MOR) format. It competed with KOY550 AM.
As the Top 40 format became more popular, KUPD flipped to a contemporary hits sound in the early 1970s. Around 1971, the station added a simulcast on 97.9 KUPD-FM, which remained Top 40 until about 1978 when the FM station switched to album rock and became a dominant presence in the Phoenix radio market.
The flip of KUPD-FM to rock sparked 1060 AM to also change. It became KKKQ "The New KQ" under Program Director Steve Casey, formerly with Top 40 leader KHJLos Angeles and later one of the co-creators of MTV. KKKQ played oldies with a less talk, more music approach. The staff included Joe Bailey - mornings; Don Richards - Middays; Steve Casey - Afternoons. Don Richards would later take over as PD when Steve Casey left for MTV.
R&B, Country, Alternative
In the 1980s and early 1990s, AM 1060 cycled through various musical formats such as R&B 'KQ' from 1981 to 1987. The call letters slightly changed to KUKQ after a public outcry about having 'KKK' in the call letters for an R&B station.[3] It then tried country music as "KQ Country") from 1987 to 1989.[4] Then it flipped to alternative rock from 1989 to 1993.[5]
During this time, KUKQ's original license was not renewed as the result of a 1988 comparative renewal hearing for KUKQ and KUPD-FM. Both stations lost their original licenses for lying to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about an alleged secret owner. An additional owner was ruled unfit to hold a license due to a 1982 criminal conviction in Arizona.[6] The stations were instead awarded to former owner Jack Grimm, his wife Jackie, Ruth Clifford, and radio executive Robert Fish, doing business as G&C Broadcasting.[7] In 1992, G&C took over KUKQ and KUPD-FM on new licenses, retaining the call letters, facilities and formats of the stations.
Talk and Sports
The new owners switched to a talk radio format in 1993.[8] The station returned to alternative rock again the next year after the station was sold to Sandusky Newspapers.[9] The alternative revival did not last long. For a brief time in 1996, 1060 AM became "KUPD-2" (billed by management as "rock entertainment").[10] It flipped to sports talk later that year.
After the switch to sports, the station started referring to itself as "The Deuce," and the call letters officially shifted to KDUS in 1997. Once its identity as a sports talk station become established, KDUS stopped using "Deuce" in its slogans, and adopted "The Fan AM 1060" as its identifier ("The Fan" for short) and "The Voice of the Fan" as its slogan.
Yahoo, NBC Sports, Sports Map
On April 1, 2013, The Fan AM 1060 changed its affiliation from Yahoo! Sports Radio to the new NBC Sports Radio network. Its branding switched to "NBC Sports Radio AM 1060".[11]
But the NBC Sports Radio network did not get as many affiliates as management had hoped. So in 2019, it announced it would be shutting down most of its 24/7 programming. On August 30, 2019, KDUS removed all associations with NBC Sports Radio. It rebranded simply "KDUS AM 1060" and began an affiliation with SB Nation Radio. In July 2020, the radio network changed its name to SportsMap.
KDUS is the Phoenix radio home of Northern Arizona University football and NAU men's basketball. The station also broadcasts nationally syndicated NCAA and NFL football games and NCAA men's basketball games via the Sports USA Radio Network and Compass Media Networks.
