Fox10 Phoenix history

In July 1952, KOY (550 AM), the home of the Mutual Broadcasting System in Phoenix and one of the oldest stations in the state, filed its own bid.

In March 1954, KOOL reached a deal to buy out KOY, whose general manager, Albert D. Johnson, expressed a belief that the combined unit would do better under one operator instead of two and stated that the goal of the shared-time venture—to avoid lengthy comparative hearings—had been met.

ABC soon found a new home: startup outlet KTVK (channel 3), which joined that network on March 1, 1955.

Phoenix audiences' loyalty to KOOL-TV was proven in 1971.

In 1978, KOOL AM was sold to Stauffer Communications of Topeka, Kansas, with the FM and television stations remaining under the Autry–Chauncey ownership.

These talks ended in April 1981 when Autry sold half of his 48.11-percent stake in the company to the Gulf United Corporation of Jacksonville, Florida.

The sale closed on October 1, 1982, a month after receiving FCC approval, and major changes followed at channel 10.

In 1985, Taft Broadcasting acquired Gulf Broadcasting, which had been spun out of Gulf United two years prior.

On October 12, 1987, Taft was restructured into Great American Broadcasting after the company went through a hostile takeover by investors led by Carl Lindner.

Other subsidiaries of Great American Communications Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993, a move that did not affect the television and radio holdings.

The station changed its call sign to KSAZ-TV on February 12, 1994, to match its new slogan, "The Spirit of Arizona".

As with most other New World stations, KSAZ declined to run Fox Kids programming, which instead moved to KTVK; in September 1995, KASW (channel 61), a station programmed by KTVK, launched with The WB and Fox Kids programs.

Fox Television Stations purchased KUTP (channel 45) in 2001 as part of its acquisition of United Television (which had owned a 50% stake in UPN); this resulted in the creation of Phoenix's second television duopoly.