KSUN

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Radio station in Phoenix

title: "KSUN" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["hispanic-and-latino-american-culture-in-phoenix,-arizona", "mexican-american-culture-in-arizona", "radio-stations-in-arizona", "regional-mexican-radio-stations-in-the-united-states", "radio-stations-established-in-1954", "1954-establishments-in-arizona"] description: "Radio station in Phoenix" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSUN" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Radio station in Phoenix ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox radio station"]

Field	Value
name	KSUN
city	Phoenix, Arizona
country	US
area	Phoenix metropolitan area
branding	La Mejor 106.5 FM / 1400 AM
frequency	1400 kHz
translator
airdate
format	Regional Mexican
power	1,000 watts unlimited
class	C
facility_id	21430
licensing_authority	FCC
coordinates
callsign_meaning	Valley of the Sun (a common nickname for the Phoenix area)
former_callsigns
owner	Marquez Communications, Inc.
licensee	Fiesta Radio, Inc.
webcast	Listen (requires RealPlayer or Winamp)
website
affiliations	MVS Radio
::

KSUN (1400 AM) is a Spanish-language radio station broadcasting out of Phoenix, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is locally owned by the Marques brothers and operates a regional Mexican music format under the branding "La Mejor". The station simulcasts on translator at K293CO 106.5 FM. The station is also the Spanish-language play-by-play home of Phoenix Suns basketball games and Phoenix Rising FC soccer matches.

History

The station signed on August 28, 1954, as KONI, the ninth radio station in Phoenix; originally KBLR, the station's callsign changed by the time it signed on. KONI became KXIV in 1961. Until 1982, KXIV was programmed with a middle of the road (MOR) music format. The station was co-owned by Ira Lavin and actor Dick Van Dyke (an Arizona resident). Disc jockeys included George Scott, Jack Dey, Jim Hutton, Paul B. Mundt, and Jim Spero (who also served as program director).

Van Dyke and Lavin sold KXIV in 1982 to local real estate developer Michael Levin, who relaunched the station with a news/talk format as KSUN, featuring personalities from ABC's TalkRadio Network, NBC's Talknet and audio from CNN2. The call letters had been sold to Levin by the previous KSUN in Bisbee, at the time silent and in receivership. Hourly discount auctions through a segment called "BarterBank" were also heavily advertised. Levin's tenure running KSUN was marred by suspicious vandalism and layoffs. The station fell into bankruptcy and went silent on Memorial Day weekend 1983.

CAZ Broadcasting bought KSUN out of bankruptcy in 1984 and brought the station back the next year as an affiliate of the original Radio AAHS, a radio service developed for children, with adult-oriented music at night. By 1986, KSUN was running jazz full-time with minor league baseball play-by-play of the Phoenix Firebirds, having lost Radio AAHS when Children's Radio Network opted to cease distributing it outside of its owned-and-operated stations. After an abortive attempt to sell the station to TransCom, owners of KLZI 99.9 FM, and going silent again at the end of summer, Fiesta Radio purchased the station in November 1986. Radio Fiesta officially signed on March 23, 1987. The station became a sports play-by-play specialist; it was the long-time home of Spanish broadcasts of the Arizona Diamondbacks (now on KHOV), first carrying all 162 games in 2004, and continues to carry Suns games. In 2021, the station will broadcast Phoenix Rising FC games. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/KSUN_LaMejor1400am_logo.png" caption="KSUN La Mejor logo before translator sign on"] ::

In 2015, the station partnered with Mexican radio company MVS Radio to launch its regional Mexican La Mejor format in Phoenix.

References

(August 28, 1954). "9th Valley Radio Station Takes To Air 6 A.M. Today". Arizona Republic.
"[https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1965/1965-08-23-BC.pdf Ownership changes]", ''[[Broadcasting & Cable. Broadcasting]]''. August 23, 1965. p. 84. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
"[https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1982/BC-1982-07-05.pdf Changing Hands]", ''[[Broadcasting & Cable. Broadcasting]]''. July 5, 1982. p. 69. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
"KXIV Radio".
Wilkinson, Bud. (August 8, 1982). "Owner tones down programming game plan for KSUN". Arizona Republic.
Hatfield, David. (June 4, 1982). "Quality picks are NBC, new 'Arizona Illustrated'". Arizona Daily Star.
(February 21, 1983). "KSUN down: Vandals twice knock radio station off the air". Arizona Republic.
Wilkinson, Bud. (January 2, 1983). "Stiff competition inspired better programming in 1982". Arizona Republic.
Wilkinson, Bud. (June 21, 1984). "KSUN sold; new owners plan autumn debut". Arizona Republic.
Wilkinson, Bud. (May 17, 1985). "KSUN plans to usher in dawn of children's radio programs". Arizona Republic.
Wilkinson, Bud. (April 3, 1986). "Radio station KSUN forced to drop children's format". Arizona Republic.
Wilkinson, Bud. (June 25, 1986). "'NewsChannel 3' adds new sportscasters to lineup". Arizona Republic.
Wilkinson, Bud. (December 11, 1986). "NBC's '1986' TV news magazine will never see 1987". Arizona Republic.
Wilkinson, Bud. (March 23, 1987). "KTVK-TV wins contract to show ASU sports package". Arizona Republic.
(January 30, 2004). "MLB: Diamondbacks". Arizona Republic.
(November 11, 2020). "Phoenix Rising FC 2021 Broadcast Schedule". Phoenix Rising Communications.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::