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| Channels | |
| Branding | Fox 10 Phoenix; Fox 10 News |
| Programming | |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| KUTP | |
| History | |
First air date | October 24, 1953 |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | From slogan adopted in 1994, "The Spirit of Arizona" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 35587 |
| ERP | 48 kW |
| HAAT | 558 m (1,831 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 33°20′3″N 112°3′46″W / 33.33417°N 112.06278°W |
| Translator(s) |
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| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KSAZ-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, serving as the market's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside KUTP (channel 45), which airs MyNetworkTV programming. The two stations share studios on West Adams Street in Downtown Phoenix; KSAZ-TV's transmitter is located atop South Mountain.
Channel 10 was the third television station established in the Phoenix area, making its first broadcast on October 24, 1953. It was originally allocated as a shared-time channel to stations run by the owners of Phoenix radio stations KOOL and KOY, though both KOOL-TV and KOY-TV operated from the same building. After a year as an independent, it became Phoenix's original ABC affiliate in early 1954. KOOL became sole owner of the channel later in 1954 and absorbed the staff of KOY-TV. After switching affiliations to CBS in 1955, KOOL-TV rose to become Phoenix's highest-rated station under the ownership of Gene Autry and Tom Chauncey. A falling out between Autry and Chauncey ended with the sale of KOOL-TV to the Gulf United Corporation in 1982; separated from its sister radio properties, channel 10 changed its call sign to KTSP-TV. Initially, the station remained the news leader in Phoenix; however, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the station lost ground in the news ratings to an ascendant KTVK, which had poached two key KTSP-TV executives as part of a successful effort to turn itself around. Channel 10's ratings issues were not helped by several visible personnel miscues.
In February 1994, KTSP-TV changed its call letters to KSAZ-TV. Three months later, as part of the first act in a national realignment of network affiliations initiated by then-owner New World Communications, the station announced it would switch from CBS to Fox. Phoenix was one of the most affected markets; the timing of affiliation contract expirations led to three changes in four months. KSAZ lost CBS in September 1994 but did not begin airing Fox programming until December. Coinciding with the switch to Fox was a major expansion of the station's news department, including new morning and prime time newscasts. However, the three months of forced independent status and miscalculations around syndicated programming and new competitors caused the station's ratings to fall dramatically, with some newscasts losing half their viewership.
Fox acquired the New World stations in 1996 and steadied the struggling operation, bringing the newscasts more in line with the network's target audience and instituting a flashier style. From 1999 to 2021, Kari Lake, future Arizona gubernatorial candidate, was one of the station's main anchors. By 2020, KSAZ-TV produced twelve hours a day on weekdays of local news programming.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KSAZ-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.