station in phoenix . for other uses see fox 10 . ktsp tv redirects here . it is not to be confused with kstp tv or wtsp . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message ksaz tv phoenix arizona united states branding fox 10 general fox 10 news newscasts slogan just you watch the best we are fox 10 channels digital 10 vhf virtual 10 psip translators see below affiliations .1 fox o & o .3 heroes & icons owner fox television stations nw communications of phoenix inc. founded 1953 first air date october 24 1953 ; 62 years ago 1953 10 24 call letters meaning spirit of arizona former slogan sister station s kutp fox sports arizona former callsigns kool tv 1953 1982 koy tv shared operation 1953 1954 ktsp tv 1982 1994 former channel number s analog 10 vhf 1953 2009 digital 31 uhf until 2009 former affiliations primary cbs 1953 1994 independent september december 1994 secondary abc 1953 1955 transmitter power 48 kw height 484 m 1 588 ft facility id 35587 transmitter coordinates 33 20 2.3 n 112 3 45.7 w 33.333972 n 112.062694 w 33.333972 ; 112.062694 coordinates 33 20 2.3 n 112 3 45.7 w 33.333972 n 112.062694 w 33.333972 ; 112.062694 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.fox10phoenix.com ksaz tv virtual and vhf digital channel 10 is a fox owned and operated television station located in phoenix arizona united states . the station is owned by the fox television stations subsidiary of 21st century fox as part of a duopoly with mynetworktv station kutp channel 45 . the two stations share studio facilities located on west adams street in the west end of downtown phoenix s copper square district and its transmitter is located atop south mountain on the city s south side . its signal is relayed across northern arizona through a network of 20 translator stations . contents 1 history 1.1 as a cbs affiliate 1.2 as a fox station 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 notable current on air staff 3.2 notable former on air staff 4 translators 5 references 6 external links history edit as a cbs affiliate edit the federal communications commission awarded the license of phoenix s third vhf commercial station to a partnership of gene autry 1 owner of kool radio am 960 now kknt and the prairie farmer newspaper owners of koy radio am 550 . the two groups had competed heavily for the construction permit but merged to avoid lengthy litigation . the autry prairie farmer group signed on channel 10 as a shared operation on october 24 1953 . under the arrangement the two separate stations alternated airtime but use the same channel allocation and transmitter . the combined koy tv and kool tv operation operated as a primary cbs 2 and secondary abc affiliate . in may 1954 kool tv took over channel 10 full time after autry paid 200 000 3 for koy tv s share of the operation ; it was the first time that a post freeze shared time arrangement was ended . 4 it lost the abc affiliation when ktvk channel 3 signed on in february 1955 leaving channel 10 as an exclusive cbs affiliate ; as a result it was now able to feature autry s show gene autry s melody ranch on its schedule . tom chauncey who also owned the biggest arabian horse ranch in phoenix was a minority partner with autry . over the years kool tv ran nearly the entire cbs schedule along with some first run syndicated shows and local shows including daily newscasts and the first bilingual kids weekly tv show called ninos contentos hosted by kathy shayna shocket for a decade the hour show was replaced by pee wee herman show when the station was sold by tom chauncey to gulf broadcasting . on may 28 1982 at about 5 p.m. joseph billie gwin wanting to prevent world war iii forced his way into the kool tv studios and fired a shot from his gun . the butt of the gun struck louis villa in the back of the head ; gwin then held villa in a chokehold at gunpoint for nearly five hours . gwin took four people hostage and demanded nationwide airtime . two of the hostages jack webb and bob cimino were released three hours later . at 9 30 p.m. anchor bill close read a 20 minute statement as gwin sat next to him holding a gun under the table ; close took gwin s gun after the statement and set it on the table . 5 6 7 8 autry and his company golden west broadcasters exited broadcasting in 1982 selling kool tv to gulf broadcasting . the new owners changed channel 10 s callsign on october 4 to ktsp tv the kool call sign remained with the phoenix fm radio station . it had been stated that the calls stood for tempe scottsdale phoenix but it was a line that not even people at the station bought according to news director tom dolan we told people for a long time that it stood for tempe scottsdale phoenix but i don t know if anyone really believed it . 9 the callsign had most likely been changed to match that of then sister station wtsp in st. petersburg florida . the logo that ktsp used at the time which would remain in use until 1995 was similar to wtsp s sunset 10 logo ktsp s logo was slightly modernized in the early 1990s losing the linear elements at the bottom . ktsp was sold to taft broadcasting in 1984 as part of a corporate deal ; on october 12 1987 taft was restructured into great american broadcasting after the company went through a hostile takeover by investors . the station s operations did not change significantly under gulf taft or great american broadcasting ownership . in 1989 ktsp newscaster shelly jamison left the station after appearing as both a cover model and posing nude in a playboy pictorial . 10 when great american broadcasting filed chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993 the company restructured once again and became known as citicasters late that year . the station changed its callsign to ksaz tv on february 12 1994 to match its new slogan the spirit of arizona . as a fox station edit due to the company s bankruptcy citicasters put four of its stations including ksaz tv up for sale . ksaz and kansas city sister station wdaf tv were sold to new world communications on may 5 1994 for 360 million with the sale becoming final on september 9 of that year . new world also acquired high point north carolina s wghp and birmingham alabama s wbrc 11 both of those stations would be placed in a blind trust due to ownership complications and were later sold directly to fox . just 18 days later new world announced that twelve of its 15 stations those it already owned and those it was in the process of acquiring including the two that would later be sold to fox would switch their varying big three network affiliations most of the new world stations like ksaz were aligned with cbs to fox . 12 a major catalyst for the fox new world deal was the network s newly signed contract with the national football league s national football conference . the arizona cardinals franchise were part of the nfc and thus had their games telecast on channel 10 since 1988 when that the cardinals relocated to phoenix from st. louis at that time nfc games were shown on cbs . until recently however home game telecasts were hard to come by as the cardinals often failed to sell out games at sun devil stadium . since moving to university of phoenix stadium there have been no in market blackouts and due to the nfl suspending its blackout policies initially for at least 2015 and later again for the 2016 season ksaz is at least for the time being guaranteed to air all fox televised cardinals games home or away regardless of ticket sales . as a result of the affiliation agreement four commercial television stations in the phoenix market each swapped network affiliations at different times . ksaz dropped the cbs affiliation three days after the sale to new world became final on september 12 . this switch temporarily left ksaz as an independent station as fox s affiliation agreement with its existing affiliate knxv tv channel 15 did not expire until december 14 as such ksaz was the only station involved in the new world deal and fox s other affiliation agreements with big three stations that were byproducts of it that did not switch to fox directly from another network . the cbs affiliation at that time went to former independent kpho tv channel 5 . 2 the abc affiliation was to move from ktvk to knxv on january 9 1995 as part of a separate multi station affiliation deal between abc and knxv s owner the e. w. scripps company however knxv began to add abc shows in stages that august as ktvk started to gradually excise that network s programs from its schedule abc s primetime and sports programs were the only network shows remaining on ktvk shortly before the affiliation formally moved to knxv . fox s primetime and sports programming moved to channel 10 on december 15 1994 . as with most other new world stations ksaz declined to run fox kids programming which instead moved to ktvk and then in 1996 to kasw channel 61 . ktvk originally chose to become a charter affiliate of the wb upon its january 11 1995 debut but that network s programming also went to kasw when it launched on september 22 1995 . with several top rated syndicated shows moving to other stations in 1995 ksaz dramatically increased the amount of local newscasts producing about 45 hours each week . the remaining syndicated programs on the station were rather low rated and as a result ksaz did not have good ratings in its early days as a fox affiliate . much of the audience for the station s newscasts went to ktvk which also took on a news intensive format after losing its abc affiliation . in the fall of 1995 ksaz added three hours of syndicated talk shows jointly produced by new world and fox . news corporation purchased new world communications acquiring only its ten fox affiliated stations in july 1996 ; 13 the merger was finalized on january 22 1997 making ksaz an owned and operated station of fox . this status almost became short lived in february 1997 fox nearly traded ksaz and sister station ktbc in austin texas to the belo corporation in exchange for seattle s kiro tv . 14 that trade fell through ; however belo would purchase ktvk and kvue in austin two years later . fox began to upgrade the station s programming adding some high rated off network sitcoms such as m a s h seinfeld and king of the hill as well as higher rated syndicated court and reality shows . 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 until viacom bought united s share of the network in 2000 forming the phoenix market s second television duopoly . although fox owns both ksaz and kutp now a mynetworktv station neither aired the saturday morning children s program block eventually known as 4kids tv which continued to air on kasw