area phoenix metropolitan area branding live 101 5 slogan the valley s hit music leader frequency 101.5 mhz also on hd radio first air date july 5 1964 as khep fm format top 40 chr hd2 cbs sports radio erp 100 000 watts haat 530 meters 1 740 ft class c facility id 63913 callsign meaning arizona live former callsigns khep fm 1964 1985 konc 1985 1986 kamj 1986 1990 kmxx 1990 1992 kzon 1992 2016 owner cbs radio cbs radio stations inc. sister stations kmle kool fm webcast listen live website live1015phoenix.cbslocal.com kalv fm 101.5 mhz live 101 5 is a commercial fm radio station in phoenix arizona . it is owned by cbs radio and it airs a contemporary hit radio top 40 format . kalv fm s studios are located in downtown phoenix and its transmitter is in south mountain park . 1 there is an am station in alva oklahoma also using the kalv call letters but they are not related . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1964 2005 1.2 101.5 free fm 2005 2007 1.3 101.5 jamz 2007 2013 1.4 live 101 5 2013 present 2 references 3 external links history edit early years 1964 2005 edit on july 5 1964 the station signed on the air as khep fm and aired a classical music format . 2 it was owned by grand canyon broadcasting along with religious station 1280 am khep now kxeg . in 1985 khep fm was sold to the owners of the boston globe and took the call sign konc concert 101 . in 1986 the station abandoned classical music for satellite delivered soft rock as kamj magic 101 using the transtar radio networks format 41 service with a local morning show anchored by mike del rosso . by 1989 ez communications had taken the station completely live and local with a hot ac format as the all new magic 101 . in may 1990 it moved to an ac format as kmxx mix 101 . it was later sold to sundance broadcasting in 1992 and on july 31st of that year it switched to aaa as kzon the zone . 3 the zone moniker would carry throughout its incarnations of modern rock modern ac adult top 40 and back to modern rock in 2000 up until its flip to hot talk in january 2006 . 101.5 free fm 2005 2007 edit on december 23 2005 it was announced that kzon would adopt cbs radio s free fm format featuring mostly nationally syndicated hot talk shows including the adam carolla show frosty heidi & frank the tom leykis show and phil hendrie . on january 3 2006 the station switched from modern rock to the male targeted talk format with rock music played during overnights and weekends . 4 during its brief run it attempted to appeal toward young adult men as cbs radio had high hopes that this format would do well in phoenix using a promotional campaign that came along with it . on january 3 2007 kzon reduced the music content and began to add more talk shows to the weekend lineup and a taped tom leykis episode airing overnights all in an attempt to attract more listeners . 101.5 jamz 2007 2013 edit despite some ratings growth it proved to be a failure in the market especially when talk radio station ktar moved to fm in january 2007 . rumors of a format change came true at 5 pm on june 21 2007 when the station s broadcast of the tom leykis show was hijacked by station intern renaldo who began playing all paris hilton music while starting a petition on its website to free hilton who was serving a brief prison sentence at the time . 5 at 5 pm the next day kzon flipped to rhythmic chr as 101 5 jamz blazin the valley s hits & hip hop . the first song played on jamz was party like a rockstar by the shop boyz . 6 7 8 kzon was the fourth station to drop the free fm format following sister station kscf in san diego california which flipped to modern ac sister station and former free fm flagship wfny new york city which returned to active rock and its original call letters and moniker wxrk k rock 92.3 and sister station kifr san francisco which picked up the kfrc fm call letters and classic hits format from its sister station which is now kmvq after it dropped the aforementioned format several months earlier . as with many format changes in radio there has been a backlash from fans of free fm who wanted to see the station and its personalities return . 9 10 the former free fm website was linked to the stream of sister station klsx 97.1 free fm in los angeles where carolla and leykis originated until 2009 when klsx dropped the format for top 40 . 11 in regarding kzon s flip to rhythmic the station began attacking kkfr saying that the power has been turned off in reference to kkfr s frequency switch from 92.3 to 98.3 and where hip hop used to live . kzon also boasted on air to playing 100 000 watts of static free hip hop and borrowed the mac vs. pc ad campaign in which kzon billed itself as the mac to kkfr s pc . in addition the station also attempted to take on top 40 rival kzzp the former rhythmic ac later top 40 station kmva and as of 2013 former old school hip hop turned rhythmic knrj . in response to kzon s debut and full powered signal range kkfr s then pd bruce st. james wasn t worried and in a statement with the arizona republic what are they going to do he asks . play more hip hop than us really i think we ll be ok . 12 st. james by the way would end up joining kzon as its new pd in january 2010 13 but after almost three months on the job he resigned on march 30 2010 to pursue other opportunities . in november 2008 kzon switched its slogan to the valley s 1 hit music station a slogan that kkfr would also adopt the following december giving the phoenix area two radio stations with the same format and slogan . since then kkfr has dropped that slogan . as of 2010 kzon has expanded its focus to include dance and pop tracks overtaking kzzp and kkfr in the arbitron ppms . 14 live 101 5 2013 present edit in 2013 kzon dropped the jamz portion of its moniker and branded itself as just 101.5 . on september 6th the station rebranded as live 101 5 and shifted its playlist to more mainstream material but would later scale back on pop rock product and focus more on rhythmic pop dance hits . 15 kzon reports to mediabase as a top 40 chr reporter but continued to report to bds as a rhythmic reporter until march 2015 putting the station in line with cbs radio s top 40 chr presentation which emphasizes current rhythmic pop and dance product . the station changed its call sign to kalv fm on june 1 2016 . the call letters refer to arizona s live fm . references edit http radio locator.com cgi bin patg id kalv fm broadcasting yearbook 1977 page c 10 http www.americanradiohistory.com archive randr 1990s 1992 rr 1992 07 24.pdf http www.americanradiohistory.com archive randr 2000s 2006 rr 2006 01 06.pdf http www.azcentral.com ent tv articles 0622radio0622.html all paris all the time http formatchange.com free fm kzon becomes rhythmic chr 1015 jamz https radioinsight.com blog headlines netgnomes 31 coming to phoenix https radioinsight.com blog headlines netgnomes 33 surfing in san diego phoenix update bringbacktom.com accessed 7 11 07 myspace page of savetomphoenix accessed 7 11 07 101.5 free fm website accessed 7 11 07 from the arizona republic june 22 2007 phoenix vet bruce st. james to pd post at kzon & kmle from all access january 5 2010 phoenix ratings from radio info https radioinsight.com blog headlines netgnomes 84921 less jamz for kzon phoenix external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for kalv radio locator information on kalv query nielsen audio s fm station database for kalv announcement of changeover to free fm v t e radio stations in the phoenix metropolitan area by am frequency 550 620 710 740 860 910 960 1010 1060 1100 1150 1190 1230 1260 1280 1310 1330 1340 1360 1400 1440 1480 1510 1540 1580 by fm frequency 88.31 88.32 88.7 89.1 89.5 89.9 90.3 90.7 91.5 92.3 92.7 93.3 93.9 94.1 94.5 95.1 95.5 96.3 96.9 97.5 97.9 98.3 98.7 99.1 99.3 k257cd kemp krwv lp 99.5 99.9 100.3 100.7 101.1 101.5 102.1 102.5 103.1 103.5 103.9 104.3 104.7 105.3 105.5 105.9 106.3 106.9 107.1 107.5 107.9 noaa weather radio frequency 162.550 by callsign k257cd kahm kajm kalv fm kasa kasc kazg kbaq kbmb kbsz kcdx kcky kdkb kdus kdva kec94 kemp kesz kflr fm kfnn kfnx kfxy lp kfyi kgme khep khot fm khov kidr kihp kiko kjzz kkfr kknt klnz klva klvk kmle kmva kmvp kmvp fm kmxp knai kphf knix fm knrj knuv koai komr kool fm koy kphq lp kphx kpng kpxq kqmr krde krph kslx fm ksun kswg ktar ktar fm kupd kvit kvva fm kwss lp kxeg kxxt kyot fm kzon kzzp 1 daytime hours 2 nighttime hours knai and kphf are timeshare stations satellite radio local traffic weather xm channel 219 sirius channel 157 nearby radio markets flagstaff prescott lake havasu city tucson yuma see also list of radio stations in arizona v t e chr top 40 radio stations in the state of arizona by frequency 93.7 100.9 101.5 102.9 104.7 106.1 by callsign kalv fm kfsz kqst krqq kzmk kzzp by city flagstaff kfsz flagstaff kqst phoenix kalv fm phoenix kzzp sierra vista tucson see also adult contemporary classic hits college country news talk npr oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in arizona see also contemporary hit radio rhythmic kiss fm movin radio disney v t e cbs radio a subsidiary of cbs corporation am radio stations kcbs kdka kfnq khtk kikk kilt kmox knx krak krld kxnt kxst kyw kzdg waok wbbm wbz wcbs wcco wfan wins wjfk wjz wpht wqam wscr wtic wwj wxyt fm radio stations kalv fm kamp fm kcbs fm kdka fm kegy kezk fm kezn kfrc fm kfrg khmx kilt fm kits kjaq kjkk kkhh kllc klol kluc fm kluv kmle kmnb kmps fm kmvk kmvq fm kmxb knci kool fm krld fm kroq fm krth ksfm ktwv kvfg kvil kxfg kxqq fm kxte kyky kymx kyxy kzjk kzok fm kzzo wbbm fm wbmp wbmx wbz fm wbzz wcbs fm wcfs fm wdch fm wdok wdsy fm wdzh wfan fm wiad wip fm wjfk fm wjmk wjz fm wkis wkrk fm wlif wlzl wncx wnew fm wocl wods wogl womc womx fm wpgc fm wpow wqal wqmp wrch wtic fm wusn wvee wwmx wxrt wxtu wxyt fm wycd wzgc wzlx wzmp wzmx radio networks boston bruins radio cbs radio news cbs sports radio new york yankees radio digital properties eventful last.fm play.it see also infinity broadcasting corporation former company name v t e cbs corporation corporate directors david r. andelman joseph a. califano jr. william s. cohen charles k. gifford leonard goldberg bruce s. gordon arnold kopelson leslie moonves doug morris shari redstone sumner redstone radio stations v t e cbs radio am radio stations kcbs kdka kfnq khtk kikk kilt kmox knx krak krld kxnt kxst kyw kzdg waok wbbm wbz wcbs wcco wfan wins wjfk wjz wpht wqam wscr wtic wwj wxyt fm radio stations kalv fm kamp fm kcbs fm kdka fm kegy kezk fm kezn kfrc fm kfrg khmx kilt fm kits kjaq kjkk kkhh kllc klol kluc fm