verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message kazt tv prescott phoenix arizona united states city prescott branding az tv 7 metv arizona on dt2 hsn 7.3 on dt3 slogan arizona s own channels digital 7 vhf virtual 7 psip translators kazt cd 36 phoenix for others see list in article affiliations .1 independent .2 metv .3 hsn owner londen media group kazt llc first air date september 5 1982 ; 34 years ago 1982 09 05 call letters meaning arizona television former callsigns kusk 1982 2002 former channel number s analog 7 vhf 1982 2009 former affiliations dt3 rtv 2008 2012 transmitter power 3.2 kw height 792 m facility id 35811 transmitter coordinates 34 41 14.6 n 112 7 3.8 w 34.687389 n 112.117722 w 34.687389 ; 112.117722 coordinates 34 41 14.6 n 112 7 3.8 w 34.687389 n 112.117722 w 34.687389 ; 112.117722 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.aztv.com kazt tv virtual and vhf digital channel 7 is an independent television station located in prescott arizona united states and serving the phoenix market . the station is owned by the londen family of phoenix and as such is the only locally owned english language television station in the phoenix market . kazt maintains studio facilities on tower road in prescott with a secondary studio in the londen center on camelback road in phoenix . its main transmitter is located atop mingus mountain northeast of prescott . its signal is relayed through a network of seven low power translators across central and northern arizona including kazt cd uhf digital channel 36 in phoenix . 1 the station is also carried on cable providers throughout the state except in the tucson and yuma markets as well as on the phoenix directv and dish network local feeds . contents 1 history 1.1 kazt cd 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 local and syndicated programming 3.2 sports programming 4 repeaters 5 references 6 external links history edit the station was originally assigned the call letters knaz in january 1980 when the original construction permit was granted ; that september the calls were changed to kusk the knaz call letters ended up being assigned to the nbc affiliated station in flagstaff and it was under the latter calls that the station first signed on the air on september 5 1982 . by the 1990s channel 7 was running low budget programming that mainly targeted northern arizona through its main transmitter transmitting from mingus mountain and a network of translators from yuma to payson and from casa grande to bullhead city . the station broadcast television series from the 1950s and old public domain movies some of which were provided by america one and the american independent network syndicated programs that were declined by other phoenix stations local talk shows and home shopping programs from america s store . before the arizona diamondbacks began play in 1998 kusk thrived on major league baseball telecasts and aired san diego padres oakland athletics and san francisco giants games . on december 5 1997 kusk inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy while the company reorganized . 2 kusk emerged from bankruptcy in may 2000 . on november 30 2001 kusk reached an agreement to sell the station to the londen family who own a life insurance company and are active in local politics . the new owners officially took control of kusk and its translator network on april 1 2002 . kazt tv logo used from 2002 to 2008 . the day after the londen group closed on its purchase it relaunched the station with new call letters kazt tv . it also adopted a new brand az tv and a new slogan arizona s own . they also gave the station a significant technical facelift including a studio in phoenix and purchased stronger programming . the station transformed from a low budget operation focused on northern arizona into a high quality independent station more focused on phoenix and a serious competitor to the valley s long successful independent ktvk channel 3 . to help ensure that kazt would do some good for arizona the londen family put together an advisory board of notable arizonans including governor jane dee hull u.s. representative bob stump prominent local auto dealer lou grubb jerry colangelo of the phoenix suns and arizona diamondbacks and michael bidwill of the arizona cardinals . company patriarch jack londen later said that he had bought the station as a 50th anniversary gift for his wife dodie . 3 kazt cd edit kusk s phoenix repeater was founded on january 22 1985 ; the construction permit for the station which was originally assigned the callsign k27an was granted to the meredith corporation owners of kpho tv channel 5 . in august 1985 before the station was ever built meredith sold the permit to arizona metro television ltd. who constructed the station then sold it to kusk inc. in april 1986 . that same month the station signed on the air under program test authority but was not licensed until june 30 1987 . by 1993 it was an affiliate of home shopping network hsn . william h. sauro kusk s president became the licensee of the station in may 1994 and in december 1994 the station changed its callsign to khsk lp . around that time kusk became accessible to phoenix viewers on translator k55eh also owned by the prescott flagship station . 4 as part of kusk s network of stations khsk lp and k55eh were included in the proposed sale to harry pappas for his azteca phoenix enterprise but they were eventually sold to the londen group as part of the kusk sale after the pappas purchase failed to materialize . khsk lp initially kept its hsn affiliation but on july 5 2002 the londen group changed the station s callsign to kazt ca and relaunched the station as a translator of kazt tv . k55eh eventually became defunct . after kutp channel 45 signed on its digital signal on channel 26 their permanent allocation kazt ca began to experience adjacent channel signal interference . the station requested special temporary authority sta to shut off its analog signal and begin operating its digital signal on the same channel called a flash cut . the federal communications commission fcc granted the sta on august 16 2007 and kazt ca began broadcasting in digital on january 15 2008 . 1 5 on august 4 2008 kazt ca applied to move its signal to channel 36 citing displacement due to continuing interference from kutp . 6 the fcc granted the displacement application on september 10 2009 and on december 7 kazt ca ended broadcasts on channel 27 commencing operations on channel 36 five days later . 7 digital television edit az tv rtn 7.2 logo used from 2008 to 2009 . digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 8 7.1 720p 16 9 kazt7 .1 main kazt tv programming 7.2 480i 4 3 kazt7 .2 metv 9 10 7.3 kazt7 .3 hsn on october 13 2008 kazt dt and kazt ca launched a subchannel featuring programming from the retro television network rtv . 11 on june 20 2011 kazt added metv to digital subchannel 7.3 . on august 1 2011 metv was moved to subchannel 7.2 with rtv moving to 7.3 . 10 metv also airs locally in phoenix on cox communications digital channel 93 . on september 17 2012 rtv programming on 7.3 was replaced by the home shopping network . analog to digital conversion edit on february 22 2001 the station was granted a construction permit to build its digital companion channel on uhf channel 25 and in october 2002 after receiving a grant of special temporary authority sta to operate at roughly the same service level as its analog station kazt dt came on the air . the station made its temporary operations permanent in august 2006 and on october 17 2006 it was licensed . kazt tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 7 on may 15 2009 . the station s digital signal moved from uhf channel 25 to vhf channel 7 . 12 on that date the station surrendered the license for its channel 25 digital signal to the federal communications commission . 13 programming edit local and syndicated programming edit on weekdays kazt tv airs the locally produced and live talk show the morning scramble hosted by ktar fm public affairs director pat mcmahon and lisa schneider cipriano in phoenix and sandy moss in prescott . some syndicated programs featured on kazt include rachael ray who wants to be a millionaire family feud the steve harvey show both are hosted by harvey himself and jerry springer . saturday programming features repeats of select weekday programs . sunday programming is devoted to locally produced shows paid programming and religious programs including a live broadcast of the catholic mass from cathedral of saints simon and jude in phoenix . sports programming edit after the londens relaunched channel 7 as kazt tv the station acquired a heavy amount of sports programming . it served as the television home of arizona state university men s and women s basketball baseball and softball ; phoenix mercury wnba basketball and mountain west conference college football telecasts . in 2003 and 2004 the station also televised preseason football games from the nfl s arizona cardinals . from 2006 to 2008 kazt was the broadcast television home of the national hockey league s phoenix coyotes . 14 on february 17 2010 the station acquired the rights to broadcast eight games from the arizona rattlers of the revived arena football league . since 2011 the station has not aired live sports programming . on january 10 2015 . aztv entered a partnership with cox7 arizona to simulcast five grand canyon university antelopes basketball games games that is produced by cox7 arizona . repeaters edit kazt has a network of low power repeaters throughout arizona all of which are located within the phoenix market . k19cx in yuma formerly served the yuma el centro market but was required to drop kazt programming on december 4 2006 due to syndication exclusivity issues with other stations within that market . it became a repeater of kaet channel 8 and was sold directly to arizona state university in 2013 . 15 list of translators active translators city callsign city callsign city callsign city callsign bullhead city k24dk d 7.1 flagstaff k30dt kingman k20id d 7.1 lake havasu city k17da d 7.1 phoenix kazt cd 7.1 36.1 williams k29dk references edit a b az tv now all digital channel 7.1 in phoenix what you need to know and do . az tv . 2008 01 15 . retrieved 2008 01 15 . angela mull 1997 12 26 . kusk files chapter 11 amid shareholder spat . the business journal of phoenix . retrieved 2007 09 14 . anne robertson 2002 04 12 . londens are driving force behind kazt . the business journal of phoenix . retrieved 2007 12 29 . phoenix arizona az profile population maps real estate averages homes statistics relocation travel jobs hospitals schools crime moving houses news sex offenders . city data.com . onboard informatics . retrieved 15 august 2014 . station kazt ca flash cut application for d27 phoenix arizona . federal communications commission . 2007 07 24 . retrieved 2007 12 21 . kazt ca to move to channel 36 . federal communications commission . 2008 08 04 . retrieved 2008 08 04 . az tv transmitter upgrades . kazt website . retrieved 2009 12 09 . rabbitears tv query for kazt where to watch me tv . me