KAZT-TV
Independent television station serving Phoenix and Prescott, Arizona
KAZT-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Prescott, Arizona, United States, serving as the Phoenix market's outlet for The CW. The station is locally owned by the Londen family of Phoenix and managed by Nexstar Media Group, whose Tegna subsidiary owns NBC affiliate KPNX (channel 12). KAZT-TV maintains studios on Tower Road in Prescott and 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 five low-power translators across central and northern Arizona, including Class A station KAZT-CD, which is licensed directly to Phoenix.
A construction permit for channel 7 in Prescott was approved in 1980. The first owner, William H. Sauro, unsuccessfully sought a network affiliation for the station, but by late 1981, he had switched to envisioning it as a springboard for a national network of translators. KUSK debuted on September 5, 1982; it aired limited local programming but was primarily recognized in the market for classic TV series and a heavy sports schedule. KUSK began extending its reach by a series of low-power translators in the Phoenix area, Flagstaff, and Yuma, but it was not available on Phoenix's largest cable system until 1993. The station declared bankruptcy in 1997 and was almost sold to Harry Pappas to become an affiliate of the new Azteca América Spanish-language network.
After the sale to Pappas failed, the Londen family—owners of a life insurance company in Phoenix—acquired KUSK and overhauled the operation.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “KAZT-TV” as independent television station serving Phoenix and Prescott, Arizona. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as independent television station serving Phoenix and Prescott, Arizona. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6325554. VIAF identifies the subject as 151610652. The Library of Congress control number is no2003023919. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1993.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “KAZT-TV”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow KAZT-TV primary sources, KAZT-TV archive and KAZT-TV research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “KAZT-TV”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “KAZT-TV” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.