KAZT-TV
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| Channels for KAZT-TV | |
| Channels for KAZT-CD | |
| Branding |
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| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| Operator | Nexstar Media Group via TBA |
| History | |
First air date |
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Former call signs |
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Former channel number |
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| Independent (1982–2024, now on DT2 and CD2) | |
Call sign meaning | Arizona Television (station branded as AZ-TV from 2002 to 2024) |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
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| Class |
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| ERP |
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| HAAT |
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Transmitter coordinates | |
| Translator | see § Translators |
| Links | |
Public license information |
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| Website | cw7az |
KAZT-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Prescott, Arizona, United States, serving the Phoenix television market as a de facto owned-and-operated station of The CW. The station is locally owned by the Londen family of Phoenix and managed under a multi-year time brokerage agreement by Nexstar Media Group, which owns 81% of the network. 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. The station was renamed as KAZT-TV on April 2, 2002. It remained an independent station with syndicated programming for Phoenix and Northern Arizona as well as some local shows and sports telecasts. In 2024, Nexstar assumed operational control of KAZT under a time brokerage agreement with Londen and moved the CW affiliation from a subchannel of KNXV-TV.