KTAR-AM and FM sister station, 98.7 The Peak (KPKX) has made the successful move to their palatial new building at 16th St. and Northern Ave. Now it was time to complete the move move this weekend, with KTAR following suit.

All throughout Friday, December 11, KTAR hosts mentioned it being the last day they would be broadcasting from their Central Avenue location of 13 years, and the move was happening– as they spoke. The shows still went on, just about unhitched, despite much behind-the-scenes packing and preparation going on.

Joe Crummey’s show, though hosted from Los Angeles, is fed back into the Central Ave. studio making it officially the last live, locally-oriented radio show to broadcast from the old building. The night was complete with occasional technical errors with soundbytes, audio processing, and once, a “testing” from a studio mic.

Wondering what happened to Chuck Powell on the Peak, and Chris Parker on Mix 96.9? Both have been taken off of their respective station websites most recently and were not on-the-air.

It is learned that Chuck Powell, morning drive personality at Bonneville’s 98.7 The Peak (KPKX), will not be returning to The Peak.

Mix 96.9 morning show host, Chris Parker (hosted with Amy Van Dyken for much of the time), will be moving the morning show to 98.7 The Peak.

Chris and Amy will begin on December 17. It is not known where Chuck Powell will be going at this time.

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Tuesday morning power outages in the Valley have not only left an estimated 18,000 people without electricity, according to APS spokeswoman Jenna Henry, but also briefly knocked out several major Phoenix FM radio stations.

Several– if not a majority– of the FM stations went to static around 10:27am. The static lasted for a minute or two before broadcasts returned on-air. A few others, like KOOL-FM, went from static to silence for a few moments more.

A second occurrence reportedly occurred just minutes shy of 11am, that affected Bonneville’s KPKX and KTAR-FM. Since both stations returned just before the noon hour, we presume the hour was used for transmitter work. Both are located on South Mountain, which supports a majority of Phoenix FM radio station transmitters.

Bonneville Phoenix, with Valley radio stations Sports 620 KTAR (AM), News/Talk 92.3 KTAR (FM), and 98.7 The Peak (KPKX), are currently in the process of moving studios and offices to another building.

The current building, located on the southwest corner of Central and Georgia avenues (just north of Camelback), will move four miles to the northeast near 16th St. and Northern at 7740 N. 16th St. The new location is said to be an upgrade from the cramped quarters of the Central Ave. location.

Old location at 5300 N. Central Ave. Photo courtesy: Google

Click here for Phoenix Business Journal’s story.