‘AM Mayhem’ Tells Story of Tucson's Power 1490 AM

In these quickly evolving times in the media it's difficult imagine the impact a 1,000-watt Tucson AM radio station had in the early 1990s. So we don't forget, they've made a documentary about it called "AM Mayhem - The Untold Story of Tucson's Power 1490."



According to a story by David Hatfield at Inside Tucson Buisiness, there will be a one-time showing of the two-hour film at 6 p.m. July 23 at the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St. It's free but requires an RSVP  at http://www.power1490.com/. DVDs of the film are available for purchase.

The documentary was produced as a labor of love by radio personality R. Dub who was part of Power 1490 before he went on to work at other Tucson stations, including KRQ and Hot 98.3-FM. He is now host of a nationally syndicated show named "Slow Jams" and an afternoon radio personality in San Diego.

In the early 1990s radio was just beginning to go corporate. But, as sort of a last-ditch stand, Bruce St. James hit on the idea of a hip-hop music station. It was a radical change for the station, which up until that time called itself K-Joy and played what was called "beautiful music." Needless to say the switch was dramatic and, according to legend, at one point Power 1490 was the highest rated AM music station in the country.

Power 1490 ended in 1995 when the station flipped formats to alternative rock. And it wasn't entirely because the format didn't have an audience. It had more to do with corporate.

The behind-the-scenes story at the time was that it was an effort to try to force another station in the market to change formats so it would stop stealing audience away from Power 1490's sister stations. It worked and that other station became KFMA.

In the meantime, 1490-AM is now KFFN airing all-sports ESPN radio owned by Journal Broadcasting.