KMVP is the callsign for a radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 in Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

. KMVP is owned by Bonneville International Corporation.

History

The 860 kHz frequency was occupied by several radio stations in Phoenix. The first station signed on the air as early as 1953 with the call letters KIFN. KIFN was Phoenix's first full-time Spanish-language radio station. http://www.broadcasting101.ws/phxradio100153.htm From the time it signed on until the early 1980s, KIFN operated as a daytime-only station. For many years, KIFN was owned by the Tichenor family, which owned a group of Spanish-language stations that ultimately became the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. After being sold in 1982, the call letters became KVVA ("Viva"), and the new owners retained its Spanish-language format. Among the programs aired in this era was a simulcast of KTSP

KSAZ-TV

KSAZ-TV, virtual channel 10.1, is the Fox owned-and-operated station in Phoenix, Arizona. It is owned by Fox Television Stations in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV station KUTP ....

's 10pm news.

In 1996, Pulitzer Broadcasting Company purchased the station out of bankruptcy with intentions on moving play-by-play sports contracts from KTAR

KTAR (AM)

KTAR is the callsign for a radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. It airs programming from ESPN Radio, in addition to KTAR-acquired broadcast rights for local teams...

(then a news and talk outlet) as KMVP. Eventually, station and team owners found the KMVP nighttime signal too weak to cover the entire Phoenix metropolitan area

Phoenix Metropolitan Area

The Phoenix metropolitan area, often referred to as The Valley of the Sun, is a metropolitan area, centered on the city of Phoenix, that includes much of the central part of the US state of Arizona...

 for play-by-play coverage, and the Suns and Diamondbacks moved back to KTAR with KMVP retaining broadcasts of the Mercury and Rattlers games. Over time, KMVP added more national sports talk (including ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...

) and less local programs.

Since then, ownership has passed from Pulitzer to Hearst-Argyle

Hearst-Argyle

Hearst Television, Inc. is a broadcasting company in the United States, owned by the New York City-based Hearst Corporation. It holds joint ventures in television production with NBC Universal Television Distribution...

, Emmis Communications

Emmis Communications

Emmis Communications is a media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company owns radio stations and magazines in the United States, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria.-History:...

, and now Bonneville.

KMVP used to simulcast with KTAR

KTAR (AM)

KTAR is the callsign for a radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. It airs programming from ESPN Radio, in addition to KTAR-acquired broadcast rights for local teams...

 at 620 kHz, also owned by Bonneville. The simulcast of KTAR and KMVP ended on April 14, 2007. On August 27, KMVP converted to Spanish language

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 religious programming from Radio Vida Abundante

Radio Vida Abundante

Radio Vida Abundante is a radio network broadcasting Spanish language religious programming.- External links :*...

. Is now a gospel music station.