KBAQ FM 89.5

Broadcasting on 89.5 FM under the on-air identity "K-Bach," this public radio station carries an all-classical music format for the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is jointly owned by the Maricopa County Community College District and Arizona State University, with day-to-day operations managed by the community college system and ASU contributing production and recording services for concerts throughout Arizona. Studios are located at Rio Salado College in Tempe, alongside co-owned public jazz and talk station KJZZ, while the transmitter sits atop South Mountain. The signal also reaches central, northern, and southwestern Arizona as an audio subchannel of ASU's KAET television. The station's origins trace to 1986, when Phoenix lost its longtime commercial classical outlet. Both MCCCD and ASU independently filed for the vacant 89.5 MHz frequency, which drew two additional applicants as well. After the Federal Communications Commission mandated in 1990 that the two educational institutions either share time or reach a separate agreement, they collaborated to launch the station, which first broadcast on April 26, 1993. Funding comes from listener donations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the community college district. Programming follows classical music around the clock. Morning Classics begins at 5:00 a.m. with what the station bills as a "First Cup of Classical," and a weekday afternoon program called The Classical Happy Hour, hosted by Greg Kostraba, runs from 5 to 7 p.m. The station conducts an annual listener-voted countdown of most-requested works, with final results revealed each February, and throughout that month highlights the contributions of Black musicians to classical repertoire.