On July 1, 1960, KUPD first signed on the air as the FM sister station to 1060 KUPD. KUPD-FM simulcast its AM station's MOR popular music format. In the 1970s, the station moved to a Top 40 format, and later easy listening and Adult Contemporary, before becoming a rock station in March 1979. During this time, KUPD-FM's original license was not renewed as the result of a 1988 comparative renewal hearing for KUKQ and KUPD-FM, in which the stations lost their original licenses for lying to the Federal Communications Commission about an alleged secret owner. An additional owner was ruled unfit to hold a license due to a 1982 criminal conviction in Arizona. The stations were instead awarded to former owner Jack Grimm, his wife Jackie, and Ruth Clifford, doing business as Tempe Radio, Inc. In 1992, after years of appeals, Grimm and Clifford took over KUKQ and KUPD-FM on new licenses, retaining the call letters, facilities and formats of the stations by buying them from Tri-State Broadcasting. After a year, Grimm and Clifford sold the duo to Robert Fish. In the 1990s, KUPD became co-owned with its former competitors, KDKB and KSLX-FM, after being purchased by Sandusky Radio, which also owned stations in Seattle, Washington. In 2013, Sandusky sold its stations in Phoenix and Seattle to Hubbard Broadcasting.
Along with sponsoring the majority of hard rock concerts in the Phoenix-metro area, the station also holds its own annual concert events such as "UFest", "The End of Summer Scorcher", "The Big Red Night of the Dead" and more. The station has invited notable hard rock acts to play the show each year. In recent years it has been headlined by acts such as Alice In Chains in 2008, Sevendust in 2009, Three Days Grace in 2010 and Papa Roach in 2011.
KUPD once transmitted an HD Radio signal, but due to technical issues, has since returned to analog-only broadcasting. The second channel carried sister station KDUSNBC Sports Radio 1060, which now airs on KSLX-FM's HD2 subchannel.
Current On-Air Staff
John Holmberg - 5:30AM to 10AM Larry McFeelie - 10AM to 2PM Fitz Madrid - 2PM to 7PM The Shan Man - 7PM to Midnight, M to TH and 7PM to 10PM Friday Bret Vesely - 12AM to 6AM
