John In Arizona Radio and TV Stations

KPHO TV Channel 5 Phoenix, Arizona Station Photos from the John in Arizona Collection

All photos are the property of John C Johnson / John In Arizona / johninarizona.com and may not be used in any form elsewhere.

KPHO TV: KPHO-TV Channel 5 Phoenix came on the air in 1949 as Arizona's first TV station. The call letters come from PHOenix. KPHO TV studios were just off I-17 south of West Indian School Road at 4016 North Black Canyon Highway as seen in the photos from 2008 and 2013. In 2015 studios were sold and KPHO combined with KTVK (see KTVK page). The original KPHO studio location was in the Westward Ho Hotel and the broadcast tower is still atop the North Central Avenue building in downtown Phoenix. The 268 foot tower is actually taller than the building. It was added to the hotel in 1949 and used by Phoenix's first TV station until KPHO started using a tower on South Mountain. In the 1950's KTAR radio used the tower. It is no longer in use. If you think you saw this tower in a movie, it was featured in the 1998 remake of the movie "Psycho." These downtown photos are from 2011. Note, the building with the satellite dishes atop the roof is part of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. The on air screen grabs are from various years and give a good representation of the station's newscasts. Beginning on April 13, 2015 5.2 changed from weather to Cozi programming.

KPHO TV Channel 5 Phoenix, Arizona