Broadcasting activity at NAU began in 1962 as a 10-watt AM station, run by students, with student-built transmitter and antenna atop Sechrist Hall.
NAU's broadcasting legacy began with station KASC, built in 1962 at what was then Arizona State College at Flagstaff.
[5] As early as 1966, the idea of an FM station that might provide wider service to the city of Flagstaff outside of campus was considered.
In 1979, it filed to increase power to 100,000 watts to comply with FCC rules restricting 10-watt Class D stations like KAXR;[7] the Board of Regents included funds in its 1980–81 budget to carry out the upgrade.
[13] On August 18, 1980, KAXR became KNAU,[7] a set of call letters that previously belonged to the scrapped freighter Kenneth McKay;[14] the designation had been denied originally to the station because of its use by the ship.
[16] Even though some grant money had already been allocated,[17] budget cuts at NAU almost ended the project before it began and threatened the station's future.
[21] A transmitter was built on Mormon Mountain, while a satellite uplink was added for the reception of public radio programming.
[29] Also in 1986, KNAU was first to report the crash of an airplane and a helicopter over the Grand Canyon, earning it a Governors' Award from the Associated Press.
[33] The station moved to new studios on NAU's South Campus in 1998, leaving the Creative Arts Building behind after starting there in 1970.
[40] In 2008, Cellular One of Show Low donated $67,000 to support a satellite interconnection system to improve the signal delivery from Flagstaff, which had been intermittent.