KBAQ (89.5 FM, "K-Bach") is a non-commercial, listener-supported, public radio station in Phoenix, Arizona, playing classical music.
The community college system manages day-to-day operations, while ASU provides production and recording services for concerts around Arizona.
The station has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 30,000 watts, covering the Phoenix metropolitan area from Black Canyon City in the north to Casa Grande in the south.
Programming is also heard on 10-watt FM translator 89.7 K209DV in Scottsdale and as an audio subchannel (8.5) of ASU-owned KAET television (Arizona PBS).
Nearly immediately after KONC switched formats, the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), owner of public jazz and talk station KJZZ, launched a bid for a non-commercial classical music station at 89.5 MHz and filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
KJZZ's station director said, "If ASU had desired to do something to impede the progress in returning classical music to the airwaves in Phoenix, it couldn't have found a better action to pursue.
"[10] MCCCD had already raised some $80,000 to build a classical station but halted its fundraising drive when ASU entered the fray.
The FCC ordered MCCCD and ASU to share time on the 89.5 frequency and stipulated a time-share plan in the event the two parties could not agree.
[15] In 1998, KBAQ was relocated to the White Tank Mountains north and west of Phoenix, which permitted an increase in effective radiated power to 12,500 watts.