KNOG joining Don Lee occurred simultaneously with the launch of another Arizona Network station, KCKY in Coolidge.
[4] Within its first six months of operation, KNOG had a bone to pick with its Mexican competition, alleging that XEHF in Nogales, Sonora, had illegally retransmitted the Mutual broadcast of the 1948 World Series that KNOG was carrying, though XEHF said it had picked up reports of the Series from a Mexico City shortwave section.
[6] The investigation revealed that XEHF had secured permission direct from Gillette, the sponsor of the broadcasts, to carry them, bypassing KNOG and Mutual completely.
[8] However, the sale was never finalized, and in August 1950, Young sued Border to recover the $2,100 loss he had incurred running the radio station for a month.
[9] Border was able to successfully sell KNOG in 1952, when the Old Pueblo Broadcasting Company, owners of KOPO in Tucson and 95 percent of KOOL, paid $20,000 for the station.
[15] However, in 1958, the Montanos sold the station to veteran southern Arizona broadcaster Carleton W. Morris for $20,000, with the Federal Communications Commission granting the application in January 1959.
[19] Just days after the sale was approved, tragedy struck when 19-year-old announcer Frank V. Robles was killed in a traffic accident while returning to Tucson.
[27] The new owners would have relocated the station from the La Hacienda Motor Hotel, to which KNOG had moved, back to the Rancho Grande.
The KNOG call letters were assigned on June 30, 1978, to a college radio station in Havre, Montana, which changed to KNMC in 1985.
The new station carried English-language programming during the daytime hours and Spanish-language shows at night and was affiliated with KTAR's Arizona Broadcasting System.
[36] In 1981, KFBR had a format of middle-of-the-road music with a handful of Spanish programs, as well as affiliation with the ABC Information network[35] and CBS.