The studios are located in north Phoenix near Piestewa Peak, and the station broadcasts with 5,000 watts from a transmitter site near the corner of 36th Street and Thomas Road.

After dropping music programming in 1973 to focus on news, talk, sports, and information, it consolidated itself as the leading station of its kind in Phoenix under the ownership of Combined Communications Corporation and Pulitzer Broadcasting; Bonneville has owned KTAR since 2004.

As Bonneville holds the radio broadcast rights to most major professional and college sports in Phoenix, KTAR carries games in the event of scheduling conflicts with KMVP-FM.

[3] On June 21, 1922, the McArthur Brothers Mercantile Company, at 134 South Central Avenue in Phoenix, was issued a license for a new station on the shared 360-meter "entertainment" wavelength.

[b] The original station was built by Arthur Anderson, who would remain with KFAD and later KTAR until his death in 1956 and along the way claimed various Arizona radio firsts.

[12] In early 1928, KFAD was reassigned to 930 kHz,[13] a change that Phoenix radio listeners found hindered their reception of KOA in Denver and KFI in Los Angeles.

[14] On November 11, 1928, as part of a nationwide reallocation under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40, the station moved to 620 kHz, which has been its assignment ever since.

Instead of KREP, the new owners received permission to change the call sign to KTAR,[21] which it began using on January 1, 1930, in advance of the new facilities being activated on February 4.

[28] The Easter sunrise service, narrated and written by Pyle, became an annual tradition for KTAR and NBC, presented for 25 years to a national and international audience.

[33][34] KTAR filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1939 to relocate its transmitter to a site at 36th Street and Thomas Road and increase power to 5,000 watts.

[41] That year, the Blue Network, having been split from NBC, affiliated with KPHO (1230 AM), which had gone on the air in 1940 as the first new radio station in Phoenix since the early 1920s.

[43] Pyle's deployment proved timely, as he witnessed some of the key moments in the final months of fighting in Japan, seeing the surrender of Tomoyuki Yamashita firsthand.

[45] After purchasing a parcel of land further north on Central Avenue, at Portland Street, ground was broken in June 1952 for a new, $500,000 studio complex.

As early as 1945, it had negotiated with the city of Phoenix parks board to obtain access to South Mountain, a prime location for a television transmitter facility.

[54] When the sale closed in July 1954, KTYL-TV became KVAR; immediately, KTAR-purchased equipment was added to the studios,[56] which were then moved to Phoenix in 1956 over KTVK's objection.

[62] Bill Heywood moved over from KUPD (1060 AM) to be part of the station's morning show, marking the first of four separate stints with KTAR.

When the Phoenix Suns of the NBA began—with Eller as a founding investor—KTAR radio and television were the team's first local broadcast partners.

[65] Four years later, KTAR hired Al McCoy, already a Phoenix market veteran having worked for several local radio and television stations, to announce the Suns games.

[79] That same year, it became the first radio home of the newly relocated Phoenix Cardinals; the color announcer, Tom Dillon,[80] was also the voice of the Sun Devils on KTAR and other stations from 1973 to 1997.

[91] Hearst-Argyle's short ownership of KTAR, KMVP, and KKLT was consistently marked by speculation that a sale was imminent, given the corporation's heavy concentration on local television stations.

[100] KTAR's sports talk lineup largely mixed ESPN Radio programming and local shows, with personalities including Ron Wolfley, Doug Franz, and John Gambadoro.

[102] In the case of the Coyotes, who have departed from KTAR on several occasions to find another partner, their doing so has been cited for reducing coverage of the NHL team in the local sports media.

[106] Beginning January 6, 2025, KTAR AM became the new home of Roc & Manuch, featuring former NFL quarterback Dan Manucci, which had aired on KGME from 2019 to 2024.