News Talk radio is dead in Yuma, AZ

[GlobalNorth]

Earlier this year [2026], news /talk KBLU [560 AM] went off the air and ended service to SoCal and Southwestern AZ. Formerly powered at 1 kW from an omni antenna daytime and a bi-directional at night, it is owned by El Dorado broadcasting and there are no known plans to return it to the air.

 

[sideshowjim]

I feel your pain!

The long running conservative talk show (and the only one in the metro), John Justice morning show on Twin Cities News Talk AM 1130 was discontinued couple weeks ago. (St Paul/Minneapolis)

So far the big shows like Glen Beck Show, the Clay and Buck, the Sean Hannity radio show, Joe Pags and others are still being broadcasted....

There is a hidden force within our country to eliminate conservative radio talk shows here in the United States. There's even a movement to eliminate the AM band on the radios in the automotive industry...

I can't even imagine how hard it is to sell local radio advertising to a business these days... TV too...

You might find your favorite AM radio show on IHeart or another internet radio service... good luck!

 

[eagle2046]

Wow sideshowjim, you are very perceptive and spot on. Yea the main street media hates conservatives thinking people, so transparent. Radio is dying I think, AM, Shortwave, VHF, sad.

 

[Boombox]

I wouldn't go so far as to say there's a conspiracy to get rid of conservative AM radio. But it's obvious that the radio industry is in trouble. And yeah, conservative talk radio gets a lot of heat from people who aren't conservative. I've even read comments by radio hobbyists claiming that the AM band is all conservative talk, when most of the stations in my locale are ethnic, religious, sports, and even a news-talker.

FM has way too many commercials. Even highly rated FM stations. I listened for the first time in a long time to local FM, over the past week or so, and heard 15 commercials and liners in a row. One spot break was about 8 minutes.

They're killing radio.

 

[KK4JUG]

I can't even imagine how hard it is to sell local radio advertising to a business these days... TV too...

You might find your favorite AM radio show on IHeart or another internet radio service... good luck!

TV is thriving. The pharmaceutical companies are trying to cure diseases I've never heard of and ambulance-chasing lawyers are evidence that the worst decision ever made by the American Bar Association was to allow attorneys to advertise.

 

[MiCon]

I've never cared much for FM broadcast. Yes, the audio is much better than AM, but the signal is usually limited to a small area. Yes, there are LP AM stations, but AM signals can usually be heard farther than FM.

I'm always disappointed to hear of losing another AM station, as one of my interests is nighttime MW DXing. KBLU is one of the more local stations I've heard from my home in central AZ, a distance of about 185 miles. Poor signal, but I was able to get a positive station ID.

 

[eagle2046]

It may be obvious that I am somewhat conservative. Any radio station shutting down is sad, whether it be AM, FM, shortwave or liberal and conservative talk shows. My favorite talk show host was Rush Limbaugh, he knew politics and history cold, really miss him. Like Johnny Carson he cannot be replaced. When I was a kid ( 1970's ) and first started getting into shortwave, there was a ton of 500, 000 Kw shortwave stations all over the world, now only a few of those left as a result of the internet. There is still much to listen to though. CHU time stations recently shut down, a shame for sure.

 

[Boombox]

It may be obvious that I am somewhat conservative. Any radio station shutting down is sad, whether it be AM, FM, shortwave or liberal and conservative talk shows. My favorite talk show host was Rush Limbaugh, he knew politics and history cold, really miss him. Like Johnny Carson he cannot be replaced. When I was a kid ( 1970's ) and first started getting into shortwave, there was a ton of 500, 000 Kw shortwave stations all over the world, now only a few of those left as a result of the internet. There is still much to listen to though. CHU time stations recently shut down, a shame for sure.

Like you I didn't like seeing any talk radio being switched off, conservative or liberal. Although I leaned pretty conservative at the time, I enjoyed listening to the local progressive talk station here in my metro because the hosts were generally good and they made me think, even when I didn't agree with them. That got switched off for CBS Sports Radio, which was pretty good.... and then that turned into Infinity Sports Network, which went off the air to be replaced by WW1 Sports.

I also remember Cold War era SW radio. Radio Moscow (and the Voice of Russia right after it) were on 24/7. Even if one didn't agree with their viewpoints, the programming was good, especially Joe Adamov, Vladimir Posner, and the cultural programming.