In August 1929, KCUB was founded as KVOA. It was originally on 1260 kilocycles, with 500 watts, and owned by the Arizona Broadcasting Company.[4] KVOA was Tucson's second radio station, going on the air three years after KTUC. KVOA was an affiliate of the NBC Red Network and carried its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the Golden Age of Radio. By the 1940s, power was boosted to 1,000 watts and the station moved to 1290 kHz.
In September 1953, the owners put KVOA-TV on the air, also an NBC affiliate. Believing that TV would replace radio, the owners kept the TV station and sold off the radio station in 1958.[5] The new owner, Sherwood R. Gordon, renamed it KCUB but kept the affiliation with NBC. In 1968, the station was sold to Rex Broadcasting, airing a country music format.[6]
In 2001, KCUB was bought by Citadel Broadcasting, a forerunner of Cumulus, which switched it to its current sports format.
