City Phoenix, Arizona Format Regional Mexican HAAT 304 meters (997 ft) | Frequency 88.3 MHz ERP 22,500 watts | |
Broadcast area Phoenix metropolitan area |
KNAI FM (88.3 MHz) is an FM non-commercial educational radio station broadcasting a radio format of Regional Mexican music and information for farm workers and other immigrants from Mexico. Licensed to Phoenix, Arizona, it serves the Phoenix metropolitan area. The station is owned by the César Chávez Foundation and carries the Radio Campesina Network, with stations in California, Nevada and Arizona. The word "campesina" translates to "peasant" or "farm worker."
KNAI operates as a shared-time station, meaning it may only be on the air during certain pre-determined hours. KNAI broadcasts from 5AM to 7:30PM, with the remaining hours used by Family Radio's KPHF for its Christian radio format. The stations' owners began this shared time arrangement in 1990. Both KNAI and KPHF use the same transmitter off Shaw Butte Trail in Phoenix.
History
On September 2, 2011, lawyers representing radio stations KNAI and KUFW (Woodside, California) notified the FCC that license holder National Farm Workers Service Center, Inc., had legally changed its name to the "César Chávez Foundation" on June 30, 2010. Chávez was a noted leader of the Farm Workers movement.
In March of 2017, it was announced that the César Chávez Foundation was planning to buy AM 860 KMVP, also in Phoenix, which would allow programming to be heard around the clock in the Phoenix media market, while KNAI is off the air.