O. M. Broadcasting, a company controlled by Rick L. and Lyle J. Murphy and William Olson Jr., was granted a construction permit for a 1,000-watt daytime-only station on 1380 kHz on May 22, 1974.[4] The new station signed on at 11 a.m. on September 7 as KZUL ("Kazual"),[5] an ABC Entertainment affiliate playing contemporary pop country.[6] Within a year, KZUL had a middle of the road format,[7] though it was devoting 18 hours a week to country music by 1978.[8] KZUL increased its power to 2,500 watts in 1976;[9] it was the first station to be authorized at this power level.[10] O. M. Broadcasting also applied for an FM radio station on 99.3 MHz;[11] this allocation was instead awarded on July 7, 1977, to competing applicant Gilbert Leivas's BINA Broadcasting,[12] who started KMDX in 1978.[13] The Murphys sold their stake in KZUL to Olson in 1977.[9]
O. M. Broadcasting sold KZUL to Scofield Broadcasting for $225,000 in 1982; Scofield's principals were Charles L. Scofield, owner of KEYZ, KYYZ, and a cable television system in Williston, North Dakota, and his wife Lorraine A. Scofield.[14] The station, which had evolved to adult contemporary music,[15] became KLPZ on March 6, 1984;[1] the new call sign was derived from La Paz County, which had recently been split from Yuma County and of which Parker is the seat.[5] Station founder Rick Murphy would subsequently start a new KZUL-FM in Lake Havasu City.[16]
Until January 1993, KLPZ played adult standards music during the winter months and adult contemporary music in the summer, both supplementing country music. It then became a full-time country station, with programming from Jones Satellite Networks.[17] "The All New 1380 AM Country" also added The Rush Limbaugh Show on February 1, 1993;[18] it would carry the program until Limbaugh's death in 2021,[5] and was also an affiliate of the successor Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.[19] KLPZ also carried Paul Harvey[18] until his death in 2009.[5]
Keith Learn and Juanita Casares bought KLPZ in 2000; they had been with the station since 1993,[20] and hosted the morning show.[5] Under their ownership, the station described its format as "Country and a Little More", in reflection of its talk programming and the occasional non-country songs on the playlist,[5] and used the slogan "The Last Medium of Freedom".[20]
The Learns announced on December 6, 2024, that they would retire on December 31;[5] regular programming on KLPZ would then end.[20] Learn Broadcasting requested the cancellation of the KLPZ license in February 2025.[21] The license was cancelled on February 7, 2025.[22]
