'Saguaro National MONUMENT"?! It's been a National PARK since 1993 (Thank you, Jim Kolbe). We have our own beautiful National Park. Big boring Phoenix does not. Speedway Blvd. from city limit to city limit E-W is 17 miles. Add a couple more miles on each end to get you from Saguaro NP East to Tucson Mountain Park in the west so let's say 20 miles. Using Kolb Road/Sabino Canyon Road (same alignment), N-S from SunriseDrive to I-10 is just over 14 miles. Like you say,once you get around Pusch Ridge (western part of the Santa Catalina range), it opens up to nearly double that. Tuscon metro spills over into Pinal County (Saddlebrooke area) on the NW side. Your assumptions may be a bit 'parochial'. But we're used to that from our brethren to the north in the city we consider the 'bad example'.
I moved away from my old hometown in 1979 and have visited only when I needed refills of my favorite Mexican hot sauce. The names I use are those I remember from that date. In any event it does not make a hill of beans how you refer to the mon....er, park since everyone down yonder knows exactly of which you speak. And BTW, it's 'TUCSON' and not 'Tuscon'.
Likewise, I gave the mileage I remember from my trips across town during 1977-1979. I didn't retrieve my protractor and measure it exactly (and I am certain it has grown since I was last a resident). My point, of course, is that Tucson metro is tiny compared to Phoenix metro and you don't need me to tell you that. I was comparing the two areas and the ability of a RV or radio station to cover the entire metro. Easy peasy in Tucson. A bit more demanding in El Phoenix up north.
And to address some other issues you raised: Big, bad Phoenix has
South Mountain Park. At 17,000 acres it is the largest municipal park in the United States, and one of the largest urban parks in North America and in the world. I didn't do a count but according to the Phoenix Parks Department there are over 100 public parks in Phoenix alone and that does not count all the others in the suburban cities (about a dozen or so). This list includes the very large and aquatic Encanto Park in the heart of the city which has a full lagoon and an amusement park inside. Nothing like that in the Old Pueblo. And should you ever travel up to Crown King, high up in the Bradshaw Mountains, you will find yet another Phoenix city park. So we have our version of Mt. Lemmon too.
I grew up in Tucson and it will always be my home town but if you compare the two cities you will find only one thing that Tucson has over Phoenix and that is the weather.....OK, and the Catalinas. Phoenix is a cheaper place to live (except for gas prices), has a much wider selection of ethnic restaurants, has much better roads (arterial and freeways) and did I mention ASU football (OK, that's a cheap shot but I could not resist because it overwhelms UofA basketbull). And speaking of sports we have the Dbacks, Suns, Coyotes (OK you have the farm club and they are good right now so that might be a tie), Cardinals and did I mention ASU? We get the good concerts, big golf tournaments, NASCAR races and almost everything else except the Gem & Mineral Show. I won't even go into our tax base advantage or the economics of the two regions.
I loved the Tucson of old but to compare the relative advantages of each is no real contest and after two tries at trying to earn a living down there as an IT professional I finally gave up and moved north to the end of the rainbow. Now that I am retired I have considered moving back down there again but the convenience of living here is just too great. I've become too spoiled.
When did you work at KTKT?
