KPTR (AM)

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Coordinates: 47°23′38″N 122°25′25″W / 47.39389°N 122.42361°W / 47.39389; -122.42361
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KPTR
iHeartMedia, Inc.
  • (iHM Licenses, LLC)
    • KBKS-FM, KHHO, KJAQ, KJEB, KJR, KJR-FM, KZOK-FM
    History
    First air date
    		1927; 97 years ago (1927)
    Former call signs
    • KGBS (1927–1928)
    • KVL (1928–1936)
    • KEEN (1936–1940)
    • KEVR (1940–1947)
    • KING (1947–1995)
    • KINF (1995)
    • KNWX (1995)
    • KRPM (1995–1999)
    • KMPS (1999)
    • KYCW (1999–2004)
    • KPTK (2004–2012)
    • KFNQ (2012–2022)
    Call sign meaning
    		"Patriot"
    Technical information[1]
    Licensing authority
    		FCC
    Facility ID6387
    ClassB
    Power50,000 watts
    Transmitter coordinates
    		47°23′38″N 122°25′25″W / 47.39389°N 122.42361°W / 47.39389; -122.42361
    Repeater(s)96.5 KJAQ-HD3 (Seattle)
    Links
    Public license information
    WebcastListen live (via iHeartRadio)
    Website1090thepatriot.iheart.com

    KPTR (1090

    studios and offices are in the Belltown neighborhood northwest of Downtown Seattle
    .

    KPTR is powered at 50,000

    Vashon Island.[2] KPTR also airs on the HD3 sub-channel of co-owned KJAQ.[3]

    Programming

    Most of KPTR's schedule is

    The Glenn Beck Radio Program, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, The Sean Hannity Show, The Jesse Kelly Show and Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb
    .

    Weekends feature specialty shows, mostly from co-owned

    NBC News Radio
    .

    History

    Early years

    The station

    signed on the air in 1927; 97 years ago (1927). The original call sign was KGBS.[4] It is considered the third oldest radio station in Seattle, following KJR, which began broadcasting in 1922, and KOMO, now KNWN, which began in 1926. KIRO
    started broadcasting later in 1927, as KPCB.

    The following year, KGBS changed its call letters to KVL.

    kilocycles with only 100 watts of power.[6]
    The studios were in the L.C. Smith Tower in downtown Seattle.

    The call letters became KEEN in 1936 and KEVR in 1940.[4] When the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) took effect in 1941, KEVR moved to 1090 kHz.[7] It got a boost to 250 watts, but still only a fraction of its current output. In the early 1940s, the station was owned by the Evergreen Broadcasting Company, with its studios still in Smith Tower.

    KING

    In 1947, broadcasting pioneer

    FCC granted the request to change to KING a few months later. Bullitt incorporated her broadcast holdings as King Broadcasting Company
    .

    In 1948, King Broadcasting acquired KRSC-TV and KRSC-FM, changing their call letters to KING-TV and KING-FM. KRSC-TV had only been on the air eight months before King Broadcasting took it over. KING-FM first signed on in 1947. After initially simulcasting KING (AM), KING-FM began adding classical music in the evening and eventually classical became its full-time format.

    Under the Bullitts' watch, the once-small station became a powerhouse in Seattle during the 1950s and 1960s. The "Mighty 1090" featured legendary radio personalities such as Frosty Fowler, Ray Court, Mark Wayne, Buzz Lawrence, and late night talk with Irving Clark's Clark on King. The station was an

    Spokane, and personality Larry Nelson came aboard from KOMO
    .

    Top 40 era

    During the 1970s, the station flipped to top 40 music and changed monikers to "Musicradio 11 KING", putting it in close competition with KJR. The line-up at the time included such Seattle radio personalities as Gary Lockwood (who later defected to KJR) and Bruce Murdock, with the Murdock in the Morning Show. (Murdock later moved to KLSY.)

    When KJR unveiled its yellow "Sunshine" window sticker, KING followed with its own red "Sunburst" sticker. KING-AM-FM-TV were located in studios on Aurora Avenue in Seattle.

    Adult contemporary

    In April 1980, KING experienced a major change. As

    soft adult contemporary, while retaining the "Musicradio 11 KING" moniker. KING's slogan was "Soft Rock and More". The station's tagline used in advertising was "You grew up with us, now we've grown up for you".[8][9]

    Talk and all-news

    On October 4, 1982, at 4 a.m., KING switched to a talk radio format, mostly with local personalities.[10][11] It was branded simply as "KING NewsTalk 1090". Personalities included Jim Althoff, Carl Dombek, Jeff Ray, Randy Rowland, Freddy Mertz, Mike Siegel, Candace Siegel (no relation) and Pat Cashman. This format produced moderately high ratings, though never as successful as the top 40 format had been.

    On September 2, 1994, at noon, the station fired all on-air personalities and switched to an

    AP News radio service "All News Radio."[12][13]

    In February 1995, the Bullitts sold KING AM-FM to

    Providence Journal Company in 1991.) Bonneville, in turn, sold KING-AM-FM to EZ Communications later that year. The FM station was then sold by EZ to a non-profit organization that pledged to continue its Classical music
    format as a commercial station. The TV and FM stations retained the KING call letters; for the AM station, the long-running KING call sign was dropped for KINF, followed by KNWX.

    Country music

    In November 1995, the station swapped formats (but not call letters) with

    Infinity Broadcasting name, which would be renamed CBS Radio
    in December 2005.)

    On February 1, 1999, the station broke from the KBKS simulcast and flipped to a locally programmed classic country format with a simulcast of the morning show on sister KMPS-FM.[15][16] At that time, the station's call letters became KMPS, and then KYCW. The station began broadcasting in AM stereo in March 2001.

    Hot talk/back to classic country/progressive talk

    Beginning August 4, 2001, the station ran announcements promoting a new format that advised listeners to "listen at their own risk". At 5 a.m. on Monday, August 6, the station flipped to

    Sporting News Radio (now SB Nation).[17][18] As with nearly all hot talk-formatted stations, the station's ratings were abysmal, especially with the format change occurring a month before 9/11
    .

    KYCW would return to classic country at 11 p.m. on May 19, 2002.[19] The station's second version of the classic country format included the return of personalities previously heard the first time, including "Tall" Paul Fredericks, Mike Preston, program director Becky Brenner, "Buffalo" Phil Harper, and Sheldon Smith. The station, however, still had low ratings, usually peaking at a 1.3.

    On October 25, 2004, at midnight, the station flipped to

    Air America Radio's Ron Reagan Show.[24][25] Beginning in 2011, KPTK became the flagship station of Seattle Storm and Seattle Thunderbirds broadcasts, though it was met with some controversy. The station's weekend programming included a mix of specialty syndicated and local programs, such as The Ric Edelman Show (a financial advice show), Ring of Fire, Democracy Now!
    , Swirl Radio (a show targeting the LGBT community), Community Matters with CBS Seattle's director of public affairs and morning traffic reporter Lee Callahan, Gardening In the Northwest with Scott Conner, The Tina and Drew Show, and Crash Talk with Mike Harber.

    Sports radio

    In July 2012, CBS and

    CBS Sports Radio to be launched in January 2013. The initial affiliate list that carried the network's full lineup included most of CBS' owned and operated
    low-performing AM stations, while others were CBS-owned sports stations that would carry certain programs and hourly "CBS Sports Minute" updates. After much speculation, on November 14, 2012, CBS announced that KPTK would flip to the new network on January 2, 2013, branded as "1090 The Fan." (This was further confirmed by the station changing call letters to KFNQ on the same day.)

    This was met with much controversy on the station's Facebook page, as well as being brought up by several of the station's hosts. To please displaced listeners, Lakewood radio station KLAY announced that it would carry Ed Schultz' and Stephanie Miller's programs after the station's flip, as well as KBCS picking up Thom Hartmann's program.[26]

    After the station's flip to all-sports, KFNQ aired a local afternoon show hosted by Steve Sandmeyer and Bill Swartz (later replaced by Jason Churchill). However, on July 11, 2015, the show was cancelled, resulting in KFNQ airing the entire CBS Sports Radio program lineup around the clock.

    iHeart ownership

    On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced its merger with

    Entercom (which locally owns KHTP, KISW, KKWF, and KNDD).[27] On October 10, CBS Radio announced that as part of the process of obtaining regulatory approval of the merger, KFNQ would be one of sixteen stations to be divested by Entercom, along with KJAQ and KZOK. (KMPS-FM was retained by Entercom.)[28]

    On November 1, iHeartMedia announced its acquisition of KFNQ, KJAQ, and KZOK. To meet ownership limits set by the FCC, KFNY (formerly KFOO) and KTDD (formerly KUBE) were divested to the Ocean Stations Trust in order to be sold to a different owner.[29] Until the completion of the divestment of KFNY and KTDD to the trust, CBS placed KFNQ, KJAQ, and KZOK into the Entercom Divestiture Trust. The merger of CBS and Entercom was approved on November 9, and was consummated on November 17.[30][31] iHeart then began operating KFNQ under a local marketing agreement.[32][33] The sale of KFNQ to iHeart was completed on December 19, 2017.[34]

    On February 8, 2018, the station dropped the "Fan" branding and relaunched as "1090 KJR", a brand extension of co-owned KJR. With the change, KFNQ added the syndicated Fox Sports Radio programs The Dan Patrick Show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and The Doug Gottlieb Show.[35]

    On March 16, 2022, the station changed callsigns to KPTR, foreshadowing a flip to conservative talk as "1090 The Patriot", which would occur on April 10.

    KUBE
    as "93.3 KJR-FM" earlier in March.

    References

    1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KPTR". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
    2. ^ "KPTR-AM 1090 kHz - Seattle, WA". radio-locator.com.
    3. ^ HD Radio Guide for Seattle-Tacoma Archived 2015-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
    4. ^ a b "KING (KPTR) history cards" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
    5. ^ 1937 Seattle City Directory shows Gellermann, Vincent as "opr KVL Broadcasting Sta"
    6. ^ Information from the Broadcasting Yearbook 1935 page 66
    7. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1943 page 152
    8. ^ "Radio KING AM1090 (1977)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22.
    9. ^ "Kenny Morse in KING RADIO (Seattle) commercial". YouTube.
    10. ^ "RadioInsight.com". Retrieved 2007-02-14.
    11. ^ "Joe Cooper says Goodbye to KING-Radio". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22.
    12. ^ "Radio & Records, September 9, 1994" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com.
    13. ^ "Why The Sudden Change Regarding King-Am Radio? | The Seattle Times". archive.seattletimes.com.
    14. ^ "Radio & Records, September 26, 1997" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com.
    15. ^ "RADIO WAVES". products.kitsapsun.com.
    16. ^ "Radio & Records, February 5, 1999" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com.
    17. ^ Virgin, Bill; SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER (2001-08-06). "Country gets the boot, 'extreme talk' is in at KYCW". seattlepi.com.
    18. ^ "Radio & Records, August 10, 2001" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com.
    19. ^ "Radio & Records, May 24, 2002" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com.
    20. ^ "Northwest Progressive Institute Archive: Air America Radio,Now in Seattle!".
    21. ^ "Radio & Records, October 29, 2004" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com.
    22. ^ FCC Internet Services Staff. "Call Sign History". licensing.fcc.gov.
    23. ^ "Classic Country 1090 KYCW becomes Progressive Talk KPTK". Format Change Archive. 2005-01-20.
    24. ^ Ron Reagan added as permanent Air America host, ltradio.blogspot.com
    25. ^ KPTK Weekday Program Lineup
    26. ^ 1090 KPTK Seattle Gets New Calls; To Join CBS Sports Radio
    27. ^ CBS Radio to Merge with Entercom
    28. ^ Venta, Lance (October 10, 2017). "Entercom Narrows Down 16 Stations To Be Divested To Complete CBS Radio Merger". RadioInsight. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
    29. ^ Entercom Trades Boston/Seattle Spin-Offs to iHeartMedia for Richmond/Chattanooga
    30. ^ "Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio". Entercom. November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
    31. ^ Venta, Lance (November 17, 2017). "Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger". Radio Insight. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
    32. ^ Venta, Lance (December 10, 2017). "Alt 102.9 & KUBE 104.9 Tacoma Move To Placeholder Formats". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 11, 2017. While iHeart has begun operating 1030 WBZ, 97.7 WKAF, and 100.7 WZLX in the Boston market and Sports "1090 The Fan" KFNQ Seattle via LMA…
    33. ^ iHeart Begins Operating Remainder of Boston & Seattle Acquisitions
    34. ^ "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
    35. ^ Venta, Lance (February 8, 2018). "iHeart Launches 1090 KJR and South Sound Talk 850 Seattle". RadioInsight. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
    36. ^ "1090 The Patriot Launches In Seattle; KJR Moves Exclusively To 93.3". RadioInsight. Retrieved 2022-04-10.

    External links

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