85 years ago today, KOL Seattle first signed on. It is tied for #1 on my list of favourite stations, in terms of listened to the most and the longest (mid-'60s to 1971). You can read my somewhat personalized history of the station, written just for today, at http://www.radiowest.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12756703#12756703

Interesting history of KOL. Thanks for posting it! (Also liked the blurb about Z95.3 that you posted--It is my favourite Vancouver FM station. Fantastic imaging and presentation.)

Unfortunately, Z95.3 (CKZZ) has fallen upon very hard times, ratings-wise. They currently have the lowest rating of any rated commercial FM station in Vancouver.

Adiant: Nice Job!

KKOL's History link is a bit miss leading. KOL signed on the air May 25, 1922 as KDZE, owned by The Rhodes Co. (owners of Rhodes Department Store). The 10 watt transmitter was built by Carl E. Haymond, Chief Engineer & Operator. KDZE broadcast on 360 meters (832.7kc). Studio & transmitter were located at Rhodes Dept. Store (1321 2nd Ave.) in Seattle. Atop the store were two 75 foot wooden masts which were supported by a 5-wire "T" antenna. Shoppers could watch broadcasts behind a wall of glass.

On January 14, 1924 KDZE moved to 270 meters (1110kc) and power was increased to 100 watts. In March 1925 KDZE merged with sister KFOA and became KFOA on 600kc. In Winter 1925 power increased to 1KW. At this time KFOA Chief Announcer was Wilfred K. Bert. On June 4, 1926 KFOA changed to 670kc. On April 5, 1927 KFOA affiliated with the NBC Orange Network with KOMO. NBC would move entirely to KOMO in late 1927. In November 1928 KFOA was sold to Seattle Broadcasting Co. (Louis A. Wasmer & Archie G. Taft). On November 11, 1928 KFOA moved to 1270kc. On December 31, 1928 KFOA became KOL.

Source: dawes@cfmm.com

Wow! Thanks, Craig. I had no idea of the details of KOL's early existence.

If you're interested in the early EARLY days of radio, there's a great bio on David Sarnoff here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/bigdream/masarnoff.html

Great stuff.

I assume that the Carl Haymond who was mentioned above in the history summary as the first engineer for KOL's predecessor station in 1922 is the same Carl Haymond who later owned KMO radio in Tacoma and who started Channel 13 (now KCPQ) in 1953 as NBC affiliate KMO-TV. But he wasn't able to make a go of the TV station, which was then sold and became independent KTVW for many years.

Johnf, you bring up an interesting sidelight to Seattle/Tacoma TV history. In TV's formative years Tacoma tried to offer their own network outlets, probably due to limited antenna coverage of the big Seattle stations. Cable eventually changed all that. But KTNT was CBS, and KMO was NBC for awhile, as you mention. The irony is that the old CBS KTNT, who had evolved to KSTW, retreived CBS for a brief period in the mid-90's, but was doomed to failure. So except for that abberation, Seattle's net affiliates are back to what they were a generation ago. The Seattle market is stable enough to keep these affiliate-identifications alive for awhile...atleast until the big 3-4 start to become less relevant. I see that coming in the next decade or two.

BTW,did KIRO not lose CBS in the mid-90's in part to their mis-calculated "news out of the box" format that died a miserable death, not only from the disdain of the news talent, but also from the audience who completely was confused and turned-off by the approach?

And as a post-script, a decade later, KOMO is doing a somewhat similar format on many of their newscasts...(walking around, standing up, etc.) Nobody seems to care about this, despite the similarities to KIRO's ill-fated format. Perhaps they are doing it better, and with less hype. That could be the secret.

Which brings up another question: what took KIRO so long to get a TV station? I forget the exact date but they weren't on the air until about 1960. I've heard two different stories about CBS affiliates KTNT and KVOS (Bellingham) somehow preventing it, but never heard a definitive explanation.

I remember those pre-KIRO years, watching KOMO and KING from my grandparent's home in New Westminster (Vancouver, B.C., suburb) -- they were on the South side of the ridge that runs West to East across Vancouver into Burnaby and Coquitlam. In later years, a friend, also South of the ridge, could get KINK-FM in stereo 24/7.

In I think, in the spring of 64 not sure exactly, but KOL had a brief stint as an MOR station. Radio talk show host Fenwick left KPOJ to host a talk show on KOL in the early evening. Don Porter took over at KPOJ as the new host. Fenwick and his family lived in our neighborhood at the time. Apparently KOL wasn't MOR for very long. One night I listened to KOL and the stn was back to Rock'nRoll.........and no Fenwick. I wonder who owned KOL during this MOR stint and why this brief Mor phase?

KOL may have had some format kiniptions (sp?) but from the late 50's to the early 70's they were a personality-driven Top40. KJR was the ruler, but KOL gave them a run for their money.

As to why KOL might have backed off from the format, who knows, but Pat O'Day at 'JR had a real ability to tie-into the hot concerts acts of the time,(he was also a concert promoter) and he knew how to hire the best talent. Some may remember that Pat brought in Larry Lujack, (later Chicago superstar), to KJR in the mid-60's. Pat knew talent, no doubt.

I wonder if KOL was not just a little intimidated by KJR for a time, but they bounced back and took on 95 head-on, with some success. KOL eventually died due to an overpowering KJR, and new upstart KING-AM in the early 70's. Toward the end, KOL even simulcasted their Top40 format on their former progressive KOL-FM. Partly automated. KOL-FM, one of the first progressive FM's in the Northwest had resorted to simulcasting KOL-AM, and then automating at night. The end was near.

Johnf: Yes! Carl E. Haymond purchased KMO on August 26, 1926. He also bought Portland's KFEC from Meier & Frank on March 18, 1929. He moved KFEC to Yakima and it became KIT March 22, 1929, signing on the air April 9, 1929.

Adiant: KIRO-TV signed on the air February 8, 1958 as a CBS affiliate but KTNT-TV continued also with CBS until the contract ran out I'm guessing.

Daveyboy1: Jim Fenwick moved from KUIK to KPOJ on March 5, 1962. Fenwick moved to KOL on June 1, 1964. Moving back to Portland & KGW on June 21, 1965. "The Fenwick Show" ending on Sept 17, 1969.

I might be wrong but I think he is Jim Fenwick his real last name was Pearson. I knew his kids plus I met the man himself. As a youngin' I recall being thrilled that a radio person lived across the street.KMO now is Radiosol KKMO Salem Broadcasting. They have been trying to change calls to KSSL or KSLL. a longtime ago. No news yet

Daveyboy1: Yes, Jim "Fenwick"! I think I was thinking of Peter "Wiseback" another talk show host that used his last name most of the time. I've corrected my error above. Thanks!

I almost worked with Fenwick twice: The first time at KPOK, where we were actually there at the same time and again when he had just left KKEY.

Very interesting responses here from several of you about the Seattle radio/TV scene when I was a kid. I'm 51 now and distinctly remember when BOTH KTNT and KIRO were carrying CBS programs at the same time during their legal dispute in the late 1950s and early 1960s. (KIRO hit the airwaves in 1958, by the way).

But I would like to focus on one of Paul's comments, where he says that KSTW's brief affiliation with CBS was "doomed to failure." Why was that necessarily a foregone conclusion? After all, Channel 11 by that time had a very strong signal because it had moved to its big tower on Capitol Hill. And KSTW's ownership at the time, Gaylord Broadcasting, spent a lot to promote the new affiliation. I remember seeing signs on buses that read "CBS switched to 11, so should you," or something like that. Was 11 really not able to make it as a CBS station then, and if so, why?

Sorry, I know this isn't Portland Radio, but bear with me here. John, here is the wiki-explanation:

"In 1994, CBS found itself without an affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth when its longtime affiliate there, KDFW, switched to Fox. CBS approached Gaylord for an affiliation with its Dallas station, KTVT. KSTW was included as part of the agreement, and as a result, CBS returned to KSTW on March 13, 1995. (Some CBS shows like The Bold and the Beautiful which were pre-empted by KIRO had already been shown on KSTW starting in the fall of 1994.)

Even as a CBS affiliate, KSTW still ran a number of off-network sitcoms, and only had half-hour newscasts in the early morning, at noon, 6pm and 11pm. In 1996, Gaylord announced the sale of KSTW to Cox Enterprises. KSTW's sale was finalized on May 30, 1997. (Gaylord held on to KTVT until 1999, when it was sold to CBS outright.)

Cox had plans to expand the news department at KSTW and make it more competitive with the other stations in the market. However, the company found it to be a rather difficult task. At the same time, the Paramount Stations Group (a subsidiary of Viacom) was planning to buy KIRO-TV from Belo Corporation (which had acquired KING-TV in a merger with the Providence Journal) and convert it into a more traditional independent station; however, the group hesitated with the plan when it found out KIRO's news production was still doing very well in the ratings. As a result, a three-way swap was arranged, with KSTW going to Paramount/Viacom, KIRO going to Cox, and KMOV in St. Louis going from Paramount/Viacom (who was selling off all non-UPN stations) to Belo. The two Seattle stations retained their respective syndicated programming, but swapped network affiliations once again, with KSTW becoming a UPN O&O, and KIRO regaining its CBS affiliation."

Perhaps "doomed to failure" was a poor choice of words, but KSTW never really put a whole lot into their news operation, and my guess is Gaylord thought they could make more money with being an indie. Just a guess.

Back on topic now...

Thanks, Paul. I remember reading somewhere some comment that Seattle TV viewers were just so used after decades of bouncing between 4-5-7 for their network programming that they just couldn't get accustomed to switching all the way up to 11 for CBS. That seems a little far-fetched to me, but perhaps the average TV viewer does form some habits that are hard to break...

John, there may be some truth to that. 4,5, & 7 in Seattle are as common as 2,6, & 8 in Portland. But I've got to think that as later generations age, these numbers will become less relevant. Today, it is all about branding, not channel numbers. A different era for sure. However, most major market network affiliates will fight to the death to keep their cable channel numbers the same as their over-the-air numbers. I guess things are not changing that fast afterall!

The first two will cease to exist in less than 2 years.

"most major market network affiliates will fight to the death to keep their cable channel numbers the same as their over-the-air numbers" -- wow! What a difference from the Western Canadian markets I'm familiar with. Stations here don't want to be on the same cable channel as their off-air channel for fear of compromising their local viewers' cable reception of them. In fact, their on-air channels have typically been referred to as Impaired, because of the leak through from off-air to cable-connected televisions, thanks to faulty grounding, etc. in viewers' homes.