KFNQ

KFNQ is a sports radio station based in Seattle, Washington, broadcasting at 1090 kHz. The station carries programming from Fox Sports Radio and CBS Sports Radio as a brand extension of KJR. The station's transmitter is located on Vashon Island and operates from studios in the Belltown neighborhood northwest of Downtown Seattle. KFNQ is a Class B station operating on the clear-channel frequency of 1090 AM.

KFNQ
CitySeattle, Washington
Broadcast areaGreater Puget Sound region, Washington
Frequency1090 kHz
Branding1090 KJR
SloganSeattle Sports Radio
Programming
FormatSports
AffiliationsCBS Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio
Ownership
OwneriHeartMedia
(Capstar TX, LLC)
Sister stationsKBKS-FM, KHHO, KJAQ, KJR, KJR-FM, KUBE, KZOK-FM
History
First air date1927
Former call signsKGBS (1927–1928)
KVL (1928–1936)
KEEN (1936–1940)
KEVR (1940–1947)
KING (1947–1995)
KKNG (1995–1995)
KINF (1995–1995)
KNWX (1995–1995)
KRPM (9/22/1995–7/1/1999)
KMPS (7/1/1999–12/30/1999)
KYCW (12/30/1999–10/28/2004)
KPTK (10/28/2004–11/14/2012)
Call sign meaningK FaN Q (previous branding)
Technical information
Facility ID6387
ClassB
Power50,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates47°23′38″N 122°25′25″W
Repeater(s)96.5 KJAQ-HD3
Links
WebcastListen live (via iHeartRadio)
Website1090kjr.iheart.com

KFNQ also airs on the HD3 sub-channel of KJAQ 96.5 FM.[1]

History

What is now known as KFNQ began as KGBS in 1927,[2] changing to KVL[3] in 1928, then KEEN in 1936 and KEVR in 1940.[2] The station is considered the third oldest radio station in Seattle, the first being KJR, which began broadcasting in 1922, and the second being KOMO, which began in 1926.

KING

In 1947, broadcasting pioneer Dorothy Bullitt bought KEVR and almost immediately asked for permission to change the calls to KING (for King County, Washington). After Bullitt bought the calls from a merchant ship, the FCC granted the request a few months later.

Under the Bullitts' watch, the once-small station became a powerhouse in Seattle. KING was known as the "Mighty 10-90," and 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 NBC Radio network affiliate which had many monitor features and local news, often using KING-TV anchors; KING-TV has been an affiliate of the NBC television network since 1959. The format of music was MOR, but also mixed in with jazz, bossa nova and some swing. When compared to KJR, KING had a light-hearted and upbeat direction, an opposition to KJR's hip direction, as well as not being as staid as KIRO (AM). The late '60s personalities defected to KIRO and other markets. Bob and Jim, a duo team was brought in from KREM in Spokane, but by then, personality Larry Nelson on KOMO (AM), and KIRO's news was beginning to gain traction in the market. Later in its life, KING focused on left-leaning political talk during the final years.

During the 1970s, the station flipped to CHR and changed monikers to "Musicradio 11 KING" and competed even more closely 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 (he later moved to KLSY and is now heard at KKCW in Portland). When KJR unveiled its yellow "Sunshine" window sticker, KING followed with its own red "Sunburst" sticker.

Soft rock and more

In April 1980, KING experienced a major change. As AM music radio lost young listeners to FM, KING gave up on Top 40 and flipped to Soft AC, 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". This format was parodied on April Fool's Day, 1981 by rock station KISW. Ratings for KING at this time were low.[4]

Talk, country and sports eras

On October 4, 1982, at 4 a.m.,[5] KING adopted a news-talk format, primarily with local personalities, and branded simply as "KING NewsTalk 1090". Personalities included Jim Althoff, Carl Dombek, Jeff Ray, Randy Rowland, 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 began carrying AP News' radio service "All News Radio."[6][7] In February 1995, the Bullitts sold the station to Bonneville (the family sold their TV sister station to the Providence Journal Company in 1991), who in turn sold it to EZ Communications later that year. The long-running KING call letters were dropped for KINF, then KKNG shortly after, followed by KNWX. In November 1995, the station swapped formats (but not call letters) with KULL (who was simulcasting KRPM) and became KRPM-AM, an AM simulcast for KRPM-FM/KCIN (now KBKS-FM). The simulcast continued after KCIN's flip to Rhythmic AC in March 1996, as well as their shift to Top 40 (CHR) in May 1997. (EZ merged with American Radio Systems in July 1997; ARS merged with Infinity Broadcasting just two months later in September; Infinity was renamed CBS Radio in December 2005.) The simulcasting stopped on February 1, 1999, and 1090 flipped to a locally programmed Classic Country station (with a simulcast of KMPS's morning show).[8][9] 1090 also carried the call letters KMPS, and then KYCW. The station began broadcasting in AM Stereo in March 2001.

Beginning August 4, 2001, the station ran promos 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 hot talk as "Extreme Radio 1090" featuring Bob Rivers' "Twisted Radio" in mornings (who was also simulcasted on KZOK-FM), Jim Rome, Ron and Fez, Opie & Anthony, Don and Mike, and Phil Hendrie.[10][11] The station was also a Sporting News Radio affiliate. The station's ratings were abysmal, usually peaking at a 0.4 share. KYCW returned to classic country at 11 p.m. on May 19, 2002.[12] The station's second version included the return of personalites previously heard on the first incarnation of the format, including "Tall" Paul Fredericks from 5-9 AM, Mike Preston from 9-noon, PD Becky Brenner from Noon-3 PM, "Buffalo" Phil Harper from 3-7 PM, and Sheldon Smith from 7-Midnight. The station, however, still had low ratings, usually peaking at a 1.3.

On October 25, 2004, at Midnight, the station flipped to progressive talk and changed call letters to KPTK days later.[13][14][15][16] During its tenure as "Seattle's Progressive Talk," KPTK broadcast syndicated progressive/liberal talk programs hosted by personalities such as Ed Schultz, Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann, Norman Goldman, Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Miller, Leslie Marshall, and Bill Press. KPTK was also the flagship station of Air America Radio's Ron Reagan Show.[17][18] 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".

Logo as "1090 The Fan", used from January 2, 2013 through February 8, 2018

In July 2012, CBS and Cumulus Media announced a new sports radio network dubbed "CBS Sports Radio" to be launched in January 2013. The initial affiliate list that carried the network's full lineup included most of CBS O&O low-performing AM stations (predominantly talk radio stations), while others were affiliates 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 (1180 AM) announced that they would carry Ed Schultz' and Stephanie Miller's programs after the station's flip, as well as KBCS (91.3 FM) picking up Thom Hartmann's program.[19]

Since the station's flip to sports, the station 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.

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced its merger with Entercom (which locally owns KHTP, KISW, KKWF, and KNDD).[20] 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 sister stations KJAQ and KZOK (KMPS-FM was retained by Entercom).[21] 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.[22] 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.[23][24] iHeart then began operating KFNQ under a local marketing agreement.[25][26] The sale of KFNQ to iHeart was completed on December 19, 2017.[27] On February 8, 2018, the station relaunched as a brand extension of sister station KJR and added the Fox Sports Radio programs The Dan Patrick Show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and The Doug Gottlieb Show.[28]

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References
  1. HD Radio Guide for Seattle-Tacoma Archived 2015-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "KING (KFNQ) history cards" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  3. 1937 Seattle City Directory shows Gellermann, Vincent as "opr KVL Broadcasting Sta"
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdRZb9OiBC8
  5. "RadioInsight.com". Retrieved 2007-02-14.
  6. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1994/RR-1994-09-09.pdf
  7. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940909&slug=1929595
  8. http://web.kitsapsun.com/archive/1999/02-05/0088_radio_waves.html
  9. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1999/RR-1999-02-05.pdf
  10. http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/article/Country-gets-the-boot-extreme-talk-is-in-at-1061673.php
  11. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2001/RR-2001-08-10.pdf
  12. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2002/RR-2002-05-24.pdf
  13. https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2004/10/air-america-radionow-in-seattle.html
  14. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2004/RR-2004-10-29.pdf
  15. KFNQ station information, Federal Communications Commission
  16. https://formatchange.com/classic-country-1090-kycw-becomes-liberal-talk-kptk/
  17. Ron Reagan added as permanent Air America host, ltradio.blogspot.com
  18. KPTK Weekday Program Lineup
  19. KPTK Gets New Calls; To Join CBS Sports Radio
  20. CBS Radio to Merge with Entercom
  21. Venta, Lance (October 10, 2017). "Entercom Narrows Down 16 Stations To Be Divested To Complete CBS Radio Merger". RadioInsight. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  22. Entercom Trades Boston/Seattle Spin-Offs to iHeartMedia for Richmond/Chattanooga
  23. "Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio". Entercom. November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  24. Venta, Lance (November 17, 2017). "Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger". Radio Insight. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  25. Venta, Lance (December 10, 2017). "Alt 102.9 & KUBE 104.9 Tacoma To Flip Monday". 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…
  26. iHeart Begins Operating Remainder of Boston & Seattle Acquisitions
  27. "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  28. Venta, Lance (February 8, 2018). "iHeart Launches 1090 KJR and South Sound Talk 850 Seattle". RadioInsight. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
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