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Early FM Top 40 in Seattle

Yeah, that would be KISM "Bellingham/Vancouver" doing the automated oldies thing.

That's when they were still in the massive and mostly empty IGM space near the firehall on the north side next to the freeway.

Raise you hand if you ever worked for KISM.
 
Bongwater said:
I thought the original KOMO-FM was on 98.9 and 94.9 was the original KING-FM. When KRSC sold it's TV station to KING, they also threw in their FM station too and Dorothy Bullitt liked the 98.1 frequency better because it was smack in the middle of the FM dial. So she donated 94.9 to the UoW......
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That could EASILY be. I was going from memory...and completely trust your recollections/knowledge MUCH more!!!
 
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
KNBQ (now KIRO-FM) was doing an automated version of Top 40 with Drake-Chenault supplied reel tapes around the same time frame. In 1976, "the fm kvi" went on air @ 101.5 (now KPLZ), leaning slightly more Adult than pure Top 40.
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In 1976, KNBQ was still running an automated "mellow sounds in contemporary music format" -- I believe they switched to the Drake-Chenault Top 40 format around the end of that year or very early in 1977. I know that this happened shortly after the FM-KVI and KYYZ were on as FM Top 40 stations in Seattle. Within the space of just a few months, we went from having no Top 40 programming on FM, to having a choice of three stations.

But KNBQ didn't stick with Drake-Chenault for very long, and within the space of a couple years, they went over to a different automated Top 40 supplier (probably the unannounced version of TM Stereo Rock), then to what I believe was a locally produced automated format. They finally did go to a live Top 40 format in 1979, and soon pulled ahead of KTAC, the incumbent AM Top 40 station for Tacoma.
 
Bongwater said:
Automated CHR survived in Bellingham during the '80s (via KISM and KNWR) I think KNWR used TM Stereo Rock
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Yes, KNWR used TM Stereo Rock. They went on with the announced version of this format (the unannounced version had run briefly in Tacoma on KNBQ a couple years earlier) in late 1979 and stayed with TM Stereo Rock until the mid-80s when they flipped to AC as "The Soft Rock Cafe, KAFE".
 
Hey, is the old Country KAYO building still standing on 4th Ave, next to the old Andy's Dinner Train?
I remember as a teenager going to visit KAYO. I think the building is still there.
 
TexasTom said:
Bongwater said:
Automated CHR survived in Bellingham during the '80s (via KISM and KNWR) I think KNWR used TM Stereo Rock
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Yes, KNWR used TM Stereo Rock. They went on with the announced version of this format (the unannounced version had run briefly in Tacoma on KNBQ a couple years earlier) in late 1979 and stayed with TM Stereo Rock until the mid-80s when they flipped to AC as "The Soft Rock Cafe, KAFE".
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Actually, KNWR became KAFE In October 1989.....
 
FMSteve said:
Hey, is the old Country KAYO building still standing on 4th Ave, next to the old Andy's Dinner Train?
I remember as a teenager going to visit KAYO. I think the building is still there.
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Nope..it's a transmission shop now (with same address..2939 4th ave s.). As an aside, I've been trying to track down what happened to the concrete panels where artists did hands/feet in cement when visiting the station...
 
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
Some of the automation systems used the paper tape for programming; at least Schafer did. The traffic person would run the spot schedule into the perforator, and the operator would run it through the one hooked up to the automation, and the memory would retain the spot schedule for the Carousels. Talk about technology!
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I remember that one... the 903. We had one in Ashland. A Teletype would wake up and print a log line on every event. It was a little clunky, but reliable.

Of course, the owner decided the best place for the system was the engineering office.
 
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
KOMO-FM. They decided, like many others, FM not worth the hassle so gave it to the UW.
KRSC was 98.1...housed in the old KAYO building on 4th ave s.!
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Double bonus points. What did KRSC stand for?
 
Grounded Grid said:
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
KOMO-FM. They decided, like many others, FM not worth the hassle so gave it to the UW.
KRSC was 98.1...housed in the old KAYO building on 4th ave s.!
Click to expand...

Double bonus points. What did KRSC stand for?
Click to expand...

Thinking it was "Radio Sales Corp". Robert Priebe owned it.
 
KOL-FM ran top 40 in the early to mid 70's, but it was a simulcast of their AM, and may have been nightime automation.

One snake in the ointment, somebody, somewhere said that Bonneville tried a similar top40 format on 100.7 in the 60's that didn't last particularly long.

I'm not 100?% on these. Can someone confirm or deny?
 
searadiofreak said:
KOL-FM ran top 40 in the early to mid 70's, but it was a simulcast of their AM, and may have been nightime automation.

One snake in the ointment, somebody, somewhere said that Bonneville tried a similar top40 format on 100.7 in the 60's that didn't last particularly long.

I'm not 100?% on these. Can someone confirm or deny?
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The old KIRO-FM (100.7) DID have an automated Drake Chenault "Hit Parade" format from 1968 to 1971. But it was more "adult" leaning
 
I thought so. So even if Drake-Chenault ran some hits on this service, the old KIRO-FM should be considered the first FM top40 in Seattle. Followed by KOL-FM, then, KVI-FM, then KYYX-FM. Then the floodgates opened up.
 
Actually, the very FIRST FM Top 40 was KTW-FM 102.5 (they simulcasted 1250 during their brief Top 40 run and during evening hours where the AM had to sign off, they continued the format on FM..... ) This was 1964-65
 
A correction to information posted earlier:
KING was at 94.9 while KRSC was at 98.1
When the Bullitts bought KRSC, they moved KING to 98.1 and donated 94.9 to Univ of WA.
 
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