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KGHO at 103.3

D

Dusty Dale Brooks

Recently while driving around Tacoma I stumbled on a station playing oldies at 103.3. They ID'd themselves as KGHO-Hoquiam. Many of us will remember that there was a very good little rocker out of Aberdeen on AM at 920 or some such back in the 1970s. They sound good and are using old jingles and positioners. There is a voice that comes on (something Kelly) over song ramps, otherwise they appear to be automated.

My limited research showed them to be an LP-FM. The 103.3 is authorized at 10 watts and is licensed to Olympia. They must have some serious height because they are listenable along the I-5 corridor all the way to Tacoma and well into eastern Pierce County. You lose them once you cross the bridge on Highway 16, but they remain spotty around Gig Harbor, especially on the hilltops.

The name on the license is a former KGHO staffer who now lives in the Chicago area.

Can someone enlighten me on this little station?
 
Wikipedia lists the station as Hoquiam on 92.7 with repeaters at 92.7 Seattle-Tacoma, 103.3 Olympia, and 103.7 Ocean Shores.
 
Close... the supposed "originating" station is KGHO-LP, Hoquiam, on 98.5. This is licensed to a fictitious "educational institution", Grays Harbor LPFM, which in fact is just the lone Brian Spencer. There are several FM translators licenced to NW Rock n Roll Preservation Society, which in fact is the same Brian Spencer, using the the "educational" facade to provide coverage "slightly beyond" the LPFM coverage area, and they are obviously not retransmitting an off-the-air signal. The 100 watt LPFM, plus the translators operating at higher power than the "originating" station, combine to cover Grays Harbor and Thurston Counties and beyond.

There is no main studio, there is no telephone contact.
 
DDB- Serious height is RIGHT. 2700 ft. above Sea Level.
 
It works if you count the use of the call letters on another service. KGHO was a commercial FM licensed to Hoquiam. The call letters changed when the station was a Christian operation, changed back to KGHO when Brian and John Spencer bought the AM-FM. When they sold the stations, they moved the call letter to an Olympia orphan which they had picked up for the license. When they go the LPFM license, they moved the call letters back to it.

The LPFM transmitter is located in the original building which used to house the commercial stations, and Brian and John still own it. They receive rent from the licensee of the stations they sold, as the AM transmitter is still there.
 
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
It works if you count the use of the call letters on another service. KGHO was a commercial FM licensed to Hoquiam. The call letters changed when the station was a Christian operation, changed back to KGHO when Brian and John Spencer bought the AM-FM. When they sold the stations, they moved the call letter to an Olympia orphan which they had picked up for the license. When they go the LPFM license, they moved the call letters back to it.

The LPFM transmitter is located in the original building which used to house the commercial stations, and Brian and John still own it. They receive rent from the licensee of the stations they sold, as the AM transmitter is still there.
Click to expand...

I guess in that case, an exception can be made.
 
So, it appears that we don't know where the programming originates or how it is being distributed to the children.

Anymore all it takes is a laptop with a couple of software programs plus library and you have a radio station. For all we know it could be some nostalgic old radio geezer trying to re-create KGHO-AM out of his spare bedroom.
 
I'm geezer enough to remember KGHO AM being one kick ass sounding radio station... back in the day. In the early 70's KGHO had an airstaff and a sound that would have kicked butt in any larger market. KGHO introduced me to The Hollies and Gary Glitter before they were played on Seattle radio,,, that would be '72 then. I was constantly tuned to KGHO whenever our family would vacation at Ocean Shores

I'll have to check the stations out when I go down south/west for a good 'blast from the past'.

DJ Alan
 
DJ Alan said:
I'm geezer enough to remember KGHO AM being one kick ass sounding radio station... back in the day. In the early 70's KGHO had an airstaff and a sound that would have kicked butt in any larger market. KGHO introduced me to The Hollies and Gary Glitter before they were played on Seattle radio,,, that would be '72 then. I was constantly tuned to KGHO whenever our family would vacation at Ocean Shores
Click to expand...

I remember listening to this station while on family vacations to Ocean Shores, as well -- but in the late seventies instead of the early seventies. It was an interesting station -- very much a mainstream top 40 during the day, when it simulcasted on both AM and FM. But at night, as an FM-only broadcast, it was much looser. They'd do things like play extended album cuts of pop songs. It was on KGHO that I discovered that the full version of Santa Esmerelda's cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" ran over 15 minutes long. It was time to turn out the lights in the camper for the night, and I asked for enough time to finish hearing the song...and 15 minutes later, my parents were getting rather cranky when it finally ended.
 
TexasTom said:
Santa Esmerelda's cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" ran over 15 minutes long ... my parents were getting rather cranky when it finally ended.
Click to expand...

I used to feel the same way about the EDITED version!
 
I worked as a jock at KGHO from 1969-74. The AM was @ 1520 and the FM 95.3 I believe. The AM went off the air at sundown and the FM broadcast until 11pm at least the years that I was there. Stan Foreman (went on to be Capital Records Rep) was the program director during my years. It was quite the rocker and we had a lot of leeway in what we played after sundown. Gary Crow also worked the mornings for a year or so around '70 or "71. I have great memories from that time period when radio really rocked!
 
I heard the KGHO relayer on 103.3 while on a daytrip up to Potlatch State Park on Hood Canal last Saturday. Also got Z100 100.3 Portland with zero sign of The Q out of Victoria, KXL-FM on 101.1, a VERY weak KPQ on 102.1 in bursts under KSWW's staticky signal, and of course KINK.

-crainbebo
 
I even got KINK out of my usual hash of CITR and CFUV on 101.9 MHz last Saturday, a very pleasant 20 minutes of surprisingly clear stereo fun.......
 
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