KXA: What's the history behind the station?

[Andrew Skotdal]

I've seen some posts that KXA was formerly 770 (now KTTH) - once owned by Pat O'Dea, found an old commercial on You Tube (Can I get an A-MEN!), heard the station studios were once in Madison Park, once on 2nd near the museum, etc. Proud history? Sad history? Jackson, I'm sure you know about it. Anybody else?

 

[ronrob]

Speaking as a listener on the Canadian side of the border, I remember KXA 770 as a strictly daytime operation with a very short broadcast day at this time of the year. It was Seattle's classical music station for many years, and for at least a short period in a different format carried Don Sherwood's breakfast show, which sounded to this casual listener VERY big time. I didn't know it at the time, but it must have been syndicated from San Francisco, where the irrepressible Sherwood owned the mornings.

It also seems to me in its later years, for at least a while KXA was a country station.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

In my 1973 Broadcasting Yearbook, KXA 770 was a "glorified" daytimer--
1 kw (L-WABC). However WABC usually only signed off for XMTR MX
something like 12-4 AM ET on Mondays.

By the '84 yearbook, KXA is shown as full-time--still 1 kw, but with a CP
for 50 kw DA-2.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

Hey, Andy ...

My recall is it was initially one of the mainstream stations in town, then became kind of a second-tier station, settling on classical music (I think that was mid/late 50's); at that point located in the Arcade on 2nd & University. Early 1980's, Pat paired it with KYYX, and he took it to old gold '77 KXA. Through all this their xmitter was atop 2nd & Union or Pike .. the former Rhodes store (later Penny's) as one of those dipole wire antennas. Pat moved offices out to Madison Park, and about that time cashed in the bankruptcy chip on both stations. 96.5 went to Shamrock and became KXRX, while the AM was paired with various FM's, usually simulcasting the FM. Bonneville inherited 1090 (KING) as part of a duopoly when KING became KINF (news) ... while Heritage (later Infinity) wound up with 770 and paired it with KRPM, later KBKS. Those swapped at some point, and Bonneville wound up with 770, Infinity with 1090 (today is KPTK) ... Bonneville properties became Entercom ... then back to Bonneville. Somewhere in there xmitter moved to a "real" stick, the juice upped to 50kw (sound familiar!?) ... and that's about where it's parked today.

 

[BurntOutRadio]

On the west side of 2nd Ave between Union and University stood the Rhodes Department Store building and next to it (south) was the Arcade Building. It was never a Penny's store. The Penny's building was across Union Street (north) of the Rhodes store.

 

[bossbill]

Sometime in the early 70s, I remember KXA studios and offices being near Denny Way. They were classical at that time. The transmitter was still atop the Rhodes Dept store building.

Another local engineer (maybe Jimmy Hatfield) and myself would get calls every few weeks to go turn on the transmitter. All we had to do was flip the circuit breaker and send them a bill. It was 1kw feeding the horizontal antenna.

 

[Andrew Skotdal]

I reviewed the book Puget Sounds last night and learned that KXA's signal is loosely tied back to Roy Olmstead and his bootlegging schemes in Seattle and that Vincent Kraft purchased the station and changed the call-sign to KXA when Roy was sent to jail. I sometimes wonder if there is any call-sign that has a pure lineage without a bankruptcy or something else attached to it somewhere in its history (besides, of course, Class A clears). I'll call Jim. Thanks for the tip. Any other historical facts about KXA known to others on the board?

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

by the way ... I checked it out and the house where Olmstead did the bootlegging broadcasting is still standing on the hill above Lake Washington! From front of house you can see the bedroom window they used as a studio.

 

[bossbill]

Olmstead also was original licensee of KXRO down here in Aberdeen... for those not aware, we're not talking about bootleg broadcasting, but bootleg liquor... ol' Roy supposedly used his radio stations to warn the ships at sea.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

It's a classic story ... Olmstead's wife had a nightly "bedtime stories for kids" segment/show. Lore has it that the stories were modified to include key phrases that would give the (coded) instructions to the ships!

"Come on in" said Peter Rabbit. "I need about 25 cases of Hooch"
"Sounds good to me" said Farmer Stevens, located at 2101 Westchester Ave, loading dock #10.

 

[jdweaver]

Andy - I first stumbled onto KXA when a buddy of mine based in Salt Lake, Brent Larson, owned it back in the mid-'70s. Brent had a loose group of stations (Boise, Coos Bay, Spokane, etc.) run about as frugally as you can imagine. KXA was his flagship, though he had a partner in that station, who's name i can't recall. He hooked up with Pat but wasn't very involved in the station (with Pat at the helm we can understand that...).

Pat would be happy to fill you in...give him a call.

 

[DanStrassberg]

In my 1973 Broadcasting Yearbook, KXA 770 was a "glorified" daytimer--
1 kw (L-WABC). However WABC usually only signed off for XMTR MX
something like 12-4 AM ET on Mondays.

By the '84 yearbook, KXA is shown as full-time--still 1 kw, but with a CP
for 50 kw DA-2.

I believe the L-WABC status allowed KXA to sign on with 1 kW at New York sunrise, which would have been 4:15AM PST in December and January and earlier still in other months. Thus, the station could have been on at "full" power throughout AM drive year 'round. In the evenings, however, they had to sign off at Seattle sunset, which, as you know better than I do, is 4:00PM or thereabouts in December. And yes, they could also have gone back on the air during any overnight hours when WABC was off the air, but there were very few such hours.

 

[radioaktive]

Any other historical facts about KXA known to others on the board?

I seem to recall 770 diplexed with 1250 on the Pidgeon Hill stick for awhile while under Pat's operation.