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Tacoma: Media Black Hole?
- Thread starter jdweaver
- Start date
Because it's in the shadow of a much larger media area?
Historically there have always been radio stations licensed to Tacoma. Granted, their influence today is not what is once was. (Think KTAC/KHHO, KMO/KKMO). In truth, call letters long associated with Seattle are actually licensed to Tacoma, as in KIRO-FM, formerly KBSG, and KBKS-FM, originally KLAY.
On the TV side, both KCPQ (Q13 Fox) and KSTW (CW11) are licensed to Tacoma, but operate as Seattle/Tacoma stations.
Trivia: What does KCPQ stand for? (without looking it up...)
On the TV side, both KCPQ (Q13 Fox) and KSTW (CW11) are licensed to Tacoma, but operate as Seattle/Tacoma stations.
Trivia: What does KCPQ stand for? (without looking it up...)
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Part of the change is likely due to the creation of the TV ADI and HDA zones, which combined the Seattle and Tacoma markets. Then Arbitron created radio MSA and TSA areas. Thus Tacoma was part of the TV and Radio markets.
Add the change in listening to radio to FM in the 70's and stations like KMO did not cover well "the other piece" of the market. There ceased to be specific Tacoma agency buys (unless a business was only located there) so the media market identity of Tacoma faded.
It's also the case of Philly and NYC "sucking up" the prime AM channels way back in the 20's and 30's, and then taking the FM ones when that band was developing.
The original FM tables of allocations were made in the immediate post-War 1940's and they were constructed based to a major part on populations of 70 years ago.
Tacoma had several outlets. KTNT-TV [11] .. later KSTW (and as KTNT was CBS affiliate for Seattle), KCPQ [13], KBTC [28] ... and on the radio side, many including KMO (1360), KTNT (1400), KTAC (850), KTNT-FM, later KNBQ, later KBSG, later KIRO-FM ... KRPM, later KBKS (106.1) and the list includes many more. Almost every one of them used the stick to get into the Seattle market eventually. After that happens, FCC is unlikely to approve a "we used all our initial allocations up...please, sir, may we have another". Steve West tried to make a run of 850 as a South Sound news outlet ... and KBTC tried to partner with news operations to make the TV a South Sound news center. Neither met with the traction they hoped. Since all the product these days is homogenous ... almost doesn't matter at all where the signal originates if a classic hits station that originates in Tacoma would sound just like a classic hits station that originates in Seattle.
The EXCEPTION would be (and I've soapboxed this one enough already) ... localized traffic and news; but these days that's not enough to carry an entire station. Stations that COULD do hyperlocal cut-ins on a satellite fed format (e.g. KBRC) do a somewhat decent job, but usually don't bother with the traffic element. Have proposed before that we take some of the ailing parts of AM band and make them DOT-run traffic repeaters that cover specific areas of the state for those who aren't glued to their phones while driving.
The EXCEPTION would be (and I've soapboxed this one enough already) ... localized traffic and news; but these days that's not enough to carry an entire station. Stations that COULD do hyperlocal cut-ins on a satellite fed format (e.g. KBRC) do a somewhat decent job, but usually don't bother with the traffic element. Have proposed before that we take some of the ailing parts of AM band and make them DOT-run traffic repeaters that cover specific areas of the state for those who aren't glued to their phones while driving.
There's also the issue of power. In AM's heyday, a lot of Seattle's stations had power to spare. KIRO, KOMO, KING had their 50s, followed eventually by what are now KJR, (k)KOL, KTTH and, KGNW. 5kW KAYO eventually bumped up to 10kW. KYIZ, one of the "Z-Twins" got their expanded band 10 kW, as did Salem, over on Bainbridge. The rest up there were 5kW. You could say those stations had doubtful coverage out of the Seattle area, but in the '60s and early '70s, before we had a kadjillion stations on each frequency, I could hear most of those stations from my place in Port Townsend. The notable difference would be KVI. With their low frequency and waterside tower, they probably qualify as the area's stealth 50. I think KTW may have
Down South, the kWh meters turned more slowly. KTNT (1400) and KUPY (1450) only had 1 kW (as a local engineer once called them... "teapots"). The original KLAY (1480) was a 1kW daylighter that, because of its directional pattern, was pretty much gone by the time you hit the Narrows bridge. They eventually got night power on the same pattern... a whopping 111 watts. Auburn was just a 250-watt daytimer and, as far as I can tell from the history cards, didn't get their first real power increase until 1980... and then it was just 2,500 watts. That pretty much leaves KTAC (850) as the South Sound's only real "flame thrower", but they drop to 1kW at night. I don't recall them ever really trying to make a run at Seattle, though I didn't live close enough to hear them very well back then. Finally, you have the 5kW signal that Clay Huntingon eventually moved to (1180), and (k)KMO. I don't recall much about KMO's Fife signal, but they sure improved their lot when they moved to Brown's Point.
I think the short of it is that Tacoma didn't really have the AM horsepower to affect the Seattle market all that much, even if they had wanted to.
As for FM... there were plenty of signals, some with pretty decent coverage. My recollection is that nobody really paid much attention to them until at least the '70s, when we got beyond 8-track and cassette converters and finally started putting real FM radios in cars.
Down South, the kWh meters turned more slowly. KTNT (1400) and KUPY (1450) only had 1 kW (as a local engineer once called them... "teapots"). The original KLAY (1480) was a 1kW daylighter that, because of its directional pattern, was pretty much gone by the time you hit the Narrows bridge. They eventually got night power on the same pattern... a whopping 111 watts. Auburn was just a 250-watt daytimer and, as far as I can tell from the history cards, didn't get their first real power increase until 1980... and then it was just 2,500 watts. That pretty much leaves KTAC (850) as the South Sound's only real "flame thrower", but they drop to 1kW at night. I don't recall them ever really trying to make a run at Seattle, though I didn't live close enough to hear them very well back then. Finally, you have the 5kW signal that Clay Huntingon eventually moved to (1180), and (k)KMO. I don't recall much about KMO's Fife signal, but they sure improved their lot when they moved to Brown's Point.
I think the short of it is that Tacoma didn't really have the AM horsepower to affect the Seattle market all that much, even if they had wanted to.
As for FM... there were plenty of signals, some with pretty decent coverage. My recollection is that nobody really paid much attention to them until at least the '70s, when we got beyond 8-track and cassette converters and finally started putting real FM radios in cars.
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Clover Park something. Don't know what the Q stands for.
KVI originally was licensed to Tacoma. That's why it's TX site was located on the South end of Vashon Island. It was the decision to re-license the station to Seattle, because that's where the revenue was, in spite of the superior Tacoma signal. With the gradual increase in noise floor over the past twenty years, KVI has had a tough time, and getting tougher as time goes on, being heard Seattle-North. That, and the ground conductivity of Vashon is terrible.
Yes "Clover Park" as in Clover Park Technical College, home of KVTI 90.9. Q13 was originally KMO TV, changed to KTVW, but eventually went bankrupt and Clover Park picked it up changing the calls to KCPQ. The Q stands for "Quality".
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Don't think I ever knew that (about KVI). Figured the "VI" had something to do with Vashon Island, but that was just a guess. Ground conductivity around here is a common complaint...
I'm thinking it was sequential.
There was also KVL Seattle, which subsequently become KEEN, KEVR, KING and a blizzard of call letter changes since 1995.
The majority of thought is the KVI calls were "Vashon Island". KVI operated on a number of different frequencies before settling on 570. The glory years were The (Gene Autry) Golden West Years, where they were sisters with KMPC in Los Angeles, and KEX in Portland. Heavy personality MOR format through the 60's and 70's, then a period of AM decline, eventually turning to oldies in the 80's, then back to talk, then back to...well the story gets old after that. Operated in the historic Tower Building on the 8th floor, with sister KPLZ in the 80's, then moving down to the 2nd floor with new studios, and eventually moving in with KOMO-TV-Radio in Fisher Plaza in the 90's.
I had the opportunity to be on the air at KVI in the 80's in their oldies years. My boss was the late Mike Webb, then Sky Walker, and the station had one of the last traditional oldies formats in Seattle, covering the late 50's, the 60's and early 70's. The signal was fantastic as we routinely got calls from Nevada and Northern California. KNBQ turned into KBSG and offered an oldies format on FM in circa '87, and KVI was doomed. But it was one helluva radio station.
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Did it start out on Vashon Island because if it didn't, it's unlikely that that is the reason?
I have spent time thinking why KVI has the calls KVI. After all I live on Vashon. KVI moved out here in 1936, started construction on the transmitter site in 1935. Before that they transmitted from Tacoma. In Roman numerals VI is six(6). Gene Autry visited Vashon to see the new MW5 when it was installed. I remember riding my bike down to KVI Beach and visiting the transmitter several times in the late 70's and early 80's. Sinclair engineering keeps both the KOMO and KVI sites in great shape.
Yes Kelly is right Vashon Island is mostly clay and sand but it performs very well for the stations with AM transmitters out here. Took KJR three transmitter moves before they settled on the poor ground conductivity of Vashon. Had to plug in the fence for the return of the Goats at the KGNW/KJR site! Vashon Islands own TV Rent a Goat Stars! Weed control at a 50KW transmitter site in the NW, now there is a topic.
Yes Kelly is right Vashon Island is mostly clay and sand but it performs very well for the stations with AM transmitters out here. Took KJR three transmitter moves before they settled on the poor ground conductivity of Vashon. Had to plug in the fence for the return of the Goats at the KGNW/KJR site! Vashon Islands own TV Rent a Goat Stars! Weed control at a 50KW transmitter site in the NW, now there is a topic.
Before moving to Vashon in 1935, KVI was 50 watts in Tacoma on 1280Khz. I can't recall the name of the building(s), but their antenna consisted of a horizontal long wire antenna stretched between two buildings in old town Tacoma. Coincidentally, one of the buildings that KVI used as a TX and studio site originally, is the same used to house the KHHO studios back when Steve West tried doing news on 850Khz in Tacoma.
As Dan mentioned, I believe all the documentation that I ever saw during my two tours as Chief Engineer of KVI, seemed to indicate KVI was just assigned those call letters by the newly formed version of the FCC. The fact that VI was included, wasn't intended to be Vashon Island. Just happenstance.
As Dan mentioned, I believe all the documentation that I ever saw during my two tours as Chief Engineer of KVI, seemed to indicate KVI was just assigned those call letters by the newly formed version of the FCC. The fact that VI was included, wasn't intended to be Vashon Island. Just happenstance.
Rust Building ... Pacific Ave in Tacoma.
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