 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Seattle metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1090kHz |
| Branding | 1090 The Patriot |
| Programming | |
| Format | Conservative talk |
| Network | NBC News Radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KBKS-FM,KHHO,KJAQ,KJEB,KJR,KJR-FM,KZOK-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | 1927; 98 years ago (1927) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Patriot" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 6387 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 50,000watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 47°23′38″N122°25′25″W / 47.39389°N 122.42361°W /47.39389; -122.42361 |
| Repeater(s) | 96.5 KJAQ-HD3 (Seattle) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | 1090thepatriot |
KPTR (1090kHz) is acommercialAMradio station inSeattle, Washington. It airs aConservative talkformat and is owned byiHeartMedia. Thestudios and offices are in theBelltown neighborhood northwest ofDowntown Seattle.
KPTR is powered at 50,000watts, the maximum for AM stations in the U.S., and is aClass B station. BecauseAM 1090 is aclear-channel frequency reserved for Class AKAAY inLittle Rock,WBAL inBaltimore andXEPRS inRosarito-Tijuana, KPTR must use adirectional antenna at all times to avoid interference. Thetransmitter is off Dockton Road SW onVashon Island.[2] KPTR also airs on theHD3 sub-channel of co-ownedKJAQ.[3]
Most of KPTR's schedule isnationally syndicated talk shows. Weekdays begin with an hour of financial news fromBloomberg Radio. That's followed byThe Glenn Beck Radio Program,The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,The Sean Hannity Show,The Jesse Kelly Show andOur American Stories with Lee Habeeb.
Weekends feature specialty shows, mostly from co-ownedPremiere Networks, as well as repeats of weekday programs. Syndicated weekend shows includeAt Home with Gary Sullivan,Rich DeMuro on Tech,Bill Handel on the Law, The Mark Moss Show andThe Ben Ferguson Show. Most hours begin with an update fromNBC News Radio.
The stationsigned on the air in 1927; 98 years ago (1927). The originalcall sign was KGBS.[4] It is considered the third oldest radio station in Seattle, followingKJR, which began broadcasting in 1922, andKOMO, now KNWN, which began in 1926.KIRO started broadcasting later in 1927, as KPCB.
The following year, KGBS changed its call letters to KVL.[5] In the 1930s, it broadcast on 1370kilocycles with only 100 watts of power.[6] The studios were in the L.C. Smith Tower in downtown Seattle.
The call letters became KEEN in 1936 and KEVR in 1940.[4] When theNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) took effect in 1941, KEVR moved to 1090 kHz.[7] It got a boost to 250 watts, but still only a fraction of its current output. In the early 1940s, the station was owned by the Evergreen Broadcasting Company, with its studios still in Smith Tower.
In 1947, broadcasting pioneerDorothy Bullitt bought KEVR and almost immediately asked for permission to change the call letters to KING (forKing County, Washington). Bullitt was a rare female executive in the male-dominated broadcasting industry. After Bullitt bought the call sign from a merchant ship, theFCC granted the request to change to KING a few months later. Bullitt incorporated her broadcast holdings asKing Broadcasting Company.
In 1948, King Broadcasting acquired KRSC-TV and KRSC-FM, changing their call letters toKING-TV andKING-FM. KRSC-TV had only been on the air eight months before King Broadcasting took it over. KING-FM first signed on in 1947. After initiallysimulcasting KING (AM), KING-FM began addingclassical music in the evening and eventually classical became its full-time format.
Under the Bullitts' watch, the once-small station became a powerhouse in Seattle during the 1950s and 1960s. The "Mighty 1090" featured legendary radio personalities such as Frosty Fowler, Ray Court, Mark Wayne, Buzz Lawrence, and late night talk with Irving Clark'sClark on King. The station was anNBC RadioNetwork affiliate. Its local news often used KING-TV anchors. The format of music wasmiddle of the road (MOR), but also mixed injazz,bossa nova and someswing. When compared to its chief rivalKJR, KING had a light-hearted and upbeat direction, an opposition to KJR's more hip direction, but not being as staid asKIRO. Some late 1960s personalities defected to KIRO. Bob and Jim, a duo team, was brought in fromKREM inSpokane, and personality Larry Nelson came aboard fromKOMO.
During the 1970s, the station flipped totop 40 music and changed monikers to "Musicradio 11 KING", putting it in close competition 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 theMurdock in the Morning Show. (Murdock later moved toKLSY.)
When KJR unveiled its yellow "Sunshine" window sticker, KING followed with its own red "Sunburst" sticker. KING-AM-FM-TV were located in studios on Aurora Avenue in Seattle.
In April 1980, KING experienced a major change. AsAM music radio lost younger listeners toFM, KING gave up on top 40 and flipped tosoft adult contemporary, while retaining the "Musicradio 11 KING" moniker. KING'sslogan 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".[8][9]
On October 4, 1982, at 4 a.m., KING switched to atalk radio format, mostly with local personalities.[10][11] It was branded simply as "KING NewsTalk 1090". Personalities included Jim Althoff, Carl Dombek, Jeff Ray, Randy Rowland, Freddy Mertz,Mike Siegel, Candace Siegel (no relation) andPat 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 switched to anall-news radio format, carrying programming from theAP News radio service "All News Radio."[12][13]
In February 1995, the Bullitts sold KING AM-FM toBonneville, the commercial broadcasting arm ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based inSalt Lake City. (The family had already sold KING-TV to theProvidence Journal Company in 1991.) Bonneville, in turn, sold KING-AM-FM toEZ Communications later that year. The FM station was then sold by EZ to a non-profit organization that pledged to continue itsClassical music format as a commercial station. The TV and FM stations retained the KING call letters; for the AM station, the long-running KING call sign was dropped for KINF, followed by KNWX.
In November 1995, the station swapped formats (but not call letters) withKULL (which wassimulcastingcountry music station KRPM (106.1 FM)). 1090 became KRPM, an AMsimulcast for KRPM-FM/KCIN (nowKBKS-FM). The simulcast continued after KCIN's flip torhythmic AC in March 1996, as well as the shift to Top 40 (CHR) in May 1997. (EZ merged withAmerican Radio Systems in July 1997; subsequently,Westinghouse/CBS bought American Radio Systems' stations (including KRPM) on September 19, 1997.[14] In June 1998, CBS split off the radio division under the revivedInfinity Broadcasting name, which would be renamedCBS Radio in December 2005.)
On February 1, 1999, the station broke from the KBKS simulcast and flipped to a locally programmedclassic country format with a simulcast of the morning show on sisterKMPS-FM.[15][16] At that time, the station's call letters became KMPS, and then KYCW. The station began broadcasting inAM stereo in March 2001.
Beginning August 4, 2001, the station ran announcements promoting a new format that advised listeners to "listen at their own risk". At 5 a.m. on Monday, August 6, the station flipped tohot talk as "Extreme Radio 1090" featuringBob Rivers'Twisted Radio in mornings (simulcast fromKZOK-FM). After morningdrive time, the station airednationally syndicated shows fromJim Rome,Ron and Fez,Opie & Anthony,Don and Mike andPhil Hendrie. On weekends, the station carried sports programming fromSporting News Radio (nowSB Nation).[17][18] As with nearly all hot talk-formatted stations, the station's ratings were abysmal, especially with the format change occurring a month before9/11.
KYCW would return to classic country at 11 p.m. on May 19, 2002.[19] The station's second version of the classic country format included the return of personalities previously heard the first time, including "Tall" Paul Fredericks, Mike Preston, program director Becky Brenner, "Buffalo" Phil Harper, and Sheldon Smith. The station, however, still had low ratings, usually peaking at a 1.3.
On October 25, 2004, at midnight, the station flipped toprogressive talk and changed its call sign to KPTK days later.[20][21][22][23] During its tenure as "Seattle's Progressive Talk," KPTK carriedsyndicated progressive/liberal talk programs hosted by personalities such asEd Schultz,Mike Malloy,Randi Rhodes,Thom Hartmann,Norman Goldman,Rachel Maddow,Stephanie Miller,Leslie Marshall, andBill Press. KPTK was also theflagship station ofAir America Radio'sRon Reagan Show.[24][25] Beginning in 2011, KPTK became the flagship station ofSeattle Storm andSeattle Thunderbirds broadcasts, though it was met with some controversy. The station's weekend programming included a mix of specialty syndicated and local programs, such asTheRic 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, andCrash Talk with Mike Harber.
In July 2012, CBS andCumulus Media announced a new sports radio network namedCBS Sports Radio to be launched in January 2013. The initial affiliate list that carried the network's full lineup included most of CBS'owned and operated low-performing AM stations, while others were CBS-owned sports stations 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'sFacebook page, as well as being brought up by several of the station's hosts. To please displaced listeners,Lakewood radio stationKLAY announced that it would carry Ed Schultz' and Stephanie Miller's programs after the station's flip, as well asKBCS picking up Thom Hartmann's program.[26]
After the station's flip to all-sports, KFNQ 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 withEntercom (which locally ownsKHTP,KISW,KKWF, andKNDD).[27] 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 withKJAQ andKZOK. (KMPS-FM was retained by Entercom.)[28]
On November 1,iHeartMedia announced its acquisition of KFNQ, KJAQ, and KZOK. To meet ownership limits set by the FCC,KFNY (formerly KFOO) andKTDD (formerly KUBE) were divested to the Ocean Stations Trust in order to be sold to a different owner.[29] 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.[30][31] iHeart then began operating KFNQ under alocal marketing agreement.[32][33] The sale of KFNQ to iHeart was completed on December 19, 2017.[34]
On February 8, 2018, the station dropped the "Fan" branding and relaunched as "1090 KJR", abrand extension of co-ownedKJR. With the change, KFNQ added the syndicatedFox Sports Radio programsThe Dan Patrick Show,The Herd with Colin Cowherd, andThe Doug Gottlieb Show.[35]
On March 16, 2022, the station changed callsigns to KPTR, foreshadowing a flip to conservative talk as "1090 The Patriot", which would occur on April 10.[36] The new format would include conservative programming fromPremiere Networks, such asThe Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, theGlenn Beck Radio Program, andThe Sean Hannity Show, with an early morning hour of financial news fromBloomberg Radio. KFNQ's former lineup of CBS Sports Radio and Fox Sports Radio programming was concurrently moved to KJR, whose local programming had migrated toKUBE as "93.3 KJR-FM" earlier in March.
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…