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KIRO (AM)
Encyclopedia
KIRO is a radio station
based in Seattle, Washington
on the shores of Lake Union
with 2 towers on Maury Island
, broadcasting on 710 kHz in the AM radio
spectrum. The station's format is sports radio
and it is affiliated with the ESPN Radio Network
.
On August 12, 2008, KIRO began simulcasting its programming on 97.3 FM, which had been occupied by classic hits
sister station KBSG (now KIRO-FM).
On April 2, 2009 the simulcast ended and the station went to an all sports format.
station KPCB 650. Its founder was Moritz Thomsen of the Pacific Coast Biscuit Company. Among its announcers was Chet Huntley
, later of television's Huntley-Brinkley Report
. In 1935 Saul Haas's Queen City Broadcasting Company took over the station. He changed the call letters to KIRO and increased its power to 500 Watts. Haas, who was well connected in liberal
politics and the business community, wanted a simple, pronounceable, and recognizable word for his new station. KING, after King County, Washington
, was not available at that time.
affiliation moved to KIRO from KOL. Known as "The Friendly Station," KIRO personalities broke from the formal announcing style that was commonplace during the early days of radio.
On June 29, 1941, KIRO's new, 50,000-Watt transmitter on Maury Island
became operational. From the 1930s through the 1950s, KIRO recorded countless hours of CBS programming for time-delayed rebroadcast. These electrical transcriptions are, in many cases, the only recordings made of World War II-era news coverage over the CBS network. The discs were donated to the University of Washington
in the early 1960s and are now held at the National Archives as the Milo Ryan Phonoarchive Collection.
In 1948, the original KIRO-FM (now KKWF
) took the air at 100.7 MHz, initially rebroadcasting its AM sister's programming. Preparing for a future television allocation, KIRO moved in 1952 from downtown studios to a larger building on Queen Anne Hill
. This peak was already home to the KING-TV
transmitter and would soon be the site for KOMO-TV
as well. Queen City Broadcasting was awarded Seattle's last remaining VHF license in 1958.
spent many years broadcasting from the rotating restaurant atop the Space Needle
and was live on the air from that perch during a 6.5-magnitude
earthquake
in April, 1965. Bonneville moved its Seattle radio and TV stations to the newly constructed "Broadcast House" at Third and Broad Streets in 1968.
In 1973, KIRO ended a 35-year affiliation with CBS—an affiliation it has since resumed—and switched to the Mutual Broadcasting System
. Around this time, KIRO also picked up Herb Jepko
's "Nitecap," a groundbreaking overnight telephone-talk show from Salt Lake City sister station KSL. KIRO "Newsradio 71" debuted in June 1974, with news and talk segments replacing most music programming.
For 25 years, KIRO's morning news, anchored by Bill Yeend, consistently placed at or near the top of the Seattle Arbitron
ratings. Yeend now anchors the morning news at cross-town rival KOMO AM
. Gregg Hersholt was the station's morning news anchor for the next 10 years until he left the station on May 28, 2010, ending his 26 year career there. Linda Thomas now hosts Seattle's Morning News.
Sports play-by-play has been a staple of the KIRO schedule throughout its years as a news/talk station. Since the team's inception in 1976, KIRO has been the flagship broadcaster for the Seattle Seahawks
. About that same time, it was the flagship station for the Seattle Sounders
of the North American Soccer League. From 1985 to 2002, the station originated Seattle Mariners
baseball broadcasts; the broadcasts returned to KIRO in 2009. From 1978 to 1987 they were the flagship station of the Seattle SuperSonics
. Additionally, KIRO has carried Washington Huskies
and Washington State Cougars
college football for stints during the '80s and '90s.
KIRO was also the radio home to popular sportscaster Wayne Cody
, who did live sideline reports during Seattle Seahawks football games, Washington Huskies college football play-by-play, NASL Seattle Sounders
pro soccer play-by-play, and hosted a sports radio talk show weeknights that was the only one of its kind at the time in Seattle.
Reporter Dave Ross
joined the station from Atlanta station WSB
in 1978 and took over as noon to 3 p.m. talk host in 1987. He moved to the 9 a.m. to noon timeslot after the retirement of Jim French in 1992. Ross unsuccessfully ran for Washington's eighth Congressional district as a Democratic
candidate in 2004. While Ross unofficially announced his candidacy in May, he did not leave his on-air position until just prior to the July filing deadline. In response to complaints from state Republican party officials, Ross claimed that he was contractually bound to continue working for KIRO until he was a bona fide candidate.
Though he returned to the air immediately following the November election, the station's ratings did not recover entirely, and Ross was moved to the afternoon drive-time shift in February, 2005. Ross moved back to his 9am-noon shift in May, 2006.
In addition to his KIRO work, Ross does a daily commentary on the CBS Radio Network and is a frequent substitute for Charles Osgood
on CBS Radio's "Osgood File" segments.
After selling KIRO-TV to A.H. Belo Corp.
in 1995, the Bonneville Seattle radio stations moved to facilities on Eastlake Avenue. KIRO (AM), KIRO-FM (now KKWF) and KNWX (now KTTH) were sold to Entercom Communications
of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania
, in 1997. Bonneville reacquired KIRO, KTTH, and KBSG (now KIRO-FM) from Entercom in 2007.
format (as 710 ESPN Seattle) on April 1, 2009 and began carrying Seattle Mariners
games, beginning in the 2009 season. KIRO also simulcasts the Seattle Seahawks
games with KIRO-FM that do not conflict with those of the Mariners, and has extensive team-related programming throughout the year.
Brian Long became the program director in December 2010, leaving KSPN (AM)
in Los Angeles
.
KIRO-FM will continue the news/talk format with several locally produced shows as well as nationally syndicated shows such as Meet the Press
and The Mutual Fund Show with Adam Bold
.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
based in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
on the shores of Lake Union
Lake Union
Lake Union is a freshwater lake entirely within the Seattle, Washington city limits.-Origins:A glacial lake, its basin was dug 12,000 years ago by the Vashon glacier, which also created Lake Washington and Seattle's Green, Bitter, and Haller Lakes.-Name:...
with 2 towers on Maury Island
Maury Island
Maury Island is a small island in Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is connected to Vashon Island by an isthmus built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Before construction of the isthmus, the island was connected to Vashon only during low tide. The island is rural with...
, broadcasting on 710 kHz in the AM radio
Mediumwave
Medium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. For Europe the MW band ranges from 526.5 kHz to 1606.5 kHz...
spectrum. The station's format is sports radio
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
and it is affiliated with the ESPN Radio Network
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
.
On August 12, 2008, KIRO began simulcasting its programming on 97.3 FM, which had been occupied by classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
sister station KBSG (now KIRO-FM).
On April 2, 2009 the simulcast ended and the station went to an all sports format.
The Early Years as KPCB 650 (1927-1937)
KIRO began broadcasting on April 27, 1927, as the 100-wattWatt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
station KPCB 650. Its founder was Moritz Thomsen of the Pacific Coast Biscuit Company. Among its announcers was Chet Huntley
Chet Huntley
Chester Robert "Chet" Huntley was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, for 14 years beginning in 1956.-Early life:...
, later of television's Huntley-Brinkley Report
Huntley-Brinkley Report
The Huntley-Brinkley Report was the NBC television network's flagship evening news program from October 29, 1956 until July 31, 1970. It was anchored by Chet Huntley in New York City, and David Brinkley in Washington, D.C...
. In 1935 Saul Haas's Queen City Broadcasting Company took over the station. He changed the call letters to KIRO and increased its power to 500 Watts. Haas, who was well connected in liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
politics and the business community, wanted a simple, pronounceable, and recognizable word for his new station. KING, after King County, Washington
King County, Washington
King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....
, was not available at that time.
1937 to 1960 (Now 710 KIRO)
In 1937, KIRO was assigned the 710 frequency and increased its power to 1,000 Watts. Soon after, the Seattle CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliation moved to KIRO from KOL. Known as "The Friendly Station," KIRO personalities broke from the formal announcing style that was commonplace during the early days of radio.
On June 29, 1941, KIRO's new, 50,000-Watt transmitter on Maury Island
Maury Island
Maury Island is a small island in Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is connected to Vashon Island by an isthmus built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Before construction of the isthmus, the island was connected to Vashon only during low tide. The island is rural with...
became operational. From the 1930s through the 1950s, KIRO recorded countless hours of CBS programming for time-delayed rebroadcast. These electrical transcriptions are, in many cases, the only recordings made of World War II-era news coverage over the CBS network. The discs were donated to the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in the early 1960s and are now held at the National Archives as the Milo Ryan Phonoarchive Collection.
In 1948, the original KIRO-FM (now KKWF
KKWF
KKWF , known as "The New 100.7 The Wolf", is a Country music radio station based in Seattle, Washington. The Entercom outlet broadcasts at 100.7 MHz with an effective radiated power of 67 kW. Its transmitter is located in Seattle.-History:...
) took the air at 100.7 MHz, initially rebroadcasting its AM sister's programming. Preparing for a future television allocation, KIRO moved in 1952 from downtown studios to a larger building on Queen Anne Hill
Queen Anne, Seattle, Washington
Queen Anne Hill is a neighborhood and geographic feature in Seattle, Washington, northwest of downtown. The neighborhood sits on the highest named hill in the city, with a maximum elevation of . It covers an area of , and has a population of about 28,000...
. This peak was already home to the KING-TV
KING-TV
KING-TV, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Seattle, Washington, affiliated with the NBC network. Owned by Belo Corporation, it broadcasts on UHF digital channel 48. Its offices and broadcasting center are located just east of Seattle Center...
transmitter and would soon be the site for KOMO-TV
KOMO-TV
KOMO-TV, virtual channel 4, is a television station in Seattle, Washington. It is an affiliate of ABC and broadcasts on digital channel 38. KOMO-TV is the flagship station of Fisher Communications, and its studios and offices are co-located with sister radio stations KOMO , KVI , and KPLZ-FM ...
as well. Queen City Broadcasting was awarded Seattle's last remaining VHF license in 1958.
1960 to 1980
Haas sold KIRO in 1964 to Bonneville International Corporation, part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bonneville executives Lloyd Cooney and Ken Hatch arrived in Seattle to lead the combined broadcast group, which included KIRO AM, in 1964. Like many network radio affiliates following the demise of full-time block programming, KIRO spent the 1960s playing Middle of the road music in addition to long-form news and interview shows. Morning host Jim FrenchJim French (radio)
James R. "Jim" French is an American radio personality and producer who has written and produced, as of 2011, over 803 radio shows, including The Adventures of Harry Nile and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series.-Life and career:...
spent many years broadcasting from the rotating restaurant atop the Space Needle
Space Needle
The Space Needle is a tower in Seattle, Washington and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over...
and was live on the air from that perch during a 6.5-magnitude
Richter magnitude scale
The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....
earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
in April, 1965. Bonneville moved its Seattle radio and TV stations to the newly constructed "Broadcast House" at Third and Broad Streets in 1968.
In 1973, KIRO ended a 35-year affiliation with CBS—an affiliation it has since resumed—and switched to the Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
. Around this time, KIRO also picked up Herb Jepko
Herb Jepko
Herb Jepko was an influential radio talk show host in Salt Lake City from 1964 to 1990. He was the first radio talk show host to do a nationally syndicated, satellite-delivered program.-Early years:...
's "Nitecap," a groundbreaking overnight telephone-talk show from Salt Lake City sister station KSL. KIRO "Newsradio 71" debuted in June 1974, with news and talk segments replacing most music programming.
1980 to 2008
Station leadership and ownership remained constant through the next decades. In 1980, Cooney left to run for US Senate and Hatch became President, CEO and Chairman - a position he held until 1995. Under Hatch's leadership, KIRO Inc. (which included KIRO TV, AM, FM, KING AM, FM and Third Avenue Productions) became one of the nation's premier regional broadcast groups. KIRO AM received much national recognition and was lead very successfully by General Manager Joe Abel during this period.For 25 years, KIRO's morning news, anchored by Bill Yeend, consistently placed at or near the top of the Seattle Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
ratings. Yeend now anchors the morning news at cross-town rival KOMO AM
KOMO (AM)
KOMO is a radio station based in Seattle, Washington. Its format is primarily news. From 2003 to 2008, it was also the flagship station of the Seattle Mariners Radio Network...
. Gregg Hersholt was the station's morning news anchor for the next 10 years until he left the station on May 28, 2010, ending his 26 year career there. Linda Thomas now hosts Seattle's Morning News.
Sports play-by-play has been a staple of the KIRO schedule throughout its years as a news/talk station. Since the team's inception in 1976, KIRO has been the flagship broadcaster for the Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
. About that same time, it was the flagship station for the Seattle Sounders
Seattle Sounders (NASL)
The Seattle Sounders were a U.S. professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1974, the team belonged to the North American Soccer League where it played both indoor and outdoor soccer. The team folded after the 1983 NASL outdoor season.-Stadium:The Sounders played at Memorial...
of the North American Soccer League. From 1985 to 2002, the station originated Seattle Mariners
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...
baseball broadcasts; the broadcasts returned to KIRO in 2009. From 1978 to 1987 they were the flagship station of the Seattle SuperSonics
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
. Additionally, KIRO has carried Washington Huskies
Washington Huskies
Washington Huskies is the nickname of the University of Washington's athletic teams. The school is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. The athletic program is made up of 9 men's sports and 10 women's sports Washington Huskies is the nickname of the University of Washington's athletic teams. The...
and Washington State Cougars
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
college football for stints during the '80s and '90s.
KIRO was also the radio home to popular sportscaster Wayne Cody
Wayne Cody
Wayne Cody was an American popular radio and television sportscaster who spent the bulk of his career in Seattle, broadcasting on KIRO and KIRO-TV....
, who did live sideline reports during Seattle Seahawks football games, Washington Huskies college football play-by-play, NASL Seattle Sounders
Seattle Sounders (NASL)
The Seattle Sounders were a U.S. professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1974, the team belonged to the North American Soccer League where it played both indoor and outdoor soccer. The team folded after the 1983 NASL outdoor season.-Stadium:The Sounders played at Memorial...
pro soccer play-by-play, and hosted a sports radio talk show weeknights that was the only one of its kind at the time in Seattle.
Reporter Dave Ross
Dave Ross
Dave Ross is a talk show host on Seattle's KIRO-FM radio station, with whom he had been a news anchor from 1978 until his talk show started nine years later in 1987. He has sometimes broadcast his show while on assignment in other locations, including overseas, such as Baghdad, Iraq in April...
joined the station from Atlanta station WSB
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
in 1978 and took over as noon to 3 p.m. talk host in 1987. He moved to the 9 a.m. to noon timeslot after the retirement of Jim French in 1992. Ross unsuccessfully ran for Washington's eighth Congressional district as a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
candidate in 2004. While Ross unofficially announced his candidacy in May, he did not leave his on-air position until just prior to the July filing deadline. In response to complaints from state Republican party officials, Ross claimed that he was contractually bound to continue working for KIRO until he was a bona fide candidate.
Though he returned to the air immediately following the November election, the station's ratings did not recover entirely, and Ross was moved to the afternoon drive-time shift in February, 2005. Ross moved back to his 9am-noon shift in May, 2006.
In addition to his KIRO work, Ross does a daily commentary on the CBS Radio Network and is a frequent substitute for Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood is a radio and television commentator in the United States. His daily program, The Osgood File, has been broadcast on the CBS Radio Network since 1971. He is also known for being the voice of the narrator of Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film released in 2008, based on the book...
on CBS Radio's "Osgood File" segments.
Belo
Belo Corp. is a Dallas-based media company that owns 20 commercial broadcasting television stations and two regional 24-hour cable news television channels. The company was previously known as A.H. Belo Corp. after one of the early owners of the company, Alfred Horatio Belo, now the name of the...
in 1995, the Bonneville Seattle radio stations moved to facilities on Eastlake Avenue. KIRO (AM), KIRO-FM (now KKWF) and KNWX (now KTTH) were sold to Entercom Communications
Entercom Communications
Entercom Communications Corporation is the fourth-largest broadcasting company in the United States. As of November 2009, Entercom operates 110 radio stations in 23 markets across the United States....
of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania
Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania
Bala Cynwyd is a community in Lower Merion Township which is located on the Main Line in southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at US Route 1 . It was originally two separate towns, Bala and Cynwyd, but is commonly treated as a single community...
, in 1997. Bonneville reacquired KIRO, KTTH, and KBSG (now KIRO-FM) from Entercom in 2007.
Current programming
KIRO AM switched to a sports radioSports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
format (as 710 ESPN Seattle) on April 1, 2009 and began carrying Seattle Mariners
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...
games, beginning in the 2009 season. KIRO also simulcasts the Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
games with KIRO-FM that do not conflict with those of the Mariners, and has extensive team-related programming throughout the year.
Brian Long became the program director in December 2010, leaving KSPN (AM)
KSPN (AM)
KSPN is an all-sports radio station based in Los Angeles, California. It is owned by Disney. It is an ESPN Radio owned-and-operated station.-Play-by-play:...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
KIRO-FM will continue the news/talk format with several locally produced shows as well as nationally syndicated shows such as Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
and The Mutual Fund Show with Adam Bold
Adam Bold
Adam Bold is an American author and businessman. He is the founder and minority shareholder of The Mutual Fund Store, and host of The Mutual Fund Show, a national weekly talk radio show focused on actively managed mutual fund investments...
.
Locations
- Towers: 47°23′55"N 122°26′0"W, Vashon Island, Washington
- Headquarters: 47°38′8"N 122°19′29"W, Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, WashingtonSeattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
on the shore of Lake UnionLake UnionLake Union is a freshwater lake entirely within the Seattle, Washington city limits.-Origins:A glacial lake, its basin was dug 12,000 years ago by the Vashon glacier, which also created Lake Washington and Seattle's Green, Bitter, and Haller Lakes.-Name:...