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KOMO (AM)
Encyclopedia
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. A 50,000 watt clear-channel station, KOMO can be heard across much of the Western United States and as far north as Fort McMurray, Alberta
at night.
as KGFA 980 by Birt F. Fisher, whose lease on Seattle radio station KTCL was about to run out, and the Fisher brothers of Fisher Flouring Mills (no relation), who had been on the island since 1911. In preparation for the switch to the new station, he changed KTCL's call letters to KOMO. In December, his lease ended, and he took the call letters with him to KGFA. KOMO 980's first broadcast was December 31, 1926. Studios moved to Downtown in 1927. The station also began a long-running affiliation with NBC that year as well, primarily with the Red Network, but also with the short-lived west coast Orange Network from 1931 to 1933. Over the following years, KOMO's frequency would go from 980 to 1080, back to 980, down to 920, up to 970, then back to 920, and settled at 950 after the NARBA
frequency shakeup in 1941.
Fisher's Blend Station, owner of KOMO, bought NBC-Blue affiliate KJR from the network in 1941. In 1944, KOMO switched frequencies with KJR (then at 1000 kilocycles) and sold KJR off two years later. At its new frequency, KOMO began broadcasting with 50 kilowatts of power from its current transmitter site on Vashon Island
in 1948. New studios at the corner of Fourth and Denny, near what is now the Seattle Center, were also inaugurated that year and included space for an expansion into television broadcasting.
In 1953, KOMO-TV
took the air on Channel 4 as an NBC affiliate. Channel 4 swapped affiliations with KING-TV
in 1958 and became an ABC station. KOMO radio followed suit the next year. By 1964, old-line network programming had been phased out and KOMO carried a MOR music format. Long-time morning drive personality Larry Nelson began in 1967. From 1967 to 1978, KOMO was the original flagship station of the Seattle SuperSonics
of the National Basketball Association
with Bob Blackburn on play-by-play. Norm Gregory, formerly of KJR and KZOK-FM
, joined the staff as afternoon disk jockey in 1984. KOMO carried a full-service diet of music, personality, news and Washington Huskies
sports well into the early '90s. Dayparts gradually changed from music to talk and by 1995, the conversion to news-talk was complete.
In January 1981, former FM Rock Programmer Ken Kohl joined the team at KOMO and put a fresh coat of paint on this gray lady of the Pacific Northwest
. When Kohl arrived, the station had fallen from grace and its ratings languished in the middle of the pack. After building the station's news commitment and implementing KOMO's first major marketing effort, Kohl and his KOMO team inched to within a tenth of a point of market leader KIRO. In January 1987, Kohl departed Seattle for KFI
/Los Angeles
. For the next several years, KOMO unsuccessfully attempted to directly compete with market leader KIRO
. Following an outcry from loyal fans following his firing at KIRO-FM
("The Buzz 100.7") in 1999, local comedian Pat Cashman
took over as morning-drive host. In late 2002, Fisher Communications announced a six-year contract for Seattle Mariners
play-by-play rumored to be worth at least $10 million annually, a record for any Major League Baseball
radio broadcast agreement. To shore up the surrounding broadcast schedule, KOMO dropped its talk shows and became an all-news
station with reports from an enlarged radio news staff and material from KOMO-TV newscasts. Some notable anchors include Bill Yeend, Manda Factor, Brian Calvert (who also works as a reporter and weathercaster on KOMO-TV), Lisa Brooks, Bill Rice, Art Sanders, and Nancy Barrick.
It was announced on May 11, 2009 that KOMO will be simulcast
on KFMY, an FM station in Oakville
, starting on May 15, 2009. The station is now known as "KOMO Newsradio." KFMY changed its call letters to KOMO-FM in August 2009 to reflect the new ownership of the station and the simulcast. The move was made to improve KOMO's daytime coverage in the southern part of the market. Fisher Broadcasting has stated that there are currently no plans to move KOMO Newsradio to the FM band only, as Bonneville did with KIRO
earlier in the year.
(also) "You're in KOMO Country". Slogan was used with a heavily orchestrated instrumental jingle package from a Canadian studio. The package was called "Big Timber", and was commissioned exclusively for KOMO.
Early 1980s: "A taste of what you're living for, KOMO AM 1000, Seattle!"
Early 1990s: "The station you depend on!"
2002-2005, 2006-2007: "First For Local News, Traffic and Weather." Similar to KOMO-TV's past slogan of "First 4 Local News."
2005-2006: "The commuter's best friend."
2007-2009: "The Northwest's News, Traffic and Weather Station."
2009–present: "Everything you need to know."
2011-present: "Western Washington's News, Traffic and Weather Station."
and KING-TV
apparently have no issue with the fact that the radio station is owned by the same company that owns Channel 4, but do take issue with the use of the "KOMO" call sign as an implicit promotion of KOMO-TV. The radio station instead promotes itself as "AM 1000" in ads on KIRO and KING. Some such ads make tongue-in-cheek references to the restriction.
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...
. Its format is primarily news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
. From 2003 to 2008, it was also the flagship station of the 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...
Radio Network. A 50,000 watt clear-channel station, KOMO can be heard across much of the Western United States and as far north as Fort McMurray, Alberta
Fort McMurray, Alberta
Fort McMurray is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It was previously incorporated as a city on September 1, 1980. It became an urban service area when it amalgamated with Improvement District No. 143 on April 1, 1995 to create the Municipality...
at night.
History
In July 1926, KOMO was founded on Harbor IslandHarbor Island
Harbor Island is an artificial island in the mouth of Seattle, Washington's Duwamish Waterway where it empties into Elliott Bay. Built by the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company, Harbor Island was completed in 1909 and was then the largest artificial island in the world, at 350 acres...
as KGFA 980 by Birt F. Fisher, whose lease on Seattle radio station KTCL was about to run out, and the Fisher brothers of Fisher Flouring Mills (no relation), who had been on the island since 1911. In preparation for the switch to the new station, he changed KTCL's call letters to KOMO. In December, his lease ended, and he took the call letters with him to KGFA. KOMO 980's first broadcast was December 31, 1926. Studios moved to Downtown in 1927. The station also began a long-running affiliation with NBC that year as well, primarily with the Red Network, but also with the short-lived west coast Orange Network from 1931 to 1933. Over the following years, KOMO's frequency would go from 980 to 1080, back to 980, down to 920, up to 970, then back to 920, and settled at 950 after the NARBA
North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement
The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement, usually referred to as NARBA, is a treaty that took effect in March 1941 and set out the bandplan and interference rules for mediumwave AM broadcasting in North America. Although mostly replaced by other agreements in the 1980s, the basic bandplan...
frequency shakeup in 1941.
Fisher's Blend Station, owner of KOMO, bought NBC-Blue affiliate KJR from the network in 1941. In 1944, KOMO switched frequencies with KJR (then at 1000 kilocycles) and sold KJR off two years later. At its new frequency, KOMO began broadcasting with 50 kilowatts of power from its current transmitter site on Vashon Island
Vashon Island
Vashon is a census-designated place in King County, Washington, United States. It covers an island alternately called Vashon Island or Vashon-Maury Island, the largest island in Puget Sound south of Admiralty Inlet. The population was 10,624 at the 2010 census. At , it is about 60 percent larger...
in 1948. New studios at the corner of Fourth and Denny, near what is now the Seattle Center, were also inaugurated that year and included space for an expansion into television broadcasting.
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 ...
took the air on Channel 4 as an NBC affiliate. Channel 4 swapped affiliations with 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...
in 1958 and became an ABC station. KOMO radio followed suit the next year. By 1964, old-line network programming had been phased out and KOMO carried a MOR music format. Long-time morning drive personality Larry Nelson began in 1967. From 1967 to 1978, KOMO was the original 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...
of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
with Bob Blackburn on play-by-play. Norm Gregory, formerly of KJR and KZOK-FM
KZOK-FM
KZOK-FM is a commercial radio station located in Seattle, Washington, broadcasting on 102.5 FM. It is owned by CBS Radio and airs a classic rock music format.-History:KZOK signed on in 1964 as KTW-FM and simulcasted KTW-AM...
, joined the staff as afternoon disk jockey in 1984. KOMO carried a full-service diet of music, personality, news and 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...
sports well into the early '90s. Dayparts gradually changed from music to talk and by 1995, the conversion to news-talk was complete.
In January 1981, former FM Rock Programmer Ken Kohl joined the team at KOMO and put a fresh coat of paint on this gray lady of the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. When Kohl arrived, the station had fallen from grace and its ratings languished in the middle of the pack. After building the station's news commitment and implementing KOMO's first major marketing effort, Kohl and his KOMO team inched to within a tenth of a point of market leader KIRO. In January 1987, Kohl departed Seattle for KFI
KFI
KFI is an AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It received its license to operate on March 31, 1922 and began operating on April 16, 1922 as one of the United States' first high-powered, "clear-channel" stations...
/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...
. For the next several years, KOMO unsuccessfully attempted to directly compete with market leader KIRO
KIRO (AM)
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...
. Following an outcry from loyal fans following his firing at KIRO-FM
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:...
("The Buzz 100.7") in 1999, local comedian Pat Cashman
Pat Cashman
Pat Cashman is a comedian and television and radio personality based in the Seattle, Washington, area.On TV, he was a regular cast member of the long-running local comedy show Almost Live! as well as the announcer for Bill Nye the Science Guy...
took over as morning-drive host. In late 2002, Fisher Communications announced a six-year contract for 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...
play-by-play rumored to be worth at least $10 million annually, a record for any Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
radio broadcast agreement. To shore up the surrounding broadcast schedule, KOMO dropped its talk shows and became an all-news
All-news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcast of news.All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried in some form on both major US satellite radio networks...
station with reports from an enlarged radio news staff and material from KOMO-TV newscasts. Some notable anchors include Bill Yeend, Manda Factor, Brian Calvert (who also works as a reporter and weathercaster on KOMO-TV), Lisa Brooks, Bill Rice, Art Sanders, and Nancy Barrick.
It was announced on May 11, 2009 that KOMO will be simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
on KFMY, an FM station in Oakville
Oakville, Washington
Oakville is a city in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. The population was 684 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Oakville is located at ....
, starting on May 15, 2009. The station is now known as "KOMO Newsradio." KFMY changed its call letters to KOMO-FM in August 2009 to reflect the new ownership of the station and the simulcast. The move was made to improve KOMO's daytime coverage in the southern part of the market. Fisher Broadcasting has stated that there are currently no plans to move KOMO Newsradio to the FM band only, as Bonneville did with KIRO
KIRO
KIRO may refer to:* KIRO , a radio station licensed to Seattle, Washington, United States* KIRO-TV, a television station licensed to Seattle, Washington, United States...
earlier in the year.
Slogans
Early 1970s: "From Vancouver (B.C., Canada) to Vancouver (Washington) and from the Olympics to the Cascades, this is KOMO Radio 1000!"(also) "You're in KOMO Country". Slogan was used with a heavily orchestrated instrumental jingle package from a Canadian studio. The package was called "Big Timber", and was commissioned exclusively for KOMO.
Early 1980s: "A taste of what you're living for, KOMO AM 1000, Seattle!"
Early 1990s: "The station you depend on!"
2002-2005, 2006-2007: "First For Local News, Traffic and Weather." Similar to KOMO-TV's past slogan of "First 4 Local News."
2005-2006: "The commuter's best friend."
2007-2009: "The Northwest's News, Traffic and Weather Station."
2009–present: "Everything you need to know."
2011-present: "Western Washington's News, Traffic and Weather Station."
Television advertising
KOMO regularly advertises on Seattle-area TV stations, including both KOMO-TV and competing stations. KIRO-TVKIRO-TV
KIRO-TV, virtual channel 7, is the CBS affiliate television station in Seattle, Washington. It broadcasts on digital channel 39. The station's offices and broadcasting center are located near Seattle Center in Belltown, and its transmitter is located on Queen Anne Hill...
and 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...
apparently have no issue with the fact that the radio station is owned by the same company that owns Channel 4, but do take issue with the use of the "KOMO" call sign as an implicit promotion of KOMO-TV. The radio station instead promotes itself as "AM 1000" in ads on KIRO and KING. Some such ads make tongue-in-cheek references to the restriction.