Wash. radio – 1923

    US Dept of Commerce list of Wash. radio stations - 1923

Calls, city & wavelength in meters only, not kilocycles (kc/s). List has no power, ownership or other data:

KDZE Seattle 455   KDZI Wenatchee 360       KDZR Bellingham 261
KDZT Seattle 360     KFAE Pullman 360         KFBG Tacoma 360
KFBL Everett 224     KFCF Walla Walla 360  KFDC Spokane 285
KFEJ Tacoma 360     KFHH Neah Bay 283     KFHR Seattle 275
KFIO Spokane 252   KFIQ Yakima 224           KFIV Seattle 236
KFJC Seattle 233       KFZ Spokane 283           KGB Tacoma 252
KGY Lacey 258          KHQ Seattle 360             KJR Seattle 270
KMO Tacoma 360    KNT Aberdeen 263         KTW Seattle 360
KZV Wenatchee 360

Many of these stations would only broadcast for an hour or two per day, sharing a frequency with other broadcasters. Some would only broadcast on a few days per week & sometimes would alternate with others using the same arrangement.

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Author: Mike Cherry

retired broadcaster: on-air, MD, PD, asst PD, Prod Mgr, IT, station technician/engineer, pioneer Internet webcaster, station installation/maintenance; 12 years in commercial radio, 17 years volunteer in campus/community radio in B.C., Alberta & Wash. Amateur radio operator & "DXer" specializing in AM night-time DX, short-wave DX/listening & remote SDR DXing/listening
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1 thought on “Wash. radio – 1923

  1. From the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) we reclaim some of our Lost Comments:

    pugetsound says:
    August 16, 2018 3:40 pm at
    Consider that, not only did some stations share frequency, some also went permanently dark, turning in their license, within months of beginning operation. This was what happened to KFIV Seattle, for example.

    mikec says:
    August 16, 2018 4:10 pm at
    quite right – most of these earliest of broadcasters weren’t in it for the long haul. From the above list, the KFAE calls ended up in Richland on 89.1 FM. The Leese Bros. KFBL Everett would become KRKO. KFDC & KFIO Spokane survived for many years. Thomas Read’s 1050 out there currently sports the KFIO calls. KHQ would move from Seattle to Spokane. What a shock to see a station located in Neah Bay!

    maplevalleymike says:
    August 17, 2018 11:01 pm at
    Most likely it was in the town. Not “in the Bay”! I think I’m getting banned.

    mikec says:
    August 18, 2018 1:50 pm at
    hey smartguy: what if it was a ship-based station such as Radio Caroline or the good ship S.S. KKOL?? Or one of Roy Ohmstead’s rum-running boats disguised as a broadcaster?

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