KLSN 96.5

Sight & Sound Broadcasting’s 96.5 KLSN was one of Seattle’s first FM stations to adopt stereo & it’s owner Cortland Clark was committed to excellence in FM broadcasting.  The station had a variable format that relied heavily on the classics, but also had daily folk music & a jazz show late evenings.  The station was sold in 1972 to KYAC.

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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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6 thoughts on “KLSN 96.5

  1. From the Internet Archive, some of our Lost Comments—

    Maple Valley Mike says:
    December 15, 2018 7:03 am at
    This frequency would eventually be KYYX. It is now, in what I believe in it’s longest run as Jack FM

    Mike Cherry says:
    December 15, 2018 1:44 pm at
    MV Mike – KLSN was the original occupant of 96.5 & we both know that frequency has gone through many, many changes – different owners, different call letters & formats. Indeed Jack FM is probably it’s longest running entity.

    David Camber says:
    March 2, 2019 5:16 pm at
    I was an announcer at KLSN-FM back when it first began, in approximately 1960.

    Jason Remington says:
    March 3, 2019 11:05 pm at
    Thanks for checking in, David. Any recordings from around that time period to share? I enjoyed the “dinner music” played on KLSN in the mid-60s. Great call letters.

    William Scott Henry says:
    September 20, 2019 11:17 am at
    Hi,

    I worked there for a while around 1965 while in high school as a board op/announcer. Our 7 or 8 hour broadcast day started with pop instrumentals and ended with a prerecorded jazz show, followed by a recorded devotional “be still and know” message and then sign off.

    While I was there, all equipment was analog, with lots of vacuum tubes.

    Jason Remington says:
    September 20, 2019 11:22 am at
    Hi, William,
    I remember “Be Still and Know” I was an avid listener to KLSN. My sister had a stereo console. It sounded great.

    Claude Rorabaugh says:
    July 23, 2020 3:35 pm at
    I lived nearby in Ravenna Park and as a tike would ride my bike down to U Village and hang out for a while. We moved to Lynnwood when I started high school and that led to me “getting” into radio at KURB back in ’68.

    KLSN, and KRAB then just up the hill were great places to observe the business and get free records on occasion.

  2. I lived in Seattle from 1957 to 2000. Back in the 60s my friend Lloyd Jones and I assembled FM Stereo kits purchased from Electrocraft located in downtown. My very favorite station was KLSN-fm and periodically I would assemble my collection of Don Shirley’s jazz stereo vinyl records and go down the U Village to spin them on the evening jazz program. I was saddened when the station closed but am surprised to read on this site that it was sold to KYAC where Lloyd Jones would become well known as the installation’s primary radio engineer and top flight DJ. Lloyd would ultimately move on to greater accomplishments as a senior radio engineer at KOMO. Lloyd was.a younger brother of the Internationally known and talented Quincy Jones and an older brother to The Honorable Justice Richard Jones of the US District Court in Seattle.

  3. Herb, great to see you are still alive. Herb and I worked together in another job classification later that was completely different than radio.

  4. I listened to everything, including KLSN and KBBX, during the years they were broadcasting. Radio had a better variety of finer music then.

  5. My 1st air job was at KLSN from 1968 to 1972. I worked as a fill in announcer when needed. We signed on at 8 AM and went until midnight. Many times I worked the entire day from 8 to midnight. During the day we did rip and read news every hour. Ampex tapes supplied elevator music until 6 PM when we did Trio which featured 3 pop artists for an hour. From 7 to 8 we played light classical. 8 to 10 was classical and 10 to midnight was announcers choice. The Clarks were great to work for and had a huge collection of music. When the station sold I went to KQIN and KEZX. Herb K. At age 82 my radio days are just a pleasant memory.

  6. I lived nearby in Ravenna Park and as a tike would ride my bike down to U Village and hang out for a while. We moved to Lynnwood when I started high school and that led to me “getting” into radio at KURB back in ’68.

    KLSN, and KRAB then just up the hill were great places to observe the business and get free records on occasion.

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