1955 – KBAM Goes on Air – KBAM Longview, Wash., went on the air Aug. 15 with 90% of its available time sold to local merchants, according to Arne Peterson, station manager. The 1 kw outlet is owned by W. Gordon Allen and John Truhan. The two are partners in KGAE Salem, Ore., and Mr. Allen also owns several other stations in Washington and Oregon.
April 1956 – In Applications last week, application received last week from Altru Broadcasting Co, Longview, Wash., which asked for ch. 33 there. Altru would operate with an effective radiated power of 9.01 kw visual, employing an antenna 100 ft. above average terrain. Construction cost is estimated at $62,000, first year operating cost at $84,000, and first year revenue at $108,000. Altru principals are equal partners W. Gordon Allen and John Truhan. Mr. Allen is 70% owner of KGAL Lebanon, Ore., 66.7% owner of KGAE Salem, Ore., 50% owner of KBAM Longview, Wash., and owns a construction permit for KTIX Seattle, Wash. Mr. Truhan owns 33.3% of KGAE, 50% of KBAM and has an application pending for a new am at Gresham, Ore.
May 1956 – KBAM BUILDS QUICK SUCCESS — A SERIES of audience promotions, together with public service awareness and personalized music and news policies, have made 10-month old KBAM Longview, Wash., a popular and profitable station in its community. One promotion, a $1,000 treasure hunt, with clues given over the air, was so successful it is being staged this month for the second time. Listener letters developed by contest promotions have indicated approval of the station’s variety approach to music. Shying away from block programming, KBAM rotates all kinds of music and believes it’s reaching listeners of all tastes. But KBAM doesn’t believe radio should be only a big “music box.” In its effort to do a comprehensive job on local news, the station has come up with 26 news beats in its city of 23,000 since going on the air last August.
November 1957 – Earl Headrick, manager, KGAY Salem, Ore., named executive vice president. He will head regional and national sales organization of KGAL Lebanon, Ore., and KGAY. Arne Peterson, manager, KBAM Longview, Wash., succeeds him.
December 1957 – KBAM Longview, Wash. -Granted change of facilities from 1220 kc, 1 kw, D, to 1270 kc, 5 kw, D.
April 1959 – HAL SHADE, formerly operations manager of KONA -TV Honolulu, T.H., named general manager of KBAM Longview, Wash.
July 1959 – KBAM Longview, Wash.- Granted involuntary assignment of license to Hal K. Shade, receiver in bankruptcy.
December 1962 – KBAM Longview, Wash. -Granted assignment of cp and license from Hal K. Shade (100 %), receiver, to Rufus W. Snyder (100 %), receiver. No financial consideration, as application follows court order for transfer of receivership. Mr. Snyder is owner of service station. Action Nov. 27.
September 1963 – KBAM Longview, Wash. -Seeks assignment of license and CP from Rufus W. Snyder (100 %), receiver, to Arne G. Peterson (68 %), Robert Muchow (13 %), Forrest H. Bishop (9 %), Arthur L. Jorgensen and Howard T. Kynaston each 5 %), as Armak Broadcasters Inc. Consideration $52,000. Mr. Peterson is KBAM manager: Mr. Muchow is engineer with WTCN -TV Minneapolis: Mr. Bishop is KBAM sales manager; Mr. Kynaston is KBAM salesman; Mr. Jorgensen is local businessman.
March 1998 – Entercom acquires KBAM from Armak Broadcasting.
November 2004 – KBAM and other Entercom radio holdings in Longview sold to BiCoastal Media.
September 2021 – Bicoastal Media has swapped dial positions for its two AMs in Longview WA. Conservative Talk/Sports 1400 KEDO Longview has moved to 1270, while Classic Country “Real Country” KBAM makes the reverse shift. The move, as with most AM changes now, was done to improve the translator signals for each station. With the move to 1400, KBAM is now tied to 99.1 K256CQ Longview giving it the 250w/181m signal. KEDO moves its FM signal to new sign-on 99.9 K260DH Longview with 70w/-139m. Bicoastal has not yet set plans for KBAM’s former 93.5 K228FA Longview with its 100w/189m signal. (Radio Insight)
[Snippets from Broadcasting Magazine & Broadcast Yearbooks.]
The tv station was not authorized, because the character of the radio station owner (Mr. Allen) was called into question by the FCC commisioners. Imagine if such tribunals were held these days.
Interesting to read about the 1956 application for Channel 33, which I assume would have been given the call letters KBAM-TV. If that had been approved, I believe it would have been the first UHF station in Western Washington (KIMA-TV in Yakima and KEPR-TV in Pasco were already on the air as the first UHFs in Eastern Washington). Was the Longview-Kelso market large enough to support a local TV station? I wonder what kind of programming they envisioned … could they have secured a network affiliation being that close to the network affiliates in Portland?
Seeing as how the radio station went bankrupt a few years later, the tv station probably would have been torpedoed.