Apr_8__1976
Cocerning Dale Owens’ interest in the Fortuna station – (Wikipedia) On May 20, 1965, Dale A. Owens filed a construction permit for a new daytime-only station to broadcast with 1,000 watts on 1280 kHz at Fortuna, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted on April 20, 1966. Broadcasts of the new station, KIXF, began in November of that year.
In 1967, the station was approved to go to 5,000 watts; two years later, KIXF moved to 1090 kHz at 10,000 watts, making it the state’s most powerful outlet north of San Francisco. When the frequency change became effective in June 1969, KIXF became KNCR.
Never a financial success in its early history, KNCR was sold twice in its first decade of operation, to FGK, Inc. in 1971 and C&M Enterprises in 1974.
Dale Owens later built 1420 AM in Renton.
This article, from 1976, a few years after 1420 was built. 1420 KREN had its struggles to stay on the air https://qzvx.com/2020/11/12/ktnt-fm-switches-to-country-kren-marches-on-what-about-bob/
Was KTVU (Oakland/SF) billing itself as a Superstation?
I had not heard of this particular application for 1330 in Kitsap County before. There was a more notable attempt by the “Ki-Pen-Bro Corporation” filed a year later to build 1330 in Bremerton. They lost out to what would become KENU in Enumclaw, as Bremerton already had KBRO and KBRO-FM. The principals of Ki-Pen-Bro, including Gamscam felon Gordy Walgren, were the same businessmen who ended up purchasing KPMA and moving it to Silverdale as KITZ.
The Bremerton 1330 application is in the FCC database. They were requesting a construction permit to transmit with 1 kW from a site near the Bremerton Armory. Studios would have been on Kitsap Way where a AAA travel agency is now.
Getting back to the TNT article, it’s interesting that Ronald Kapral lived about a half-mile from where the KLAY 1180 transmitter would be built.