KGY May Have To Find A New Home

The lease on 1700 Marine Dr. NE, Olympia, will end at the end of 2024. The owners of the property, the Port of Olympia, are not keen on renewing the lease. The building, on the north end of the Port of Olympia peninsula was nominated for inclusion on the Olympia Heritage Register recently. These are issues that the Port and the Kerry family, owners of KGY FM, will have to come to terms with. If the lease is not renewed, the property would have to be restored to its previous condition. This could result in the demolition of the unique studios of the South Sound’s oldest radio station. KGY went on the air as 7CM around 1914, operated by a Catholic monk associated with St. Martin’s College, as an experimental station. Father Sebastian Ruth’s station was granted the call letters KGY in 1922. It was 1932 when KGY was sold to the Taft family, which in turn sold the station to Tom Olsen in 1939. Olson died in 1977, the station was then operated by his wife Theresa Olsen until her death in 1984. Her daughter Barbara Kerry operated KGY until she passed after a battle with cancer in 2006. The station remains in the hands of the Kerry family to this day. KGY FM 95.3 plays Oldies and keeps listeners up to speed on local events in and around the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater area.

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Author: Jason Remington

Creator, Admin, & Editor of QZVX, former broadcaster at KTOY FM/Tacoma, KVAC/Forks , KDFL/Sumner, KTTX & KWHI FM/Brenham (TX), KONP/Port Angeles, KBAM/Longview, KJUN/Puyallup, KRPM FM/Tacoma, KAMT/Tacoma, KASY/Auburn, KBRD FM/Tacoma, KTAC/Tacoma, KMTT FM/Tacoma, and KOOL FM/Phoenix. -- Airchecks
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