The following is a list of call letters assigned to radio/TV stations in the Puget Sound region/Western Washington [1921 to present]. Some stations listed here are now defunct. Some call letters were chosen by station owners for specific reasons.
http://nelson.oldradio.com/ has a list of radio stations in the USA with call letter origin, based on:
E: Euphony – Sound of call letters, perhaps spelling a word
F: Frequency – Call letters related in some way to dial position
O: Ownership Related – Initials or name of [original] licensee
L: Location Related – Pertaining to geographic feature, region or city
S: Slogan – Promotional phrase, often reflecting licensee or city nickname
Without consulting their list, based on my fuzzy memory and best guess, I have attempted to provide the meaning/reference of station call letters in our area. If you have knowledge of some of these call letter origins, leave a comment here – or contact me and this list will be up-dated.
** Updated with suggested comments **
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KAAR – Car radio – All American Radio KAFE – Soft Rock Cafe KAGT – Skagit County KAMT – AM Tacoma KANY KAPS – Caps KARI – as in female name KARR – Car KASY – Casey KAYE KAYG KAYO KBAI – as in Bellingham BAY KBBX – K-Big Band-X, Station’s format was heavy in big band music KBCB – BC/Bellingham TV KBCS – Bellevue Community College Station KBEH KBES – Bellevue/Eastside KBFW – Bellinghan-Ferndale, Washington KBGE – Bob Gill Enterprises KBIQ KBKS – Kiss FM KBLE – K-Bible KBLV – Bellevue KBRC – Beckley Radio Company KBRD – K-Bird KBRO – Bremerton RadiO KBSG – K-BeSt Gold, station’s initial moniker was “K-Best” KBTB – Keep Busting The Beat KBTC – Bates Technical College KBUP KBVU – Bellevue KCDI – Carl-Dek Incorporated KCIF KCIN KCIS – Christian Information Seattle KCMS – Christian Music Seattle KCMU – abbreviation of the campus’s Communications Building, the station’s home KCPQ – Clover Park KCPS – Clover Park Schools KCTS – King County Television Service KDDS KDFL – Daffodil KDZE – Disney KEEN KEJI KELA – cEntraLiA KENU – Enumclaw KENY KERI – girl’s name, original slogan “Beautiful Carrie” KETO KEUT – Cute – Owner had another station with KEWT calls KEVE – Everett KEVR – Evergreen – Broadcasters, owners KEXP – music EXPerience Project KEZX – Easy 99 KFBL – the call sign corresponded with the timing of the application review and approval by the Department of Commerce – shortly after another famous west coast radio station was assigned its call letters for the first time: KFBK, Sacramento. KFC – Operated by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer circa early 1921; May 1922-Northern Radio & Electric Company; KFFV – Forty-Five (TV channel number 45) KFHA KFHR KFKF – Kemper Freeman Kemper Freeman KFMY KFNK – Funky Monkey KFNQ – The FaN KFOA KFQX [established in the 1920s, didn’t stand for K-FOX in those days. Origin unknown] KFRW KFWY – Federal Way KGAA – sister station of KGA Spokane KGB KGBS KGCL KGDI KGDN – King’s Garden, owners KGFA KGFM – King’s Garden FM KGHP – Gig Harbor Public Schools KGIB – G-I Broadcasters- Station owned and operated by former military members KGME KGMI – Good Music International KGMJ – “Good music” (K”GM”J) co-owned with KGMI Bellingham (Good Music International) KGMW – Temporary calls replacing KGNW on 1150, December 1986 KGNW – Good News – the old KAYO switched to a conservative religion format. KGRG – Green River Gorge KGTK – Gun Talk KGY KHCV KHHO – H2O KHIT – K-HIT KHQ KHTP – HOT KILO – Kilo, as in Kilo of marijuana KINF – Information 1090 (Dial position for previous calls KING) KING – King County KIRO – Like KOMO, Saul Haas wanted an easily pronouncable word out of his station call letters KISM – International Stereo Music KISW – Seattle Washington KITI – Kitty KITN – Kitten KITZ – Kitsap County KIXI – 910 [AM] with Roman numerals KJAQ – Jack FM KJET – K-Jet KJR KJTT – K-JET KJUN – Cajun KJZZ – Jazz KKBW – Brew KKBY – Cowboy KKDZ – Kids [Disney] KKFX – K-FOX KKMI – Music & Information “My-96” KKMO – homage to KMO KKNW – NorthWest KKOL – homage to KOL KKP – Seattle POLICE broadcasts [1920s] KKXA – Homage to the great Seattle call letters KXA KKZU – Zoo KLAN KLAY – Owned by Clay Huntington KLCK – Click FM KLDY – K-LaDY KLFE – K-Life KLKI – Lucky KLSN – Listen KLSY – Klassy KLTX – K-Lite KLYN – LYNden, Wa KMAS – MASon County KMBX – Off-spelling for “Mix” KMCQ – K-Mid-Columbia-Q (Station was originally licensed to The Dalles, OR.) KMCS – Market-CaSters, owners KMGI – Magic KMIA – “My” in Spanish KMIH – Mercer Island High School KMNT – “Kountry MouNTain” KMO – The meaning of the call letters is unknown, maybe just random. But a radio station in Kansas City, MO., wanted these call letters and the station in Tacoma would not give them up. KMO/Tacoma was on the air three years before KOMO/Seattle. |
KMPS – Compass KMTT – The Mountain KMWS – K Mount Vernon Washington State KMYQ – myQ² MYtv affiliate and alluding to its parent station, KCPQ, which brands as Q13 Fox KNBQ – Q-97.3 KNBX KNDD – The End KNHC – Nathan Hale Collegiate KNTB KNTR – News-Talk Radio KNTS KNUA – New Age music KNWR – Northwest Rock KNWX KOL KOMO KONG – sister staion of King [King Kong] KOOD KOQT KPCB – Pacific Coast Biscuit Company KPEC – Clover Park Educational Center KPLK – A translator station for KPLU KPLU – Pacific Lutheran University KPLZ – K-Plus KPMA – Positive Mental Attitude KPOZ – Positive Talk KPQ KPST KPTK – Progressive TalK KPTZ – Port Townsend KPUG – Puget KPUY – Puyallup KQBZ – The Buzz KQDE – Cutie, one of Wally Nelskog’s stations which became KIXI KQEU KQIN KQKT – KQ96 KQLA – Owned by Clay Huntington KQMV – “Movin'” KQOW KQTY – Wally Nelskog’s Cutie station in Everett KQUL – Cool Oldies with KOOL Oldies Phoenix satellite feed KQZQ KRAB – Crab KREN – Renton KRFE – Radio Free Everett KRIZ – Chris Bennett’s Z-Twin anchor station KRKL – Kirkland KRKO KROH – Radio of Hope Nine One One” for its emphasis on assisting Jefferson County’s Emergency Operations Center KRPA – Radio Punjabi Association KRPI – Radio Punjab International KRPM – “I’m going 106 RPM” KRQI – [Rock] RQ KRSC – owner Radio Sales Corporation KRWM – WarM KRXY – “94.5 Roxy” KSCR – South County Radio KSEA – Seattle KSER – The call letters were selected to reflect Snohomish County, Everett and Radio. S E R. KSGX – Seattle Generation-X KSND – K-Sound KSPL – Special KSRB – Seattle’s Rhythm & Blues KSTW – Seattle-Tacoma Washington KSUH – Suh, owner’s last name KSVU – Skagit Valley College KSVR – Skagit Valley Radio KSWW – South West Washington KTAC – Tacoma KTBI – Tacoma Broadcasters Incorporated KTBK KTBW – Trinity Broadcasting of Washington KTCL – Know The Charmed Land KTGN – Tacoma Good News KTIX KTNT – Tacoma News Tribune KTOL – Tumwater-Olympia-Lacey KTOY KTPS – Tacoma Public Schools KTTH – The Truth KTVW – K-TV Washington KTW – Know The Word KTWB – KTWB-TV (The Warner Brothers Network) KTWR – Thomas Wilmot Read – owner KTZZ – the “ZZ” appeared as “22” – it’s TV channel KUBE – Cube KUDY – Wally Nelskog continued the Cutie theme, sqitching KQDE call letters to KUDY KUGS – Cougs KUJ KULL – KOOL oldies 770 KUNS – Univision TV Seattle KUOW – University of Washington KUPS – University of Puget Sound KUPY – Puyallup was the COL KURB – MountLake Terrace, a subURB. KUSE KUUU – You KVGM – Very Good Music (owned by Good Music International KGMI, KGMJ, KISM) KVI – Vashon Island KVL KVOS – Kessler’s Voice Of Seattle KVRI – Vancouver Radio International KVSN – ViSioN KVTI – Vocational Technical Institute KWDB – WhiDBey [Island] KWDK – K-Washington’s Daystar-K KWFJ – Keep Working For Jesus KWJZ – Washington’s JaZz KWLE – Whale KWOG – Word Of God KWPX – Washington’s PaX [defunct TV network] KWPZ – Washington’s PraiZe [Praise] KWWA – Western WAshington KWYZ – Last letters of alphabet [WxYZ] KXA KXIR – Island Radio KXOT – eXperience Of Tacoma KXPA – Personal Achievement KXRN – RentoN KXRO – owner bootlegger/rumrunner Roy Ohmstead KXRX – “The X” They tried for “KXXX” calls but these were taken KXXO – Is there any meaning to the call letters KXXO? Not really – we just liked them. We didn’t realize when we applied for the call letters that we would become Mixx 96.1. – John Foster, Program Director KYAC KYCW – Young Country & Western KYIZ – third of Chris Bennett’s Z-Twins radio KYNW – NoW KYPT – the PoinT KYYO – a substitute for KAYO KYYX – Kicks KZAM – “K-ZAM!” as in a magic word KZAZ KZC KZIZ – as in “Sis” Z-Twins sister station KZJO – for Joe TV KZOK – for “OK” 102 and a half KZTS – Z (Tacoma) Spanish |
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OFF THE AIR
These broadcast stations signed off for the last time, years ago.
660 KFOA Seattle – May 23, 1922 this station signed on as KDZE. At the time, the station was testing equipment, for an hour or so each day they would play a few phonograph records. Certified listener reports from as far as Philadelphia were registered. The station was owned by Rhodes Department Store. The station changed call letter to KFOA in March 1924 and then to KOL when Archie Taft bought the station in 1928.
800 KQIN Burien (KQIZ CP in 1969. Station went on air as KQIN a 500 watt daytimer in October 1970 – Golden Oldies – John Mowbray the owner, and then Beautiful Music [mid 70s, sold to KETO Co., KETO FM, John Mowbray takes 30% ownership of the new company] station format Adult Contemporary in mid-80s, CP in 1985 to move to 820 frequency)
KQIN personalities: Don Chambers, Burl Barer, Steve Wray, Joe Salvatore, Alan Archer, Mark Edwards, R.C. Bannon, Brian Calkins, Bill Fitzhugh, Jay Hemingway, Leilani McCoy, Tom Reddick, Bob [Spinning Bear] Peters, Cedric James, JJ Hemingway, Mike Moran
1400 KTNT Tacoma – MOR/Easy Listening – Tacoma News Tribune
1983-KPMA [bartered programming]
KTNT Personalities: Bob Cleland – News Director, Murray Morgan, Ted Knightlinger, Bill McClain, Gene Lewis, Jerry Holzinger, Bruce Vanderhoof [May 1968, sits in with Al Cummings for one week and then takes over the afternoon drive shift, Cummings continues the morning drive shift], Al Cummings [started May 1967 morning drive and afternoon 4-6pm…1970 hosts an afternoon talk show on 1400 KTNT “The Ombudsman”], Mike Altman, Bob Piatt, Dick Thompson, Don St. Thomas, Glen Brook, Carl Sawyer, Bruce Bond, Roger Pasquier, Bob [Spinning Bear] Peters, Frank Catalano, Bill Doane, Jaynie Jones, Len Higgins, John Burgess, Bob Robertson, Max Bice-Chief Engineer, John Allgood, Ed Dollar, Dewey Boynton, Bob Church, Mike Lonergan, Jerry Dimmitt, Mike Moran
The 1400 frequency is now used by KITZ/Port Orchard as a business/talk affiliate of KGTK 920 AM Olympia, KBNP 1410 AM Portland, and KSBN 1230 AM Spokane. The signal is not heard in the Tacoma area. KITZ personalities: Al Munroe and Fred Miles, Marina Rockinger, Brad Lee, Jeff French, Jerry Van Dyke, Lysa Dufourc
1460 KEVE Everett – KEVE owned by Cascade Broadcasting Co. Inc. existed from 1941-1945 and broadcast with 500 watts and a daily schedule of 6am – 11pm.
1460 KARR Kirkland – The 1460 frequency in the Seattle area was used by KYAC, which signed on in 1964. It was owned by Carl-Dek, Inc. and aired a country music format, and would later flip to an R&B format. The station was a daytimer, broadcasting at 5,000 watts but required to go off the air at sunset to avoid interfering with other stations on AM 1460. In 1975, KYAC moved to 1250 AM. Also in 1975, a new station signed on at AM 1460. KILO aired an album rock format. In 1977, it became KGAA, a country music station owned by Monroe Broadcasting, a Spokane-based company that also owned that city’s country station, KGA. In 1979, KGAA flipped to an MOR format. The station was sold that year to Community Communications of Gresham, Oregon. In 1983, the station was granted the right to broadcast full-time by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The station changed its call sign to KARR in 1984, and flipped to an adult standards format, utilizing the “Music of Your Life” network feed. In 1985, KARR went dark due to financial problems. The following September, KARR returned to the air as an affiliate of Family Radio, and would be owned Family Radio itself. On February 12, 2014, Family Radio announced that KARR would suspend operations on 28 February due to the expiration of the lease at its transmitter location. KARR returned to the air with reduced power from a temporary transmitter site on 23 February 2015. Effective August 6, 2015, the station was sold to James A. Dalke, for a price of $3,000. Dalke has continued to operate KAAR with oldies programming, restoring it to 250 watts, and adding an FM translator in Redmond. 2022 reports were that the AM 1460 station operated intermittently or not at all, with the Oldies format continuing on an FM translator. The FCC database shows 1460 KAAR licensed to Jim Dalke as of April 2023.
1480 KNTB – KBRO in Bremerton and KNTB in Lakewood are a pair of simulcasting radio stations serving the Puget Sound region. KBRO broadcasts at 1490 kHz with 1,000 watts full-time while KNTB broadcasts at 1480 kHz with 1,000 watts day and 111 watts night. Both stations are owned by Iglesia Pentecostal Víspera del Fin.
History
KBRO, which signed on the air in May 1947, was the one-time sister station of the current KRWM during its early years as Bremerton’s dominant community station, and KNTB, which signed on the air as KQLA, with an MOR/Talk format in September 1978, became simulcasts in 1998 as affiliates of the Triangle Radio Network, a service that targeted the LGBT community with a mix of music, Talk, and specialty fare. Controversy, a lack of support from advertisers and signal coverage would force the stations to drop the network and, in the process, be sold to its current owners, in September 2000. After short terms of broadcasting oldies, and then a Hispanic Christian format, it settled into its current programming in 2005. Later, KLDY (in Lacey-Olympia, Washington) and K221FJ (an FM translator in Tacoma, Washington) were added to the network. The stations then broadcast programming from ESPN Deportes Radio, alongside Spanish-language broadcasts of the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks.
On March 30, 2015, KBRO and KNTB went silent. On May 22, 2015, KBRO returned to the air with a simulcast of Spanish contemporary Christian-formatted KLSY 93.7 FM.
On November 10, 2015, KNTB returned to the air, also simulcasting KLSY. In 2023, Iglesia Pentecostal Víspera del Fin received FCC authorization to move KBRO from 1490 to 1480, which will end broadcasting of KNTB Lakewood.
1510 KURB [1968] Mountlake Terrace
KKNW call letters were used with the Urban Contemporary format that began on February 8, 1983, after the station had been silent for 6 months. Joel Bernard was PD. June 19, 1984, call letters became KKZU and the format was adult contemporary.
Personalities: Dick Ellingson, Mike Moran, Peter Christiansen, Mike Lonergan, Bill O’Mara
1540 KBVU Bellevue – KBVU existed from 1964-69 before being purchased by Kemper Freeman who wanted to move KFKF off of 1330 where it was stuck with a sunrise-sunset schedule. KBVU broadcast full-time with 1000 watts and I remember it as a jazz station for some of it’s life in the mid-60′s. In 1969, KBVU signed off and KFKF 1540 signed on. [Mike Cherry]
1540 KGIB – Kitsap GI Broadcasters Inc existed from 1950-1954 and broadcast daily from 6am – sunset with 1000 watts [thanks to Mike Cherry for this info]
[Radio Annual 1951]
93.3 KOTO Seattle – original 1962 application by owners of KNBX 1050 Kirkland asked for call sign ‘KOTO’. Eastside Broadcasting also owned KARI 550 Blaine and had an application for 104.3 Bellingham with the KBLE calls issued! 104.3 ended up being KERI and 93.3 KBLE-FM. [Mike Cherry]
102.5 KPRN Seattle – before David Segal successfully launched KTW-FM in 1965, a previous CP was issued to another company in 1963, but never built. Plains Radio Broadcasting had a CP for 19 kW and 1090 ft antenna with KPRN call sign issued. [Mike Cherry]
106.9 KFIN Seattle – KFIN a 1963 CP for 35 kW & 1100 ft antenna owned by Fine Music broadcasters Inc. Yes, this was licensed to Seattle, not Bremerton where KBRO would eventually launch on 106.9 [Mike Cherry]
More calls: WHAM (used because George Eastman-of Kodak fame-liked the way it sounded.)
WBEN (Buffalo). Buffalo Evening News.
WNIA (Buffalo suburb of Cheektowage)- “NIAgara”. Now WECK – from Kimmelweck (Salted) Rolls very popular in Buffalo.
WGR (Buffalo) named for George Rand (founder).
WENY (now TV) Elmira, New York
WROC (AM and TV-but not related) for ROChester, NY
WBUF (FM) -BUFfalo, NY.
WRNY (AM) originally in New York City, then Rochester New York-and now Utica, New York
WKBW (AM-Buffalo) when purchased by The Churchill Evangelistic Association as “Well Known Bible Witness”
WSM-AM (Nashville) “We Shield Millions” – Founded by the National Life Insurance Company.
WLAC-AM (Nashville)-another insurance company “Life And Casualty” …
“WE SHIELD MILLIONS” WSM — not sure too many people would get the reference, but OK.
No W’s….. WBBM “Worlds Best Battery Maker” (Burgess) WLOL “W Land O’ Lakes” (origional licensee)
WGN “Worlds Greatest Newspsper” (Tribune) WCMP “W Chisago Milaca Pine” (counties in the coverage area)
WLS “World’s Largest Store” (Sears)
WCFL “Chicago Federation of Labor” (origional licensee)
WIND “W Indiana” (transmitter was origionally in Gary IN)
WFLD ” W Field” (origionally licensed by Marshall Fields)
WTTW “Window To The World” (Public Television slogan was a contest winner)
WAUR “W Aurora”