KJR (950 kHz) is an all-sports AM radio station owned by iHeartMedia in Seattle, Washington. KJR is the Puget Sound region's home of Fox Sports Radio and Westwood One Sports, mostly carrying their national programming, while co-owned KJR-FM has local sports talk shows during the day and evening. KJR-AM-FM are the flagship stations for Seattle Kraken hockey. During the Seattle Seahawks season, the stations use the slogan "Home of the 12th Man". The studios are in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood northwest of downtown.
KJR is among the oldest radio stations in the United States, tracing its lineage back to an experimental station in 1920. It is powered at 50,000 watts, the maximum for commercial AM stations. It uses a directional antenna with a three-tower array to protect other stations on 950 AM from interference. The transmitter is on 105th Avenue SW on Vashon Island.
History
7AC/7XC KJR's first formal broadcasting license was issued on March 9, 1922. However, the station's origin dates back to earlier broadcasts conducted by the station's first owner, Vincent I. Kraft.
Beginning in 1917, Kraft was the director of the local Y.M.C.A. School of Radio Telegraphy."Radio News: Leaves Y. M. C. A. School", Seattle Daily Times, March 1, 1922, page 5. In early 1920, he and O. A. Dodson organized the Northwest Radio Service Company. Details on Kraft's earliest broadcasting efforts are limited. However, in August of that year he began an irregular series of broadcasts originating from his Cowen Park home at 5503 14th Avenue, N.E."Three Broadcasters Busy", Seattle Daily Times, February 28, 1922, page 5. His amateur station had the call sign 7AC."Amateur Radio Stations: Seventh District", Amateur Radio Stations of the United States (edition June 30, 1920), page 77. The "7" in 7AC's call sign indicated that the station was in the 7th Radio Inspection district, while the fact that the "A" was in the range A-W specified that the station was operating under a standard Amateur Station license. Later that year Kraft was issued a license for an Experimental station, with the call sign 7XC."New Stations: Special Land Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, October 1, 1920, page 5. The "X" in 7XC's call sign indicated that the station held an Experimental license. In early September 1921 he began transmitting programs on a regular schedule, three evenings a week from 7:45-8:30 p.m.
In early February 1922, Kraft built a radio transmitter used by a temporary station, KDP, to broadcast a week-long series of programs from Saint James' Cathedral.KDP reports in the Seattle Times (January 29, 1922—February 15, 1922) Following these broadcasts he began using the KDP transmitter at 7XC."Radio News", Seattle Daily Times, February 17, 1922, page 8. On February 28, 1922, he resigned his Y.M.C.A. post in order to assume active management of Northwest Radio.
KJR
Initially there were no specific standards for stations making broadcasts intended for the general public, and radio stations holding a variety of license classes, most commonly Experimental and Amateur, began adopting regular broadcasting schedules. On December 1, 1921, the U.S. Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted a regulation formally establishing a broadcasting station category, which set aside the wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) for entertainment broadcasts, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for market and weather reports."Amendments to Regulations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10.
A few months later Kraft applied for one of the new broadcasting licenses, which was issued on March 9, 1922, with the randomly assigned call letters KJR, for operation on both 360 and 485 meters."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, April 1, 1922, page 4. Limited Commercial license, issued March 9, 1922, to Vincent I. Kraft in Seattle, Washington for operation on 360 and 485 meters for a three months period. It had been initially reported that the station's new call sign was "KAJR","Gets Federal Station Call", Seattle Daily Times, March 15, 1922, page 8. however this turned out to be an error in a telegram sent by the Commerce Department, and shortly thereafter it was correctly reported that the assignment was actually "KJR"."Wireless Laughs at Wire", Seattle Daily Times, March 18, 1922, page 5. Later in 1922 KJR's licensee was changed to "Northwest Radio Service Co. (Vincent I. Kraft)"."Alterations and Corrections: Broadcasting Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, November 1, 1922, page 7.
KJR was the third license issued for a Seattle broadcasting station, preceded by KFC (Northern Radio & Electric, licensed December 8, 1921, and deleted January 23, 1923) and KHQ (Louis Wasmer, licensed February 28, 1922, moved to Spokane in 1927–now KQNT). Despite this, KJR claims to have the oldest broadcasting lineage in Seattle by claiming 7XC as part of its history.
Because there was only the single entertainment wavelength of 360 meters available for use by multiple stations, each region had to set up a timesharing agreement to allocate timeslots. On June 23, 1922, three Seattle stations took turns operating from noon to 10:30 p.m., with KJR allocated 8:15 to 9:15 p.m."Radio Broadcasts", Seattle Star, June 23, 1922, page 2. In May 1923 the Department of Commerce set aside an additional band of transmitting frequencies,"Amendments to Regulations, Broadcasting Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, May 1, 1923, page 12. and KJR was assigned to one of the lower power "Class A" frequencies, 1110 kHz,"Alterations and Corrections: Broadcasting Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, June 1, 1923, page 10. which was modified a short time later to 1060 kHz. In early 1925 the station transferred to one of the high power "Class B" frequencies, 780 kHz,"Alterations and Corrections" Radio Service Bulletin, February 2, 1925, page 8. and in 1927 the station was shifted again, to 860 kHz. On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of a major reallocation resulting from the Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40, KJR was reassigned to a high-powered "clear channel" frequency of 970 kHz."Broadcasting Stations, by Wave Lengths, Effective November 11, 1928", Commercial and Government Radio Stations of the U.S. (Edition June 30, 1928), page 173.
New studios and transmitter KJR was originally located at the Times Square Building in downtown Seattle. In 1925, it moved to the Terminal Sales Building, where Kraft had erected a 50-foot (15 meter) mast to serve as the station's antenna, which was soon superseded by a new, T-wire antenna built in North City near Lake Forest Park completed in 1927 (later the site of Saint Mark's Catholic Church), at which point the studios were moved to the Home Savings Building at 1520 Westlake Ave."KJR Expands Service", The Seattle Times, December 24, 1924, p. 3.John F. Schneider, Seattle Radio, (Charleston SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2013), p. 31.
Kraft sold the station to businessman Adolph Linden in 1928.William Hanford Brubaker, A History of Radio Broadcasting in Seattle Up to the Establishment of the Radio Act of 1927, (Seattle: M.A. thesis, University of Washington, 1968), pp. 38–39. KJR was planned to be the key station for a new radio network, the American Broadcasting Company (unrelated to the current ABC radio network), with plans for a nationwide expansion."New Radio Chain Pushes Eastward", Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, August 1, 1929, page 46. However, the effort failed and Linden and a subsequent owner, Ahira Pierce, were jailed for illegal financing, using money from financial institutions which went bankrupt. KJR was then acquired by NBC,Schneider, op. cit., pp. 33, 38, 41. which in 1933 leased the station to the Fisher family-owned Fisher's Blend Station, Inc., owners of KOMO radio, who moved the KJR studios to the Skinner Building."Federal Radio Commission" (Decisions: February 14, 1933), Broadcasting, March 1, 1933, page 32.
NBC Blue Network
In 1936, KJR became an affiliate of the NBC Blue Network. It aired its dramas, comedies, sports and newscasts. This affiliation continued after the Blue Network became ABC in the 1940s."Blue Would be ABC", The Seattle Times, October 26, 1944, p. 15. In 1937, a new transmitter was erected on Seattle's West Waterway, which operated until 1996.Schneider, op. cit., pp. 41, 46.
On March 29, 1941, KJR, along with the other stations on 970 kHz, moved to 1000 kHz, as part of the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA).Radio Broadcast Stations, Federal Communications Commission (March 29, 1941, edition), page 19. That same day the Fisher family, after leasing the station for eight years, purchased it outright.Schneider, op. cit., p. 41.
At that time, KJR was powered at 5,000 watts but it had submitted a construction permit to go up to 50,000 watts. The studios were in the Skinner Building in Seattle.
Call letter swap between KJR and KOMO The August 1941 adoption of the Federal Communications Commission's "duopoly" rule restricted licensees from operating more than one radio station in a given market."Ban On Multiple Ownership in Same Area", Broadcasting, August 11, 1941, pages 6-7. At this time the Fisher family owned two Seattle stations – KJR on 1000 kHz and KOMO on 950 kHz – and their efforts to be granted an exemption were unsuccessful."KOMO-KJR Seek Relief on Duopoly", Broadcasting, March 13, 1944, page 18. The Fishers decided to keep the superior frequency of 1000 kHz, but also keep the KOMO call letters that they had held since the 1920s. Thus, on May 6, 1944, KOMO and KJR swapped call letters, with the KJR call sign moving from 1000 kHz to the less desirable 950 kHz."KOMO, KJR in Seattle Exchange Call Letters", Broadcasting, April 24, 1944, page 72. 950 kHz was a "regional" frequency, with a power limit of 5,000 watts, while 1000 kHz was a "clear channel" frequency, which allowed powers up to 50,000 watts. The next year KJR was sold to Birt F. Fisher, who was unrelated to the KOMO owners."KJR-KOMO Separation", Broadcasting, November 12, 1945, p. 100.
In 1946, KJR was purchased by Marshall Field's Department Store chain. It continued its affiliation with ABC until 1953, when ABC affliliation switched to 1090 KING."Marshall Field Firm Buys KJR", The Seattle Times, July 19, 1946, p. 3."Radio KING's Coronation Monday" (advertisement), The Seattle Times, May 31, 1953, p. 16. In July 1952, Marshall Field sold the station to a group headed by Chicago businessman Ralph E. Stolkin, which sold it seven months later to two Portland businessmen, Theodore Gamble and Howard Lane."Hughes to Sell R.K.O. Stock", The Seattle Times, September 19, 1952, p. 15."R.K.O. Hunts New President After Stolkin Quits", The Seattle Times, October 23, 1952, p. 52."Ownership Changes", Broadcasting, January 19, 1953, p. 118.
Frank Sinatra ownership KJR changed hands again, this time bought by Lester Smith in 1954."Ownership Changes", Broadcasting, December 6, 1954, p. 999.Marty Loken, "Like It or Loop It, KJR's Still No. 1", The Seattle Times, April 12, 1964, p. 19. KJR became a pioneer Top 40 music station, continuing with this format until 1982. Smith moved the studios to the transmitter site on West Waterway in 1955.Schneider, op. cit., p. 46. In 1957, the station was sold to entertainers Danny Kaye and Frank Sinatra, and Smith stayed on as general manager."Changing Hands", Broadcasting, December 30, 1957, p. 50.
Sinatra sold his interest in the station to Smith in 1964, and the resulting partnership became known as "Kaye-Smith Enterprises".Schneider, op. cit., p. 97. In the 1960s, under the programming guidance of Pat O'Day, the station was top rated in Seattle and well known for introducing the Pacific Northwest to many recording stars such as Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Merrilee Rush and the Ventures.Norm Gregory Radio Scrapbook: KJR 1919 to 2001 , February 9, 2012 (normgregory.com)