Talk and Country Era
On October 4, 1982, at 4 AM, KING adopted a news-talk format, primarily with local personalities, and branded simply as "KING NewsTalk 1090". Personalities included Jim Althoff, Carl Dombek, Jeff Ray, Randy Rowland, Mike and Candace Siegel and Pat Cashman. This format did decent in the ratings, though they were never at the level that they were as a Top 40.
On September 2, 1994, at Noon, the station fired all on-air personalities and began carrying AP News' radio service "All News Radio." Shortly after this, the Bullitts sold the station to Bonneville, and then EZ Communications in 1995. The long-running KING call letters would be dropped for KINF, then KKNG shortly after, followed by KNWX. The station switched formats (but not call letters) with KULL (who was simulcasting KRPM) and became KRPM-AM, an AM simulcast for one of three country stations that would be acquired by Infinity Broadcasting (which bought the station in 1996) in the mid-90's, which included KRPM (then KCIN, now KBKS), KMPS, and KYCW (now KJAQ). 1090 also carried the call letters KMPS-AM, and then KYCW-AM. The simulcasting stopped in 1999 and 1090 flipped to a locally programmed Classic Country station. The station began broadcasting in AM Stereo in March 2001.
Beginning August 4, 2001, the station ran promos promoting a new format that advised listeners to "listen at their own risk". At 5 AM on Monday, August 6, the station flipped to hot talk as "Extreme Radio 1090" featuring Bob Rivers' "Twisted Radio" in mornings (who was also simulcasted on KZOK-FM), Opie & Anthony, Jim Rome, Ron and Fez, Don and Mike, and Phil Hendrie. The station was also a Sporting News Radio affiliate. The station's ratings were abyssmal, usually peaking at a 0.4 share. KYCW would return to classic country at 11 PM on May 19, 2002. The station's second version would include the return of personalites previously heard on the first incarnation of the format, including "Tall" Paul Fredericks from 5-9 AM, Mike Preston from 9-noon, PD Becky Brenner from Noon-3 PM, "Buffalo" Phil Harper from 3-7 PM, and Sheldon Smith from 7-Midnight. The station, however, still had low ratings, usually peaking at a 1.3.
On October 25, 2004, at Midnight, the station flipped to its current format and changed call letters to KPTK days later . The station mostly ran programs from Air America Radio until its bankruptcy in 2010. The station was the flagship for The Ron Reagan Show, which is hosted by the former president's son. The station also carries three local lifestyle programs on weekends, as well as Swirl Radio, a LGBT-targeted show on Saturday afternoons, and Community Matters, a public issues show hosted by Lee Callahan on Sunday afternoons.
Starting in 2011, 1090 AM has been the radio home of the Seattle Storm and Seattle Thunderbirds, beginning in 2012.
The station's programming is also carried on KJAQ-HD3.
On November 14, 2012, the station's call letters changed to KFNQ, and will join the new CBS Sports Radio network on January 2, 2013.
Read more about this topic: KPTK
Famous quotes containing the words talk, country and/or era:
“We talk about taking “pleasure in a thing”: but in truth it is pleasure in ourselves, mediated by a thing.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“No country is so peaceful as the one that leads into death. Life arches above one’s head like a bridgespan, and below it flows the water, carries the boat, takes it further.”
—Alfred Döblin (1878–1957)
“How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book! The book exists for us, perchance, that will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)