KZAM 1975-1983
KZAM-FM, the second incarnation of the call letters, was a pioneering progressive rock radio station in the Puget Sound region from 1 April 1975 until 1983. It broadcast at 92.5 MHz. As of 2006 that signal is home to Adult Rhythmic Top 40 KQMV (Movin' 92.5).
A leading eclectic radio station in Seattle, Washington in the 1970s, KZAM-FM was influential as one of the first stations to play many new artists, music on small labels and music in new genres, notably including "new age music" by the Windham Hill label. The music mix was exceptionally diverse yet generally accessible, and the station attracted a large and surprisingly mainstream audience. Unlike most earlier "alternative" stations that appealed almost exclusively to a very young, primarily male audience, KZAM reached a broader audience that usually had at least as many women as men, and was the strongest station among women in the 25-34 age group. KZAM's programming concepts were nationally influential, and spawned the so-called adult album alternative format. The station differed from many alternative music stations in the scope of its news and public affairs offerings and its ambitious direct involvement with its listeners in community events. When KZAM first went on the air, its original air staff featured more women than all other Seattle radio stations combined at the time, which was a topic of some local controversy. The Seattle Times ran a story about the station in 1975 headlined "Female Overkill". In its later years, the station was also known for innovative television commercials.
The station was originally owned by a local group of Seattle investors led by Stewart Ballinger, a one-time Broadway actor with deep Seattle roots, and Howard Leendertsen, one of the first people to import premium Japanese-made stereo equipment into the United States in the 1960s. In 1979 it was purchased by Sandusky Broadcasting, an Ohio-based group led by Dudley White, an owner of newspapers and, starting in 1979, radio stations. The on-air sound and staff underwent some changes as a result of the change in ownership, but the station remained distinctive well into the 1980s.
When the station went on the air, female voices were rarely heard in broadcast media, but fully half of the KZAM on-air staff were women. The decision to put women on the air was part of a deliberate effort to build a new audience counter-programming against then-dominant "high-testosterone" rock music stations. Early on-air staff members included Tom Corddry (founding program director), Jon Kertzer (founding music director), Davidson Corry, Shelley Morrison, Leilani McCoy, Marian Seymour, Jeff Hanley, Jeff Heiman, Steve Suplin, Jude Noland (news reporter and anchor), Dennis Fleenor (founding News Director), Lee Somerstein, Joni Balter, Nick Morrison, Jim Stutzman (morning news anchor), Bruce Buls and Nils Von Veh. Later staffers included Larry Snyder, Dave Scott, Bruce Funkhouser, Pamela A. Fuller (news reporter), Robert L. Scott, Paul Carlson, Matt Riedy, Steve Ward, Ken Vincent, and Michael Soto.
Several of the original KZAM staff later ended up in high tech careers: Corddry, Kertzer and Von Veh were at Microsoft, Morrison at RealNetworks, Corry at Attachmate, Hanley at Oracle and Heiman at PlayNetwork. A couple of younger KZAM staffers went to law school and became practising attorneys, including KZAM news intern-turned news reporter, Pamela A. Fuller, who developed a speciality in international tax law in New York. Seasoned and much beloved news man Jim Stutzman landed a position at the University of Washington, administering a continuing education department.
The last two minutes of KZAM's final day of broadcast in 1983 was Porky Pig stammering "That's all folks!"
KZAM-AM was KZAM-FM's sister station. From 1979 through 1981 it played exclusively punk and new wave music as the "Rock of the 80s". DJs included: Greg McClure (Spudboy), Cindi Bemel, Kerry Loewen, Michael Stein, Leroy Henry and Stephen Rabow. In the spring of 1981 the station's call letters were changed to KJZZ, with a jazz format that foreshadowed the arrival of "smooth jazz."
The KZAM "family" has stayed in touch over the years, with major reunions about every five years.
Read more about this topic: KZAM (defunct)