Music reigned on market leader KING AM 1090 from 1954 to this day in 1982 as Joe Cooper signed the format off for the last time, playing, Moments to Remember. The classic Seattle station converted into the market's first all-news station.
The local news format held until 1994 when the Bullit sisters started throwing in the towel on ayem radio.
Joe Cooper writes: "Sad day for me and many others when King Am dumped the music and went all news. Ratings dropped after that and never came back....too. bad."
(Sorry for the poor quality- the clip was salvaged from a bad composite).
My apologies for that video ... I uncovered it on an old VHS tape and couldn't get the "breakups" to go away despite several attempts to digitize.
Posted by: Eric | March 03, 2012 at 10:51 AM
No need to apologize! That's a rare bit of local radio history you saved.
- from the guy who did the 2nd to last show
Posted by: Dave Christensen | March 03, 2012 at 05:36 PM
I had moved to Seattle from Oregon by then and I was listening to KING when they made the announcement. The DJ was quite bitter, and I was shocked at why a radio station would do this. It was just the beginning, huh?
Posted by: sparky | March 04, 2012 at 02:29 PM
Remember when KING-AM had Larry King, Jim Althoff, Rick Miller, Pat Cashman, John Hinterberger, Dana Middleton, Bob Brinker, Jim Hightower, Jim Bohannon, ect.? This was when KING-AM was a News-Talk station. They switched to the old AP All-News Network on 9/1/94 when it was in the process of being sold to KIRO Radio.
Posted by: T-Bag | March 05, 2012 at 05:39 PM
I loved it when Chris Bretcher was a talk show host. She was great. Funny, smart, effusive, a joy to listento. Sad to think there have been no regular women hosting local news-driven talk shows since then. Rush Limbaugh's world of male-domination is alive and tragically well in Seattle.
Posted by: Ellywood | March 05, 2012 at 07:42 PM
Uh, T-Bag, it was 9/2/94 when KING-AM dropped Talk for All-News from the AP. KING-AM was, of course a Top-40 station in the '70s in which they were doing battle with KJR as well as the old KTAC from Tacoma. Who could forget Murdock in the Morning, Andy Barber, Big Jim Martin, Rob Conrad, Scott Terry(a.k.a. Steve Lawson), Dan Foley, & of course Joe Cooper. KING-AM was known as back then, "The Big Eleven".
Posted by: 12th Man | March 06, 2012 at 12:30 PM
I bet you that a friend of mine named Lynda loved it when KING played "Hotel California" by The Eagles. Remember when KHJ & KFI from down in L.A. were doing battle for Top-40 station supremacy back in the day.
Posted by: Moonbeam | March 06, 2012 at 12:35 PM
Even KING's sister-stations, KGW in Portland & KREM in Spokane were playing the hits back then, too.
Posted by: Hawk Fan | March 06, 2012 at 12:41 PM
To be honest with you... Ric Hansen was never on KING in it's Top-40 days.
Posted by: Big Ed | March 08, 2012 at 06:25 PM
Big Ed, Ric Hansen was on KJR, KTAC, KNBQ, KPLZ & most recently KVI, when it made a brief return to oldies in 2010...& no he was never on KHIT.
Posted by: 12th Man | April 14, 2012 at 09:26 PM
In the big shoe men’s suit the texture and the fabric finish should be similar to make the outfit balance. For formal look
Posted by: Moncler Jackets | October 24, 2012 at 01:34 AM
I remember hearing the announcement that KING was going jabber. It was a Sunday morning, and I was in my car. They said something like, "We've been the soundtrack of your youth, but now times have changed." They sure as heck had been the soundtrack of my youth. I was only in my twenties at the time, but I could tell something had gone away and wasn't coming back. Still sad, after all these years.
Robin
Rusty Ring: Reflections of an Old-Timey Hermit
Posted by: RK Henderson | April 01, 2013 at 12:03 PM