View source for KNWN (AM)

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name               = KNWN
| logo               = KNWN Northwest News Radio logo.svg
| city               = [[Seattle|Seattle, Washington]]
| area               = [[Seattle metropolitan area]]
| branding           = Northwest News Radio
| frequency          = 1000 [[kilohertz|kHz]]
| repeater           = {{ubl|{{Radio Relay|97.7|[[KNWN-FM]]|[[Oakville, Washington|Oakville]]}}|{{Radio Relay|101.5|[[KPLZ-FM|KPLZ-FM HD2]]|Seattle}}}}
| airdate            = July [[1926 in radio|1926]] (at 980)
| format             = [[All-news radio|All-news]]
| power              = 50,000 [[watt]]s
| class              = A
| facility_id        = 21647
| licensing_authority = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
| coordinates        = {{nowrap|{{coord|47|27|49|N|122|26|27|W|}}}}
| former_callsigns   = {{ubl|KGFA (1926)|KOMO (1926–2022)}}
| former_frequencies = 980 kHz (1926–1941)
| callsign_meaning   = "Northwest News"
| affiliations       = {{ubl|[[ABC News Radio]]|[[Westwood One]]}}
| owner              = [[Lotus Communications]]
| licensee           = Lotus Seattle Corp.
| sister_stations    = [[KPLZ-FM]], [[KVI]], [[KNWN-FM]]
| webcast            = 
| website            = {{URL|https://www.nwnewsradio.com/}}
}}
'''KNWN''' (1000 [[kilohertz|kHz]]) is a commercial [[AM broadcasting|AM]] [[Radio broadcasting|radio station]] [[City of license|licensed]] to [[Seattle|Seattle, Washington]], and serving the [[Seattle metropolitan area]]. Owned by [[Lotus Communications]], the station primarily airs an [[All-news radio|all-news]] [[radio format]].  It is the local affiliate for [[ABC News Radio]] and identifies itself as "Northwest News Radio".

KNWN is a [[Clear-channel station|clear-channel]] [[List of North American broadcast station classes|Class A]] station, broadcasting with 50,000 [[watt]]s, the maximum power for American AM stations. It is [[omni-directional antenna|non-directional]] by day but uses a [[directional antenna]] at night to avoid interfering with [[WMVP]] in [[Chicago]] and [[XEOY-AM|XEOY]] in [[Mexico City]], the two other Class A stations on 1000 AM. Under favorable conditions, KNWN can be heard in the daytime from [[Vancouver|Vancouver, British Columbia]], to [[Portland, Oregon]]. At night it can be heard across much of Western North America. The station's studios and offices are co-located with former [[sister station]] [[KOMO-TV]] within KOMO Plaza (formerly Fisher Plaza) in the [[Lower Queen Anne, Seattle|Lower Queen Anne]] section of Seattle, directly across the street from the [[Space Needle]]. The [[transmitter]] is on [[Vashon Island]], off SW 159th Street.

While KNWN primarily runs an all-news format, in the early morning on weekdays it carries two [[radio syndication|syndicated]] news programs from [[Westwood One (current)|Westwood One]]: ''[[First Light (radio)|First Light]]'' and ''[[America in the Morning]]''. Some midday hours feature longer-form interviews and call-ins. On weekends, some hours include shows on money, health and wine, as well as some paid [[brokered programming]].

KNWN's programming is [[simulcast]] full-time on 97.7 [[hertz|MHz]] [[KNWN-FM]], licensed to [[Oakville, Washington]], as well as on several FM [[broadcast relay station|translator]] stations.

==History==
===Early years===
In July 1926, KNWN was founded on [[Harbor Island]], as KGFA at 980&nbsp;kHz, by two owners: Birt F. Fisher, whose lease on Seattle radio station KTCL was about to run out, and the Fisher brothers of Fisher Flouring Mills, who had been on the island since 1911. (The Fisher Brothers and Birt Fisher were not related.) In preparation for the switch to the new station, Birt Fisher changed KTCL's [[call sign]] to KOMO. In December, his lease ended, and he took the call letters with him to KGFA. KOMO's first broadcast on 980 was December 31, 1926.<ref>[https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=WBS19270121.1.3&srpos=18&e=01-01-1924-31-12-1927--en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-KOMO------ "New Radio  Station Well Received By Fans"], ''White Bluffs (Washington) Spokesman'', January 21, 1927, page 3.</ref>  The studios moved to [[Downtown Seattle]] in 1927. The station also began a long-running [[network affiliate|affiliation]] with [[NBC Radio]] that year as well, primarily with the [[Red Network]], but also with the short-lived West Coast [[NBC Orange Network]] from 1931 to 1933. Over the following years, KOMO's frequency would go from 980 to 1080, back to 980, down to 920, up to 970, then back to 920, and settled at 950 after the [[North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement|NARBA]] frequency shakeup in 1941.

===1944 call letter swap between KJR and KOMO===
[[Fisher Communications|Fisher's Blend Station]] bought [[NBC Blue Network]] affiliate [[KJR (AM)|KJR]] from NBC in 1941. However, 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,<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/broadcasting21unse#page/n304/mode/1up "Ban On Multiple Ownership in Same Area"], ''Broadcasting'', August 11, 1941, pages 6-7.</ref> and an attempt by the Fisher family to be granted an exemption was unsuccessful.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/broadcasting26unse#page/n719/mode/1up/ "KOMO-KJR Seek Relief on Duopoly"], ''Broadcasting'', March 13, 1944, page 18.</ref> The Fishers decided to keep the superior frequency of 1000&nbsp;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 KOMO call sign moving from 950&nbsp;kHz to the more desirable 1000&nbsp;kHz.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/broadcasting26unse#page/n1203/mode/1up/search "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.</ref> The next year KJR was sold to Birt F. Fisher, who was, as aforementioned, unrelated to the KOMO owners.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/broadcasting292unse#page/n677/mode/1up "KJR-KOMO Separation"], ''Broadcasting'', 12 November 1945, p. 100.</ref>

At its new frequency, KOMO began broadcasting with 50,000 watts of power from its current transmitter site on [[Vashon Island]] in 1948. New studios at the corner of Fourth and Denny, near what is now the Seattle Center, were dedicated in February 1948<ref name="komo">{{cite news|title=KOMO Million-Dollar Studios Dedicated This Week|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-02-23-BC.pdf#page=22|access-date=8 November 2014|agency=Broadcasting|date=February 23, 1948|pages=22–23, 40, 42}}</ref> and included space for an expansion into television broadcasting. The cost of the new facility exceeded $1 million.<ref name=komo/>

[[File:Oldkomobuilding.jpg|thumb|right|220px|KOMO Radio/TV's former broadcast facility photographed circa 1948–1959. Note the "NBC Affiliate" script on the facade.]]
[[File:Old KOMO building 3 2 1995.jpg|thumb|right|220px|KOMO-TV's former broadcast facility at the current site of Fisher Plaza, taken on March 2, 1995, near the intersection of 4th Avenue North and Denny Way. This building was completed in 1948, expanded in 1975, and demolished in 2000 to make way for building 2 of the Fisher Plaza complex.]]

In 1953, [[KOMO-TV]] first [[sign-on|signed on]] the air on Channel 4 as an affiliate of the [[NBC|NBC television network]]. Channel 4 swapped affiliations with [[KING-TV]] in 1958 and joined the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC television network]]. KOMO radio followed suit by switching to the [[Cumulus Media Networks|ABC radio network]] the next year.

===Full service formats===
Through the 1940s and 1950s, KOMO carried network dramas, comedies, [[game show]]s, [[soap opera]]s and [[big band]] broadcasts, during the [[Golden Age of Radio]]. By 1964, old-line network programming had been phased out and KOMO carried a [[Middle of the road (music)|MOR]] music format. Long-time [[drive time|morning drive]] personality Larry Nelson began in 1967. By 1971, KOMO went towards an [[adult contemporary]] music format.  From 1967 to 1978, KOMO was the original [[flagship (broadcasting)|flagship station]] of the [[Seattle SuperSonics]] of the [[National Basketball Association]] with [[Bob Blackburn (announcer)|Bob Blackburn]] on play-by-play. Norm Gregory, formerly of KJR and [[KZOK-FM]], joined the staff as an afternoon disk jockey in 1984. KOMO carried a [[Full service (radio format)|full-service]] schedule of adult contemporary music, personality, news, talk, and [[Washington Huskies]] sports well into the early 1990s. It played more music than most full-service AM radio stations throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. Until 1993, the station was playing music in all dayparts, with local newscasts every hour. In the fall of 1993, evening talk programming was added. Dayparts gradually changed from music to talk and by the spring of 1996, the conversion to [[talk radio|news-talk]] was complete.<ref>{{Cite web|title=KOMO AM 1000 - Morning Radio TV Commercial - Larry Nelson (1984)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stzrElzLbB4|website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=1984 KOMO AM 1000 Promo with Larry Nelson|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1XgHW6Sn4s|website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=KOMO Seattle 1986 TV Spot|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc9k_P8UAMs|website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=KOMO AM 1000 Claymation Norm Gregory commercial 1988|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFJCnOWkjnQ|website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=KOMO AM 1000 - Radio Station Television Commercial - Jukebox White Glove (1988)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b84oV1g4IU4|website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=KOMO AM 1000 - Radio Station Television Commercial - Jukebox White Glove - B (1988)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEqk-yG36KQ|website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Husky Football KOMO Commercial|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg2EAakIStI|website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=KOMO AM 1000 Claymation Larry Nelson Commercial 1994|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoY8OVz_LwQ|website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>

In January 1981, former FM rock Programmer Ken Kohl joined KOMO. When Kohl arrived, the station's ratings were in the middle of the pack. After building the station's news commitment and implementing KOMO's first major marketing effort, Kohl and his KOMO team inched to within a tenth of a point of market leader [[KIRO (AM)|KIRO]]. In January 1987, Kohl departed Seattle for [[KFI]] in [[Los Angeles]]. For the next several years, KOMO unsuccessfully attempted to directly compete with market leader KIRO.  Following an outcry from loyal fans following his firing at [[KKWF|KIRO-FM]] ("The Buzz 100.7") in 1999, local comedian [[Pat Cashman]] took over as KOMO's morning drive host, with [[Dr. Laura]] added for middays.

===All-news format, change to KNWN===
In late 2002, Fisher Communications announced a six-year contract for [[Seattle Mariners]] play-by-play rumored to be worth at least $10 million annually, a record for any [[Major League Baseball]] radio broadcast agreement, which started in the 2003 season. After the agreement expired in 2008, Mariners broadcasts returned to KIRO.

Concurrent with the acquisition of the Mariners broadcast rights, KOMO dropped its talk shows and became an all-news station with reports from an enlarged radio news staff and material from KOMO-TV newscasts. Some notable anchors include Bill Yeend, Manda Factor, Brian Calvert (who also works as a reporter and weathercaster on KOMO-TV), Lisa Brooks, Bill Rice, Art Sanders, Nancy Barrick, Pamela McCall, and Eric Slocum. It was announced on May 11, 2009, that KOMO would be simulcast on KFMY, an FM station in Oakville, Washington, starting on May 15, 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.komonews.com/news/local/44725407.html |title=KOMO Newsradio to be heard on FM and AM |access-date=May 12, 2009 |archive-date=May 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514043426/http://www.komonews.com/news/local/44725407.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>  KFMY changed its call letters to KOMO-FM on May 18, 2009, to reflect the simulcast. The move was made to improve KOMO's coverage in the southern part of the market, as well as give listeners who prefer the sound of FM that option.

On April 11, 2013, after 87 years of owning the station, Fisher Communications announced that it would sell its properties, including KOMO, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.<ref name=b&c-saletosinclair>{{cite news|last=Malone|first=Michael|title=Sinclair to Acquire Fisher Stations for $373 Million|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/492841-Sinclair_to_Acquire_Fisher_Stations_for_373_Million.php|access-date=April 12, 2013|newspaper=[[Broadcasting & Cable]]|date=April 11, 2013}}</ref> Although Sinclair primarily owns television stations, the company initially retained KOMO and Fisher's two other Seattle radio stations, [[KVI]] and [[KPLZ-FM]].<ref name=tst-saletosinclair>{{cite news|last=Allison|first=Melissa|title=KOMO owner Fisher Communications agrees to sale|url=http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020756564_fisherbroadcastingxml.html|access-date=April 12, 2013|newspaper=[[The Seattle Times]]|date=April 11, 2013}}</ref> The deal was completed on August 8, 2013.<ref name=aa-fishersinclaircomplete>{{cite news|title=Sinclair Broadcast Group Closes On Fisher Communications Acquisition|url=http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/121117/sinclair-broadcast-group-closes-on-fisher-communic|access-date=August 8, 2013|newspaper=All Access|date=August 8, 2013}}</ref> Two months after the sale, several radio employees were laid off as part of general cutbacks by Sinclair at most of the stations they acquired from Fisher.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2013/10/22/komo-not-commenting-on-reported.html|title=KOMO not commenting on reported layoffs of nearly 20 staff members|last=Stiles|first=Marc|date=22 October 2013|work=Puget Sound Business Journal|access-date=31 October 2013}}</ref>

On June 3, 2021, Sinclair announced they would sell KOMO-AM-FM, KVI, and KPLZ to [[Lotus Communications]] for $18 million. Of the $18 million, $5 million was in cash paid at closing; the remainder was Lotus' choice of either cash or advertising for Sinclair properties on Lotus' stations. Sinclair retained KOMO-TV, as well as rights to the KOMO call letters. Lotus and Sinclair also agreed to allow Lotus to use Sinclair equipment and IT systems, including sub-leasing the current KOMO studios, for 18 months following the sale; with it, KOMO-TV and KOMO-AM-FM were separated after 68 years.<ref>{{Cite web|title=More Details On Lotus' Purchase Of Sinclair's Seattle Radio Properties|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/209052/lotus-broadcasting-acquires-sinclairs-four-stations-in-seattle/|access-date=2021-06-19|website=RadioInsight|language=en-US}}</ref> The sale was completed on September 28, 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/209052/lotus-broadcasting-acquires-sinclairs-four-stations-in-seattle/|title=Lotus Closes On Purchase Of Sinclair's Seattle Radio Properties|first=Lance|last=Venta|work=RadioInsight|date=September 28, 2021|accessdate=September 29, 2021}}</ref>

As required by the terms of the sale, KOMO's call sign was changed to KNWN (for "Northwest News") on February 2, 2022.<ref name="st-komotoknwn">{{cite news |last1=Lacitis |first1=Erik |title=So long, 'KOMO Country': KOMO Radio sold, gets new name |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/historic-komo-radio-sold-and-gets-new-name-so-long-komo-country/ |access-date=January 28, 2022 |work=[[The Seattle Times]] |date=January 28, 2022}}</ref> The KNWN call sign is solely used for hourly [[station identification]]s,<ref name="st-komotoknwn"/> with the station primarily branding itself as "Northwest Newsradio".<ref name="ri-komotoknwn">{{cite news |last1=Venta |first1=Lance |title=A Northwest News Battle Arises In Seattle As KOMO Is Set To Become KNWN |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/219196/a-northwest-news-battle-arises-in-seattle-as-komo-is-set-to-become-knwn/ |access-date=January 28, 2022 |work=RadioInsight |date=January 28, 2022}}</ref>

==Marketing slogans==

Early 1970s: "From the Olympics to the Cascades, from [[Vancouver|Vancouver (B.C., Canada)]] to [[Vancouver, Washington|Vancouver (Washington)]], this is KOMO Radio 1000!"

(also) "You're in KOMO Country".  Slogan was used with a heavily orchestrated instrumental jingle package from a Canadian studio.  The package was called "Big Timber", and was commissioned exclusively for KOMO.

Early 1980s: "A taste of what you're living for, KOMO AM 1000, Seattle!"

Early 1990s: "The station you depend on!"

2002–2005, 2006–2007: "First For Local News, Traffic and Weather." Similar to KOMO-TV's past slogan of "First 4 Local News".

2005–2006: "The commuter's best friend."

2007–2009: "The Northwest's News, Traffic and Weather Station."

2009–2014: "Everything you need to know."

2011–2012: "Western Washington's News, Traffic and Weather Station."

2012–2014: "What happens next, happens here."

2014–present: "Stay connected. Stay informed."

2016–2022: "Stay connected. Stay informed. Stay on time."

2025-now:  "When You Need To Know."

==Logos==
<gallery>
Image:KOMO_1000.jpg|KOMO's logo from 2002 to September 2006
Image:KOMO 1000 2006.png|KOMO's Updated Logo, since September 2006
Image:090511 komo newsradio.jpg|KOMO's logo introduced May 2009
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|https://www.nwnewsradio.com/}}
{{AM station data|21647|KNWN}}
* [https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=43929 FCC History Cards for KJR] (covering KOMO 1927–1944, KJR 1944–1980)
* [https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=43413 FCC History Cards for KNWN] (covering KJR 1927–1944, KOMO 1944–1981)

{{Seattle Radio}}
{{News/Talk Radio Stations in Washington}}
{{Clear Channel AM}}
{{All-News Radio}}
{{Lotus Communications}}

[[Category:Radio stations in Seattle|NWN]]
[[Category:All-news radio stations in the United States]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1926]]
[[Category:Lotus Communications stations]]
[[Category:Clear-channel radio stations]]
[[Category:1926 establishments in Washington (state)]]