• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

History KWWA 106.9 Format dates help.

T

thebeach33445

Hey Guys:

I was wondering if anybody can help me with some dates (either months or exact dates) for the following station: KWWA 106.9

1. KWWA Auto AC to Auto Beautiful Music 1980?

2. KWWA to Auto AOR as STAR ROCK 107 K-2WA 1982?

3. KWWA to Auto AC early 1983?

4. KWWA to Auto Top 40 late 1983?

Thanks very much for your help.

T.J.
 
thebeach33445 said:
Hey Guys:

I was wondering if anybody can help me with some dates (either months or exact dates) for the following station: KWWA 106.9

1. KWWA Auto AC to Auto Beautiful Music 1980?

2. KWWA to Auto AOR as STAR ROCK 107 K-2WA 1982?

3. KWWA to Auto AC early 1983?

4. KWWA to Auto Top 40 late 1983?

Thanks very much for your help.

T.J.
Click to expand...

Never listened to KWWA. I only remember 106.9 becoming KHIT in '84 as CHR until September '87.
 
Not many people know anything even existed on 106.9 MHz prior to 1984. It's hard to find printed documentation on KWWA and no airchecks exist. But I can give you the Cliff notes tomorrow night. (I won't go into KHIT because that whole saga is worthy of a Hollywood movie.)
 
Bongwater said:
Not many people know anything even existed on 106.9 MHz prior to 1984. It's hard to find printed documentation on KWWA and no airchecks exist. But I can give you the Cliff notes tomorrow night. (I won't go into KHIT because that whole saga is worthy of a Hollywood movie.)
Click to expand...

Thank you Bongwater I really appreciate that very much.

I don't need anything else about 106.9 just the KWWA days.

I have the whole history of 106.9 from KBRO-FM days to KHIT and KKNW etc. I just have missing blanks with the KWWA years.

When I am done with the 106.9 Timeline I will post it here on this tread.

Thanks Again
T.J.
 
thebeach33445 said:
Thank you Bongwater I really appreciate that very much.

I don't need anything else about 106.9 just the KWWA days.

I have the whole history of 106.9 from KBRO-FM days to KHIT and KKNW etc. I just have missing blanks with the KWWA years.

When I am done with the 106.9 Timeline I will post it here on this tread.

Thanks Again
T.J.
Click to expand...

Hey Bongwater:

Just dropping you a note hoping you didn't forget about me. My 106.9 timeline is just about finished. Just waiting for your info about 106.9 KWWA's format history.

Thanks again for your help.
T.J.
 
Sorry for the delay....

1980 - Country KBRO-FM becomes KWWA, calls presumably stood for Western WAshington. Format is B/EZ, station IDs as "Puget Sound West Radio". KWWA broadcasts at 30,000 watts from the KBRO-AM tower at Forest Ridge Park in Bremerton (Last I heard, it still has the original FM bays.) The signal covered Kitsap County fairly, but could hardly be heard in the Seattle area (beyond hilltops, the signal was extremely noisy, possibly due to the elevation of the KBRO/KWWA tower.)

The format was mostly instrumental, with some MOR. KBRO-AM at the time was MORish AC. Both KBRO and KWWA simulcasted the 11pm hour and signed off at midnight nightly (in fact, 106.9 was the very last commercial FM radio station in Puget Sound with a nightly sign-off, ending July 3, 1984.)

1982 - Format changes to AOR "Star Rock 107 K-2WA" (it was also called on the air "K-Wah" or "K-Wah-Wah"), format was initially arena rock heavy (Styx, Foreigner, Journey, Loverboy, etc., but included New Wave after the format flip of KYYX and heavy metal (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden) as that genre became popular on KISW and KZOK. The presentation was really sloppy and it really sounded like a joke. 11pm - Midnight simulcast and sign-off continues.

1983 - KWWA simulcasted KBRO for a week and returned as AC. 11pm - Midnight simulcast and sign-off continues.

1983 - KWWA begins testing a new 100,000 watt facility on Gold Mountain, signal improves dramatically. Station runs a loop of CHR hits, circa August 1983 until July 1984 when 106.9 became KHIT. 11pm - Midnight simulcast and sign-off continued until July 3, 1984.
 
Bongwater said:
Sorry for the delay....

1980 - Country KBRO-FM becomes KWWA, calls presumably stood for Western WAshington. Format is B/EZ, station IDs as "Puget Sound West Radio". KWWA broadcasts at 30,000 watts from the KBRO-AM tower at Forest Ridge Park in Bremerton (Last I heard, it still has the original FM bays.) The signal covered Kitsap County fairly, but could hardly be heard in the Seattle area (beyond hilltops, the signal was extremely noisy, possibly due to the elevation of the KBRO/KWWA tower.)

The format was mostly instrumental, with some MOR. KBRO-AM at the time was MORish AC. Both KBRO and KWWA simulcasted the 11pm hour and signed off at midnight nightly (in fact, 106.9 was the very last commercial FM radio station in Puget Sound with a nightly sign-off, ending July 3, 1984.)

1982 - Format changes to AOR "Star Rock 107 K-2WA" (it was also called on the air "K-Wah" or "K-Wah-Wah"), format was initially arena rock heavy (Styx, Foreigner, Journey, Loverboy, etc., but included New Wave after the format flip of KYYX and heavy metal (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden) as that genre became popular on KISW and KZOK. The presentation was really sloppy and it really sounded like a joke. 11pm - Midnight simulcast and sign-off continues.

1983 - KWWA simulcasted KBRO for a week and returned as AC. 11pm - Midnight simulcast and sign-off continues.

1983 - KWWA begins testing a new 100,000 watt facility on Gold Mountain, signal improves dramatically. Station runs a loop of CHR hits, circa August 1983 until July 1984 when 106.9 became KHIT. 11pm - Midnight simulcast and sign-off continued until July 3, 1984.
Click to expand...

Hey Bongwater: YOU ROCK DUDE!! Thank you very much for this info!! BIG HELP in my research. Never knew the station shut off at 12mid that whole time they were KWWA. Looks like when KBRO became country on April 3, 1972 they signed off at midnight too.

Just to add I saw an article in the SeaTac website you replied to and you had KWWA to Auto AC circa February 1983. I also have an article saying KBRO FM dropped Auto Country for Auto AC as KWWA on October 1, 1979. Didn't know if you knew that.

Would you know around circa what month KWWA went AOR in 1982 and Beautiful Music in 1980?

Thanks again for your help on 106.9. This was the frequency that had many blanks to it in my research.

T.J.
 
It was August or September of 1982 when 106.9 went AOR. It didn't last long because the imaging was so awful (I've seen broadcasting school students who could do a better job than what I heard on KWWA back then.) College radio sounded better.

It's funny, but it seemed like KBRO really had no faith in it's FM station and saw no future in it. It always sounded like an afterthought, even as the tide was turning to FM in the early '80s. KBRO ALWAYS sounded more polished than KWWA ever did.

I'm not sure what was going on in 1979. I really didn't even notice KWWA until 1980 (around the time I discovered AM DXing and began to SLOWLY tune the dial.) I can't tell you when they went B/EZ in 1980.
 
I'm not sure what was going on in 1979. I really didn't even notice KWWA until 1980 (around the time I discovered AM DXing and began to SLOWLY tune the dial.) I can't tell you when they went B/EZ in 1980.[/QUOTE]

Just wondering I was doing research on KWWA from the Seattle Times Newspaper archives and I found a list of stations. It had KWWA 106.9 as Pop Music on a list from January 2, 1980. Would you remember what month in 1980 you first heard KWWA as Beautiful Music? This would round it down for me so I can do more of a extensive research.

Thanks

T.J.
 
Bongwater said:
Sorry for the delay....

1980 - Country KBRO-FM becomes KWWA, calls presumably stood for Western WAshington. Format is B/EZ, station IDs as "Puget Sound West Radio". KWWA broadcasts at 30,000 watts from the KBRO-AM tower at Forest Ridge Park in Bremerton (Last I heard, it still has the original FM bays.) The signal covered Kitsap County fairly, but could hardly be heard in the Seattle area (beyond hilltops, the signal was extremely noisy, possibly due to the elevation of the KBRO/KWWA tower.)
Click to expand...

A bit more...

In '86, when I first had occasion to work on the AM transmitter, the FM antenna had already been removed. The site may have been a decent place to broadcast to Bremerton, as it was in the '60s, but there's no way it could have worked for Seattle... therefore the move to Gold Mountain and, eventually, Capitol Hill.

KBRO-AM was the beneficiary of the FM's newfound ratings. In the mid '80s, it was still required that a certain portion of a station's week be originated at its main studios. KHIT was operating from Seattle, but ran from the Bremerton AM studios on Sunday. As a result, KBRO got a very nice console, new mics and a new automation system, which ran some of Ickabod's (BPI) syndicated shows.
 
Grounded Grid said:
A bit more...

In '86, when I first had occasion to work on the AM transmitter, the FM antenna had already been removed. The site may have been a decent place to broadcast to Bremerton, as it was in the '60s, but there's no way it could have worked for Seattle... therefore the move to Gold Mountain and, eventually, Capitol Hill.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying.
 
Was 106.9 ever 100 KW from Gold? If not, how come that site hasn't been tried for full market signals since? KCPQ 13 seems to do ok from there.
 
bobdavcav said:
Was 106.9 ever 100 KW from Gold? If not, how come that site hasn't been tried for full market signals since? KCPQ 13 seems to do ok from there.
Click to expand...

Gold Mountain stations put a great signal into the south sound. If you live in Olympia and use an antenna, KCPQ and KTBW are the only tv stations that you are going to be able to see, even with a rooftop antenna in some locations.
 
fordranger797 said:
Gold Mountain stations put a great signal into the south sound. If you live in Olympia and use an antenna, KCPQ and KTBW are the only tv stations that you are going to be able to see, even with a rooftop antenna in some locations.
Click to expand...

The trouble with Gold Mountain is the skyscraper-filled Seattle skyline. They act as a wall. Blocking Gold Mountain signals from super wealthy areas such as Mercer Island and the Eastside.
 
FYI, it was 50 years ago today the 106.9 signal first took to the airwaves in Puget Sound on August 22, 1964....
 
I have airchecks from KWWA from the CHR loop days--maybe. I recorded it on a low-quality K-Mart tape, and I haven't checked it in a while. I kept listening to the loop wondering when it began and ended. Whoever did this sure liked .38 Special's Tour de Force album.

I discovered KWWA when my dad car radio auto-scanned the FM dial. I had an empty preset in the wake of KYYX ending, so I filled it. And when they switched to KHIT, Stephen Raybow showed up, so it must be fate. (Then when he left, I filled in C-89, and he showed up there.) Also, Gold Mountain KHIT was the only Seattle station available at Paradise, Mt. Rainier. You could also get all the Portland FMs from there.
 
AAllen said:
I have airchecks from KWWA from the CHR loop days--maybe. I recorded it on a low-quality K-Mart tape, and I haven't checked it in a while. I kept listening to the loop wondering when it began and ended. Whoever did this sure liked .38 Special's Tour de Force album.

I discovered KWWA when my dad car radio auto-scanned the FM dial. I had an empty preset in the wake of KYYX ending, so I filled it. And when they switched to KHIT, Stephen Raybow showed up, so it must be fate. (Then when he left, I filled in C-89, and he showed up there.) Also, Gold Mountain KHIT was the only Seattle station available at Paradise, Mt. Rainier. You could also get all the Portland FMs from there.
Click to expand...

I'm still kicking myself for not catching the Star Rock 107 K-2WA period on tape. You all missed something really BIZARRE.
 
I was at Chinook Pass a couple of weeks ago and heard most big Seattles and a lot of BC. Shocked that KHIT was the only Seattle at Paradise, you'd think the other big ones would be in as well....

-crainbebo
 
Keep in mind this was 1984. Did you hear KUOW from there? If not, then that would explain it. Weren't most big Seattle fm stations on Queen Anne Hill at that time?
 
bobdavcav said:
Keep in mind this was 1984. Did you hear KUOW from there? If not, then that would explain it. Weren't most big Seattle fm stations on Queen Anne Hill at that time?
Click to expand...

Only 98.1 KING-FM and 100.7 KIRO/KSEA/KWMX - then owned by KIRO were on Queen Anne and they were on their repective TV station towers. They moved in 1997 to Tiger Mtn.
 
Last edited:
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom