KNDD

Infobox Radio Station


name = KNDD
airdate = 1991
frequency = 107.7 (MHz) HD Radio
city = Seattle, Washington
area = Seattle metropolitan area
format = Modern Rock
owner = Entercom Communications
erp = 57,000 watts horiz
50,000 watts vert
haat = 714 meters
branding = 107.7 The End
slogan = Seattle's Alternative
class = C
facility_id = 34530
webcast = [http://wmc1.liquidviewer.net/kndd Listen Live]
website = [http://www.1077theend.com/ www.1077theend.com]
callsign_meaning = The END

KNDD (107.7 FM), also known as "107.7 The End", is an alternative rock radio station in Seattle, Washington. It is operated by Entercom Communications Corp. Its studios are located in the Metropolitan Park West tower between downtown and South Lake Union in Seattle. The station switched to an Alternative music format on August 23, 1991, around the time the Seattle Grunge Music scene gained national attention. On December 18, 2003, the station gained notoriety for shifting the focus of the station toward a more classic alternative sound and local groups.

KNDD ended up being a major player in developing the Seattle music scene and is still active in the promotion of local bands by providing airplay and sponsoring shows.

History

The station began its life in 1962 as non-commercial KRAB, founded by Lorenzo Milam and eventually owned by the Jack Straw Memorial Foundation. KRAB broadcast an eclectic mix of Pacifica radio features, world music, jazz, and much more. But the station was also dangerously close to insolvency. Its management realized the station could be sold to a commercial broadcaster and an endowment created, allowing the Foundation to broadcast in the non-commercial part of the radio dial, which exists between 88.1 mHz and 91.9 mHz. The owners of KRAB originally applied to share time with KNHC, owned by the Seattle Public Schools. However, this action was seen by the school district as a hostile take-over bid. Ultimately, the owners got a license for 90.7 mHz in Everett, Washington. KRAB's legacy remains on the air at KSER.

The first commercial station signed on in 1985. It was KMGI, also known as "Magic 108 FM." The station was a Gold-based Adult Contemporary station and had limited success for four years. But under the ownership of Noble Broadcast Group, the station refocused as a Hot AC station beginning in 1990 and called itself "i-107.7." KMGI brought together the morning team of Kelly and Alpha, who remained with the station throughout its days as i-107-7. Today, they remain together at WSB-FM in Atlanta, Georgia.

On August 23, 1991, the station changed its name and call letters. The station known as "The End" was born, and it referred to its music as "The Cutting Edge of Rock." This positioning statement borrowed directly from its San Diego/Tijuana sister station XETRA-FM. It was the Seattle market's 4th attempt at a modern alternative format, dating back to KZAM-AM 1540 in the late 1970s. Other stations in the format at one time or another included KJET-AM 1590 and KYYX-FM 96.5, which both trace their histories to the 1980s. Those stations may have been ahead of their times, however, while KNDD's sign-on came at a particularly fortuitous time in both the Seattle and national music scenes. Within six weeks of The End's first broadcast, three albums by local artists — "Ten" by Pearl Jam, "Nevermind" by Nirvana and "Badmotorfinger" by Soundgarden — were released. These albums helped come to define the sound known as grunge, and as Seattle's role in music history was cemented, the station quickly became one of the major stations in alternative rock radio. KNDD was also the first commercial station to play the band Weezer, when in June 1994, the station played "Undone (The Sweater Song)". [cite paper |author=Rosenfeld, Jeff |title=Debates of Artistic Value in Rock Music: A Case Study of the Band Weezer, 1994-2001 |date= March 2003|url=http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~mustaste/weezerthesis.htm#_ftn170 |accessdate=2007-01-08]

In May 2006, long time program director Phil Manning announced that he was leaving the station. Lazlo, of KRBZ in Kansas City, was named the new program director on June 1, 2006. In November 2006, he began hosting afternoons with a simulcast of his KRBZ show, which is co-hosted by his wife, Afentra, and Slimfast under the "Church of Lazlo" moniker. On July 17, 2008, Lazlo, Afentra, and Slimfast announced that they would depart KNDD. On August 25, 2008, both "Afentra's Big Fat Morning Buzz" and "The Church of Lazlo" returned live to Kansas City on KRBZ. This came shortly after former KRBZ program director Mike Kaplan took over programing duties at KNDD. [http://www.radioandrecords.com/radiomonitor/news/business/street_talk/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003409811 Dead link|date=September 2008 ]

The Alternative Declaration

In conjunction with the station's remodeling, KNDD introduced the Alternative Declaration in 2004, presented as 11 rules for guiding the way the station presented itself on-air.

1) Music: It's about the music.

2) We Listen to You: We will listen to our listeners and treat them with respect.

3) Artist and Title of Every Song: We will tell you the title and artist of every song we play.

4) Support Local Music: We will support local bands' music and shows.

5) Never Talk Over the Songs: We will respect the music and our listeners by never talking over the songs.

6) New Music: We will seek out and support new music.

7) Knowledgeable D.J.s: We are dedicated to constantly learning and living the music we choose for you.

8) Musical Diversity: We believe in diversity and will be open-minded about the music we play.

9) More Than Just Hit Singles: We will play any good song on the album, not just the "hit" single.

10) Surprise You: We will surprise you with the songs you haven't heard in a while.

11) More Songs Less Often: We will play more songs and repeat them less often.

Concerts

* Deck the Hall Ball
* End Fest
* End Sessions

Air Staff and Programming

Weekday Shows

*Travis 10am-2pm
*Harms 2pm-6pm
*Jordin Silver 6pm-10pm

Weekend Jocks

*Andrew harms hosts 'The New Music Show' on Sundays. *(new Assistant Program Director)
*Chris Travis
*Pam Wolf
*Kiera 'The Traffic Chic'
*Travis

Former Morning Shows

*Bryan Jones
*Scott Alexander,Travis Baily, Kendal Elliot
*Andy Savage and the Morning End
*The Marconi Show
*The Morning Alternative

Former DJs

*Marco Collins
*Bryan Jones
*Norman B
*Jason Hughes
*John Richards
*Tony Morigi
*Bill Reid
*Jennifer White
*Timberlake
*Matt McCart
*Dick Rossetti with Sarah
*Brian Beck
*Kyle Lundquist
*Steve The Producer
*Jason Anfinsen
*Tommy Hough
*DJ W No Name
*Jim Keller
*Christopher Russell
*Kris Walton
*Neal Martin
*Lazlo
*Afentra
*Slimfast/Ding Dong/Bambam

Former station voice

*Scott Alexander

Programming

*The Adam Carolla Show
*Loveline
*The New Music Show:As the title would suggest, the newest music in alternative, ranging from the newest singles by top artists, to album tracks (occasionally whole albums will be played), to local music. Hosted by harms.
*Locals OnlyHosted by Megan Seling:Alternative music from the Pacific Northwest.

*People's Choice Countdown:The top ten most requested songs of the day. Hosted now by Jordin Silver

Discontinued programming

*The Church of Lazlo:Lazlo, his wife Afentra, and their longtime cohort slimfast did skits and game/contests in addition to playing music. On July 25th, 2008 an email went out to endmailers announcing that the show was leaving the station.
*Resurrection Flashback Sunday:Four hours of music from the beginning of alternative rock, going from the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s. One artist will be selected as a featured artist for the show and usually has several songs played during the program. Hosted by Jim Keller.
*The Gabba Gabba Hey Show:10pm-midnight DJ Rob Femur played 2 hours of punk rock, often with an featured artist for the broadcast.
*What's Next:A song never-before-played on The End, aired every weeknight at 7:30.
*Psychic Shuffle Lunch Hour:Listeners call in to guess what song out of the station's catalog will be played next. If guessed, the person will win a small cash prize. If not guessed, the prize money will go up by $1. Hosted by DJ W No Name.
*Mega Bonus Wednesday:The same thing as "Psychic Shuffle Lunch Hour" only with the help of self-proclaimed "Listener of the Decade" Afro comes in to co-host the game and offer up a random prize if the listener guesses correctly.

*The Daily Special:Formerly, The End's all-request lunch hour, the music played was generally wrapped around a central theme. While Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays had fixed themes (1990s music, Resurrection Flashback, and general all-request, respectively), Tuesday and Thursday's themes were essentially wild cards chosen at the discretion of host Jim Keller; themes could range from an hour's worth of music by one artist, to songs whose titles or content all have something in common. It was formerly called "What's for Lunch" when Jennifer White was the host. The feature was discontinued when DJ No Name replaced Jim Keller as midday host.
*Resurrection Flashback Lunch:Replaced the all-request lunch hour for a time. Fridays had a fixed theme.
*Endsession Song of the Day:A song from The End's collection of intimate Endsession concerts, aired every weekday at 3:30pm
*You Don't Know Dick:Dick Rossetti quizzing callers for prizes
*Loudspeaker:The original title for The New Music Show
*La Mesa Grande:Bill Reid hosted this short-lived call-in discussion show, aired Mondays 12:00am. Guests and topics were often non-music related.
*The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:Jim Keller's original title for Resurrection Flashback Sunday. Aired 6 to 10:00am.
*What the hell are you doing:Callers did their job while Andy Savage, Steve and Jodi tried to guess what they were doing.
*The Marconi Show:The Marconi Show was brought up from The End's Portland sister station KNRK in October 2003 to replace the departed Andy Savage. [http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2003/10/20/story3.html] It lasted a mere 37 broadcasts before The End dropped the show when they revamped their format in December of that year. [http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=kndd23&date=20031223]
*Ultrasound:Ultrasound was hosted by Brian Beck. It aired on Saturdays, initially 12:00am to 2am, expanding (due to listener demand) to 12am-4am. The program consisted of popular electronic music.
*Who Needs Radio:A weekly 1-hour show that plays the hottest songs and artists on the internet. Focusing mainly on Pop/Punk. Originally airing Saturday nights from 11pm-Midnight. Due to popular demand the show moved to Friday Nights from 9pm-10pm. Hosted by Jordin Silver. This program was removed to refocus the station

Controversy

According to the radio playlist database "Yes.com" KNDD played the Weird Al Yankovic song "Amish Paradise" at 2:55pm on Monday, October 2, 2006, just hours after Charles Roberts killed 5 young girls in a Pennsylvania Amish schoolhouse.

On October 6, 2006, Entercom Seattle Vice President Jerry McKenna issued the following statement. DJ No Name was "less respectful of the event than he should have been. We are dealing with it internally. [cite news|url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/287707_tf106.html|date=October 6, 2006|title=Disc jockey for KNDD-FM apologizes for being insensitive to Amish shooting|publisher=Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Awards

In 2007, the station was nominated for the top 25 markets Alternative station of the year award by Radio & Records magazine. Other nominees included WBCN in Boston, Massachusetts, KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, KTBZ-FM in Houston, Texas, KITS, in San Francisco, and WWDC in Washington, DC. cite news | title=2007 Industry Achievement Awards | date=2007-09-28 | url =http://www.radioandrecords.com/Conventions/con2007/awards/altFinal.asp| work =Radio and Records|accessdate=2008-04-27]

References

External links

* [http://www.1077theend.com/ 107.7 The End official website]
* [http://kndd-fm.fimc.net/home.asp 107.7 The End old website]
* [http://www.tangentsunset.com/radioseattle.htm A brief history of Seattle radio]
* [http://www.michaelklassen.com/kndd-alternative-declaration The Alternative Declaration]
* [http://www.kyyx.com KNDD's modern rock predecessors, KYYX and KJET]
* [http://forums.thestranger.com/showthread.php?t=17805 Church of Lazlo, Stranger Forums]
*FMQ|KNDD
*FML|KNDD
*FMARB|KNDD