KOMO (AM)

Infobox Radio station
name = KOMO


city = Seattle, Washington
area = Seattle Metropolitan Area
branding = KOMO 1000 Newsradio
slogan = "The Northwest's News, Traffic and Weather Station"
frequency = 1000 (kHz)
translator =
repeater =
airdate = 1926
(as KGFA on 980 kHz)
share = 4.0
share as of = Spring 2008
share source = Arbitron
format = All News
power =
erp = 50,000 Watts
haat =
class = A
facility_id = 21647
coordinates = coor dms|47|27|49|N|122|26|27|W|
callsign_meaning = sounds like "Como"
former_callsigns = KGFA
affiliations = ABC Radio
owner = Fisher Communications
licensee = FISHER BROADCASTING - SEATTLE RADIO, L.L.C.
sister_stations =
webcast = [http://wma.fsci.com/komo-1000 Listen Live]
website = [http://www.komonews.com/aboutradio KOMO-AM 1000]

KOMO (1000 AM) is a radio station based in Seattle, Washington. Its format is primarily news, and it is also the flagship station of the Seattle Mariners Radio Network. A 50,000 watt clear-channel station, KOMO can be heard across much of the Western USA and as far north as Fort McMurray, Alberta at night.

History

In July 1926, KOMO was founded on Harbor Island as KGFA 980 by Birt F. Fisher, whose lease on Seattle radio station KTCL was about to run out, and the Fisher brothers of Fisher Flouring Mills (no relation), who had been on the island since 1911. In preparation for the switch to the new station, he changed KTCL's call letters to KOMO. In December, his lease ended, and he took the call letters with him to KGFA. KOMO 980's first broadcast was December 31, 1926. Studios moved to Downtown in 1927. The station also began a long-running affiliation with NBC that year as well, primarily with the Red Network, but also with the short-lived west coast 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 NARBA frequency shakeup in 1941.

Fisher's Blend Station, owner of KOMO, bought NBC-Blue affiliate KJR from the network in 1941. In 1944, KOMO switched frequencies with KJR (then at 1000 kilocycles) and sold KJR off two years later. At its new frequency, KOMO began broadcasting with 50 kilowatts 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 also inaugurated that year and included space for an expansion into television broadcasting.

In 1953, KOMO-TV took the air on Channel 4 as an NBC affiliate. Channel 4 swapped affiliations with KING-TV in 1958 and became an ABC station. KOMO radio followed suit the next year. By 1964, old-line network programming had been phased out and KOMO carried a MOR music format. Long-time morning drive personality Larry Nelson began in 1967. From 1967 to 1978, KOMO was the original flagship station of the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association with Bob Blackburn on play-by-play. Norm Gregory, formerly of KJR and KZOK, joined the staff as afternoon disk jockey in 1984. KOMO carried a full-service diet of music, personality, news and Washington Huskies sports well into the early '90s. Dayparts gradually changed from music to talk and by 1995, the conversion to news-talk was complete.

In January 1981 former FM Rock Programmer Ken Kohl joined the team at KOMO and put a fresh coat of paint on this gray lady of the Pacific Northwest. When Kohl arrived the station had fallen from grace and its ratings languished 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. In January 1987 Kohl departed Seattle for KFI 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 KIRO-FM ("The Buzz 100.7") in 1999, local comedian Pat Cashman took over as morning-drive host. 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. To shore up the surrounding broadcast schedule, 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, Eric Slocum (who formerly anchored KOMO TV's weekend newscasts), Lisa Brooks, Bill Rice, and Sue Romero.

Old KOMO 1000 Slogans

Early 1970s: "From Vancouver (B.C., Canada) to Vancouver (Washington) and from the Olympics to the Cascades, 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-present: "The Northwest's News, Traffic and Weather Station."

Logos

Radio Ratings

The following table shows the AQH Share information from Arbitron Ratings data.

AQH is an abbrieviation for Average Quarter-Hour Persons (AQH Persons).The average number of persons listening to a particular station for at least five minutes during a 15-minute period.

Share is the percentage of those listening to radio in the Metro who are listening to a particular radio station.

AQH Share Equation is [AQH Persons to a Station / AQH Persons to All Stations] x 100 = Share (%)

KOMO-AM 1000 is currently ranked #4 of 32 Seattle radio stations in Arbitron Ratings Data for Spring '08.

External links

* [http://www.komonews.com/aboutradio KOMO 1000 News Radio]
* [http://www.psrba.org/History/komo_history.htm History of KOMO]
* [http://www.geocities.com/komotv4seattlefansite KOMO Fansite]
*AMQ|KOMO
*AML|KOMO
*Geolinks-US-buildingscale|47.463611|-122.440833