KIRO-AM to change owners
by Bill Virgin
seattlepi.com
Thursday, January 18, 2007


Entercom Communications Corp. said Thursday it plans to swap three of its Seattle radio stations -- including its news-talk flagship KIRO-AM (710) -- for three stations in San Francisco owned by Bonneville International Corp.

Also included in the deal are talk station KTTH-AM (770) and oldies-format KBSG-FM (97.3), as well as four Entercom stations in Cincinnati. Entercom will still own four Seattle stations: KMTT-FM (103.7), KISW-FM (99.9), KKWF-FM (100.7) and KNDD-FM (107.7).

Bonneville and Entercom hope to complete a deal to have Bonneville begin operating the stations in the first quarter, with the transaction itself to close this year.
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Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/300228_radio18ww.html

It's a good thing the Sacramento station wasn't part of the deal.

Wasn't KIRO owned by Bonneville at one time?

To quote from KIRO's on-line history page....  "Bonneville International bought KIRO Radio in 1964 under a different name--the Wasatch Radio & Television Company, and then sold it in 1997 to current owner, Entercom."

And it seems to me KIRO was top rated for most of those 33 years.  

There's an abundance of history here and we look forward to hearing from those who have "memory connections" to those days of yesteryear pertaining to Television and the way it was so readily available without something we now call cable, especially here on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.

without cable, we received in Victoria, channels 2 (CBUT)Vancouver, 4 (KOMO)Seattle, 5 (KING TV), CHEK TV (6), KIRO (7), channel 11, KSTW was'nt that great, we were able to squint through it, , it was also incredible when I reflect on those long ago days of channel 13 out of Tacoma, Washington

sure, the quality wasn't the best at that time, but what was? This was the 60's  
oh what stories we have of channel 13    please share


THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Belo Completes Seattle TV Deal

Published: February 6, 1995

The A. H. Belo Corporation has completed its purchase of KIRO-TV in Seattle for $162.5 million in cash. The transaction was announced in September.

Belo, based in Dallas, bought the station from the Bonneville International Corporation of Seattle.

Belo also owns WFAA in Dallas; KHOU in Houston; KXTV in Sacramento, Calif.; WVEC in Hampton-Norfolk, Va.; KOTV in Tulsa, Okla., and WWL in New Orleans. Belo has said it plans to operate KIRO as an independent station.

In addition to owning television stations, Belo publishes The Dallas Morning News and seven community papers in the Dallas area.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2DB103DF935A35751C0A963958260

I note with interest that when the LDS-owned predecessor of Bonneville forked out $5,095,000 in 1964, they got KIRO-AM, KIRO-FM & KIRO-TV.
When Entercom paid $5,000,000 in 1997, they got just KIRO-AM.


source
http://www.psrba.org/history/StnHistory.asp

Quoted from SoundAroundMee

without cable, we received in Victoria, channels 2 (CBUT)Vancouver, 4 (KOMO)Seattle, 5 (KING TV), CHEK TV (6), KIRO (7), channel 11, KSTW was'nt that great, we were able to squint through it, , it was also incredible when I reflect on those long ago days of channel 13 out of Tacoma, Washington

sure, the quality wasn't the best at that time, but what was? This was the 60's  
oh what stories we have of channel 13  

The 60s? Channel 11 would have been KTNT then. The station that brought you Crazy Donkey. I can't remember what call letters channel 13 used, but it seemed to me Bob Corcoran was on every show. They ran really old cartoons, too.

Shows you how much I follow Seattle radio now. I thought Bonneville still owned KIRO.

-OR60-

Growing up in Burnaby, I actually didn't know about the KIRO-Mormon connection.  But there is a nice history at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIRO_%28AM%29

I actually remember when KIRO-TV first came on the air.  Just a year or two before CHAN-8 made them almost impossible to view off air.  Before KIRO, both Vancouver and Seattle watched KVOS-12 Bellingham for their CBS fix -- who wanted to miss "I Love Lucy"?

KIRO Radio was also a CBS affiliate, carrying Art Linkletter's House Party (12:30 noon daily) and other programs well into the mid-sixties.  I used to listen to it at lunch during Junior High School.  I checked a few days when I was off school, and the afternoon TV edition was actually a different episode of the program.

Off-air from Vancouver, Tacoma's Channel 11 was significantly weaker than Seattle's 4, 5 and 7.  Channel 13 was even weaker, but Channel 9 (UofW's KCTS) was the weakest of all, and unwatchable once CHAN-8 was on the air.

Quoted from cjor600

I can't remember what call letters channel 13 used.....

Channel 13 signed on in 1953 as a Tacoma license under the call KMO TV.  Carl Haymond's original ownership ended in bankruptcy, and J. Elroy McCaw brought it back as KTVW, which again went bankrupt in 1974.  The current calls KCPQ arose from that pile of ashes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCPQ