KTTH

KTTH
City Seattle, Washington
Broadcast area Seattle metropolitan area
Branding 770 KTTH
Slogan Conservative. Talk Radio.
Frequency 770 kHz
Translator(s) 94.5 K233BU (Seattle)
First air date 1925 (as KTCL)
Format Talk
Power 50,000 watts (day)
5,000 watts (night)
Class B
Facility ID 27023
Callsign meaning K The TrutH
Former callsigns KFQX (1924-1925)
KTCL (1925-1927)
KXA (1927-1986)
KRPM (1986-1991, 1995)
KULL (1991-1995)
KNWX (1995-2003)
Affiliations Premiere Networks
Westwood One Network
Salem Radio Network
Fox News Radio
Owner Bonneville International
(Bonneville International Corporation)
Sister stations KIRO, KIRO-FM
Webcast Listen Live
Website ktth.com

KTTH (770 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Seattle, Washington. It is owned by Bonneville International and airs a conservative talk radio format. The station's transmitter is on Vashon Island, while its studios are located in Seattle's Eastlake district.

By day, KTTH broadcasts at 50,000 watts,[1] the maximum permitted for AM radio stations. But because AM 770 is a clear-channel frequency, it must reduce power to 5000 watts at night to avoid interfering with other stations. Programming is also heard on FM translator K233BU at 94.5 MHz.[2]

Programming

Bonneville owns two talk stations in Seattle. 97.3 KIRO-FM concentrates on mostly local shows while 770 KTTH airs mostly syndicated programming. On weekdays, KTTH has two local shows: "The Jason Rantz Show," which is heard in the morning from 6–9 A.M., and "The Todd Herman Show," which is heard in afternoon drive time from 3–6 P.M. Host Michael Medved also does his program from the KTTH studios in the early afternoon, although it is syndicated on the Salem Radio Network nationwide. Other syndicated programming includes Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, John Batchelor, Ben Shapiro and America's 1st News with Matt Ray. Several programs heard on KTTH moved from rival talk station 570 KVI. (At one point KTTH's slogan was temporarily changed to "Three letter radio is dead," referring to KVI's three-letter call sign.)

On weekends, KTTH airs shows on health, money, retirement, real estate, as well as repeats of weekday shows. Most hours begin with world and national news from Fox News Radio.

History

Classical Music

The station signed on in 1925.[3] From 1927 to 1986, it used the call sign KXA. During the 1960s and 70s, KXA had a classical music format. It competed with KING-FM 98.1 and KUOW-FM 94.9, which both aired classical music on the FM dial. As FM became more popular for listening to classical music, on October 1, 1980, the station changed to an oldies format and was known as "Old Gold 77 KXA."[4][5]

Oldies and Country

Following a bankruptcy filing, the station switched from oldies to brokered Christian radio programming in 1983.[6] The station's license was transferred to new owners that same year, and a format called "love songs" began on October 8, 1984, which was essentially a return to oldies.[7][8]

In 1986, following a sale to Highsmith Broadcasting, the station flipped to a simulcast of country music station KRPM-FM (now KBKS-FM) and changed its call letters to KRPM.[9][10] In 1991, the station changed call letters to KULL, returning again to oldies.[11] Country music returned in January 1995, as did the simulcast with KRPM.

Talk Programming

In November 1995, a format swap was made with AM 1090, with 770 receiving the call letters KNWX and an all-news radio format. That was followed by a switch to business talk programming in 1998.

KTTH acquired its current call letters in 2003, along with a flip to conservative talk. KNWX moved to 1210 AM that same year and would continue until 2004, when it was renamed KWMG (now KMIA).[12]

Sports

KTTH was the last flagship radio station of the Seattle SuperSonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder) of the National Basketball Association, from 2006 to 2008.

KTTH also airs Seattle Mariners baseball games during NFL football season, when the Mariners' regular flagship station AM 710 KIRO airs a Seahawks football game. KTTH is a sister station to KIRO-AM.

Starting in the 2011-2012 college sports season, KTTH began airing Washington State Cougars football and men's basketball but those moved to sister station KIRO in the 2012-2013 season, while KTTH began airing Seattle University Redhawks men's basketball. KTTH also carries Washington State Cougars football and men's basketball games that cannot air on KIRO-AM due to conflicts with Seahawks and Mariners games.

References

  1. ↑ http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=ktth&x=0&y=0&sr=Y&s=C
  2. ↑ http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=K233BU-FX
  3. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-227
  4. ↑ Victor Stredicke, "Old Gold Rock Sound Heralds the New KXA," The Seattle Times, 5 October 1980, TV, p. 26.
  5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlINLFUErIo
  6. ↑ "KYYX Bankruptcy: O'Day files Chapter 11, but vows to keep station on the Wave," The Seattle Weekly, 9 March 1983, p. 5.
  7. ↑ "Legal Notices,"The Seattle Times, 15 July 1983, p. B20.
  8. ↑ The Seattle Times, 8 October 1984, p. D8.
  9. ↑ "Radio Station KXA is Sold," The Seattle Times, 26 September 1985, p. H8.
  10. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Mediatrix/Mediatrix-Seattle-1986.pdf
  11. ↑ "Bouncing Around the Bands," The Seattle Times, 26 July 1992, p. L4.
  12. ↑ http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/article/Radio-Beat-Business-talk-will-soon-give-way-to-1160316.php

Coordinates: 47°23′38″N 122°25′25″W / 47.39389°N 122.42361°W / 47.39389; -122.42361

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