KUBE (FM)

KBLE

The station signed on the air on May 6, 1964 as KBLE-FM under the ownership of Ostrander-Wilson, and aired a religious format.

The Northwest's New 93/Musicradio KUBE 93 FM

On March 17, 1981, after First Media bought the station, KBLE-FM flipped to an automated Top 40/CHR format as "The Northwest's New 93 FM". The station's first song was "Use ta Be My Girl" by The O'Jays, followed by "Beast of Burden" by The Rolling Stones.^[1] Then, on July 8, 1981, at 5:04 p.m., the station officially launched with a live and local airstaff.^[2][3] On April 2, 1982, KBLE changed their call letters to KUBE and became known as "KUBE 93 FM". Shortly after the switch to Top 40, the station shot up to the top 5 in the Seattle market ratings (occasionally reaching #1 in some books and target demographics), and would compete fiercely against Top 40 powerhouse KPLZ for the remainder of the 1980s, with KUBE usually ranked ahead of KPLZ. Cook Inlet would buy out First Media in 1989.

From the Top 40 format's launch until September 1995, mornings were hosted by Charlie Brown (formerly of KJR) and Ty Flint (formerly of KVI).

KUBE 93

In November 1991, KUBE shifted to a Rhythmic contemporary hits direction as "KUBE 93 Jams", and maintained strong ratings during this period.^[4]

Logo used as "KUBE 93" from 1994-2016

In March 1994, Cook Inlet sold KUBE to a partnership between New Century Management and the Ackerley Group called New Century Media (KJR and KLTX would join the group in July).^[5] Also that month, likely due to the public outcry of a "gangland-style" drive by shooting of a Ballard High School student (which some blamed hip hop music as a motivator behind it), as well as their audience's changing music tastes, KUBE shifted to a hybrid Rhythmic/Modern Rock format as "KUBE 93".^[6] The station had the slogans "Seattle's New Music Revolution" and "Channel X", much in the style of the average modern rock station at the time. However, the station's ratings were not impressive with the format, and by November of that year, the station flipped back to a full-blown Rhythmic format.^[7] The station quickly regained its top 10 status, usually peaking at #1 in several books for the next several years.

In February 1998, the Ackerley Group would buy the station outright from New Century.^[8]

For many years, KUBE marketed themselves as "Seattle's #1 Hit Music Station, KUBE 93". iHeartMedia (then known as Clear Channel Communications) purchased KUBE, along with sister stations KJR, KJR-FM, KFNK and outdoor advertiser AK Media, from Ackerley Communications in 2001.

Clear Channel's acquisition of former rival station KBKS (a top 40 station) from CBS Radio on April 1, 2009 caused KUBE to compete only against Rhythmic CHR station KQMV (Movin' 92.5), owned by Sandusky. The station also changed slogans to "More Non-Stop Music", and then to "Hits & Hip-Hop".

KUBE was the flagship station of "The T-Man Show" morning show, which aired from September 1995 to September 2009, when "The T-Man" retired to become a professional poker player.^[9] The show featured Robert "The T-Man" Tepper, who was known for never showing his face to audiences, as well as co-hosts Pasty Dave (who was the show's producer), Hot Shot Scott, Stephen Kilbreath, Vinnie The Pooh and Tari. The show was also briefly syndicated through Premiere Radio Networks, and was heard on KKRZ, KYLD, KHHK, KFAT, KYWL, and WKST-FM.

Shellie Hart, longtime midday DJ and music director for the station, was let go in November 2011 due to budget cuts issued by Clear Channel. Hart had been with the station since 1991, except for a brief 3-year period between 1996 and 1999, when Hart programmed modern rock station KEDJ Phoenix.^[10] Hart is currently at KRWM.

Despite many years of high ratings, around 2011, however, KUBE's ratings began declining, largely due to poor programming and marketing decisions. KUBE was also no exception to company-wide budget cuts, which largely resulted in the release of many long-time personalities and replacement with voicetracked talent from outside of the market. New competition from KQMV and KHTP took away many of their listeners. KUBE also rotated through a few morning shows after "The T-Man Show" ended, such as Eddie Francis & Karen Wild, The JV Show (syndicated from sister KYLD), The Breakfast Club, and DJ SupaSam. None of these programming changes resulted in any ratings improvement for the station. In the December 2015 Nielsen ratings period for the Seattle market, KUBE was ranked #13 with a 2.3 share.^[11]

Power 93.3

Logo as "Power 93.3", from January 19, 2016 through May 3, 2018

As part of a major format shuffle involving four of iHeart's Seattle radio stations, on January 19, 2016, at Noon, after playing "Whatever You Like" by T.I., KUBE's long-time Rhythmic CHR format and branding moved to lower-power sister station KKBW (104.9 FM), displacing their Active Rock format (which would tweak to Alternative and move to KYNW). At the same time, 93.3 adopted KBKS's Mainstream CHR format, added in some newer rhythmic titles to the playlist, and rebranded as "Power 93.3." ^[12][13] The first song on "Power" was "Sorry" by Justin Bieber.^[14] This returned the 93.3 frequency in Seattle to a Top 40/Mainstream format for the first time in nearly 24 years.

The station also brought in a new live and local airstaff which included Carla Marie & Anthony for mornings, Kat Fisher for middays, Kwame Dankwa on afternoon drive and Brady for evenings.

The station took on the KPWK call letters on January 26, 2016; the KUBE call letters moved to KKBW the same day.

Return of KUBE

On May 3, 2018, at 3 p.m., KPWK flipped back to rhythmic CHR, returning to the "KUBE" branding as "KUBE 93.3". Concurrently with the move, KBKS also returned to its previous CHR format. The station changed its call letters back to KUBE on May 11, 2018. Positioned as "Seattle's #1 for Hip Hop", the music is focused on current Hip Hop hits as well as some gold/re-current Hip Hop hits from the 1990s and 2000s.^{[15][16][17][18]}