On February 18, 1927 KLIT began operation. KLIT was assigned 1450kc, but illegally broadcast on 860kc with the power of 7 1/2 watts. KLIT stood for owner Lewis Irvine Thompson. Studio & transmitter were located at 475 21st St. in Portland. KLIT was established to further the interests of the "Portland Listener's Association".

By April 1927 KLIT was operating on it's assigned 1450 dial position and power was raised to 10 watts. On January 23, 1928 KLIT was placed on the market for sale.

On March 14, 1928 KLIT was sold to Eugene Broadcast Station (Curtis G. Phillips) for an estimated $5,000. Eugene Broadcast Station was KGEH, which was also being sold at this time. Previous to this, KGEH's history started over a year earlier.

On December 26, 1926 KGEH began operation on 1270kc, with the power of 50 watts. The KGEH calls were one of the last to be sequentially-assigned. KGEH was owned by Eugene Broadcast Station (Harold H. Hanseth). Studio & transmitter were located at The Eugene Hotel, 229 9th Ave.(now E. Broadway Ave.). KGEH's staff were former KOAC students from Oregon Agricultural College (now O.S.U.). This was Eugene's 3rd broadcast station. The first two (KDZJ & KFAT) in 1922 failed. Most stations did in the early years.

In February 1927 KGEH suspended operation. In April 1927 KGEH was back on the air, with an additional studio at McDonald Theatre on the University of Oregon campus. In May 1927 KGEH was sold to Curtis G. Phillips. Also in May 1927 KGEH switched to 1490kc.

In February 1928 the KGEH calls & apparatus were sold back to Harold H. Hanseth. On February 29, 1928 Mr. Hanseth moved the apparatus to Marshfield OR (city re-named in 1944 Coos Bay). KGEH became KOOS.

On March 15, 1928 KOOS began operation on 1450kc, with the power of 50 watts.(1450 frequency was from abandoned KLIT Portland). KOOS calls stood for Coos County. KOOS was owned by KOOS Radio Sales & Service, Inc. (Harold H. Hanseth). Studio & transmitter were located at N. Broadway St. & Market Ave. in Marshfield.

In June 1928 the Federal Radio Commission was cracking down on stations not operating in the public interest. KOOS was one of the few stations to surrender it's broadcast license without a court fight.

In December 1928 KOOS was back in operation, now on 1420kc. Licensee name had changed to H.H. Hanseth, Inc. In October 1929 KOOS switched to 1370kc. On December 27, 1929 KOOS increased power to 100 watts.

By 1936 KOOS had sold to Pacific Radio Corp. Studio & transmitter were now located on the 5th floor of the Hall Building (505 Hall Ave. & 5th St.). KOOS was now operating daytime only on 1390kc. Power had increased to 250 watts. By 1937 KOOS was operating on 1200kc, with the power of 250 watts day & 100 watts night.

On June 1, 1938 KOOS was sold to KOOS, Inc. (The Coos Bay Times Newspaper). Also on this date KOOS affiliated with the Mutual-Don Lee Broadcasting System. On March 29, 1941 KOOS switched to 1230kc, 250 watts day & night.

On January 7, 1960 KOOS dropped it's MBS affiliation in favor of ABC. In 1966 KOOS raised day power to 1kw. On January 1, 1968 KOOS affiliated with the abc Information Network. On June 1, 1981 KOOS was sold to Bay Radio, Inc. Calls changed to KHSN.

Flashing back to the KLIT purchase by Eugene Broadcast Station (Curtis G. Phillips).

On February 17, 1928 Eugene Broadcast Station was granted the calls KROW. (calls had been assigned to Portland a year earlier, but never broadcast). Mr. Phillips was going to use the calls to describe the KROW studio as "The Crows Nest". Needing financial help to finish installation of the former KLIT apparatus, Mr. Phillips took on partner Frank L. Hill. I'm guessing Mr. Hill didn't favor "The Crows Nest" idea. Calls were never used.

On April 22, 1928 KORE began operation on 1500kc. with the power of 50 watts. KORE calls stood for Oregon. KORE was owned by Eugene Broadcast Station (Curtis G. Phillips & Frank L. Hill). Studio & transmitter were located at The Eugene Hotel 229 9th Ave. (now E. Broadway Ave.).

On November 11, 1928 KORE switched to 1420kc, and increased power to 100 watts. On November 5, 1930 KORE affiliated with UBC. On April 1, 1931 UBC folded. By the early 1930's, studios had moved to the top floor of the "Morning Register" Newspaper Building on 9th Ave. (now E. Broadway Ave.) between Oak & Pearl Sts. By circa 1936 studios had moved to Hills Department Store (aka Hills Economy Store) 733 Willamette St.

On September 26, 1937 KORE affiliated with the Mutual-Don Lee Broadcasting System. In the late 1930's studio & transmitter were moved to 2598 Willamette St. On March 29, 1941 KORE switched to 1450kc and power increased to 250 watts. In October 1948 KORE was sold to Lane Broadcasting Co.

By 1950 KORE's Program Director was Bob Eubanks. (later, TV's Newlywed Game host). President & General Manager was Lee P. Bishop, until 1966. By 1960 KORE had increased day power to 1kw.

On August 14, 1966 KORE was sold to McKenzie Broadcasting Co., which switched city & frequency with KEED, Inc., 1050khz, 1kw, day only, licensed to Springfield OR, all on this date.

On December 1, 1979 KORE was sold to Intercontinental Ministeries. By 1993 KORE had increased power to 5kw day & 149 watts night.

A Special Thanks to "Randy In Eugene" who sent me hard to find information, used here.

I'm not sure, but isnt the Coos Bay station's format similar to KPDQ's? I noticed that some station that called itself K-Lite plays that format is in that area & carries my pastor Bill Ritchie of Crossroads in Vancouver every day at noon.

Wayne, Coos Bay's K-Light FM (KYTT) was owned by Intercontinental Ministries (as KICR) during the same time frame they owned KORE, late 70s, early 80s, but K-Light never had any connection to KOOS. The current K-Light format is a cross between KPDQ and "The Fish" -- a little of everything.


>In April 1927 KGEH was back on the air, with an additional studio at McDonald Theatre
>on the University of Oregon campus.

One minor detail, the location of the McDonald Theater is probably incorrect. It's been downtown, approximately a mile from the U of O since sometime in the '20s, and I'm not aware of it ever being anywhere else.

Thanks Craig.

Randy: The McDonald Theatre info. was from an "Oregon Journal" Newspaper story. I will take the U of O part out. Thanks! Since the time, when you sent me the KORE info., I've found more on this history. So the wait since July has helped. I've discovered the Oregon Historical Society Library has "The Eugene Register Guard" Newspaper Microfilm. I was disapointed (Kan't Spel) to find they did not cover KGEH or KORE until the late 1930's, but listed Portland stations earlier! That fact says a lot about feelings in Eugene. What a loss for Eugene Radio History! I'm hopeing that when I do research on KDZJ & KFAT in the next few weeks, they will show up on microfilm.

Regarding the McDonald, it was downtown on Willamette. . .I recall it being between just up the block from the main corner where the old JCPenney store was--across from Woolworths, east side of the street.

For Eugene radio history, you might try contacting the people out at UofO, when I went to school there I actually took a class in 'History of Radio'. . .the class was under the Speech Department (now Communications) and they also ran KWAX (student station).

did he say KLIT?

>Regarding the McDonald...up the block from the main corner where the
>old JCPenney store was...across from Woolworths...

You're thinking of the National/Fox/Rex Theater. The McDonald is a block farther south on the west side of Willamette St.

>KWAX (student station).

KWAX has been airing a satellite delivered classical format for a number of years now, and is no longer accessable to student broadcasters. Around 1990 the student body voted to fund a completely student-run station, and established KWVA 88.1 in '93.

Sphinkterszwht, I was thinking the same thing. I doubt KLIT would be an acceptable station name anymore. During spring quarter, I taking a Humanities class at Clark College and one of the books we read was called "The Crying of Lot 49." The radio station in that book was KCUF.

There is in fact a KLIT, "Lite 92.7" in Avalon (Catalina Island) CA. I suspect they bury the legal ID during a long string of commercials, as many stations do anyway.

Randy....exactly what are you doing for a living anyway?

Very good info about KORE. You might add Eldon Knight (of Knight Trucking) name as the owner before Intercontinental, and I'm not sure when he acquired it. Of course there was KORE-FM which Eldon sold for.....just a few thousand dollars which became KSND and transmoremed to KKNU.

Greg,

I wondered when you'd finally post on this site.

As far as I know, Eldon's son, Larry still runs KORE. Current owner is "Support Christian Broadcasting," which acquired it in '87. I'm thinking Ralph Petti (of KUGN and KFI fame) owned it just prior to 1987.

>what are you doing for a living anyway?

Still the oxymoronic Educational Television thing at the community college.

My father and I owned KORE AM/FM from 1970 to 1973. We were doing great as an AM/FM country music combo when KEED-AM (1450) decided to go country. In those days FM wasn't strong enough to hold it's own and we didn't have the money for a long fight, so we took the stations gospel. We broke even the first month. Then Fred Danz approached us to buy KORE-FM in 1973. We then sold the AM to Eldon Knight the same year. Ron Norwood - Salem.

Man,
Where else but the PDX radio site could I find references to the great McDonald Theater in downtown Eugene. Had great times at that theater when I was a kid and a teen-ager. Whoo-hoo!
Whatever happened to Ghirardelli "Flicks" candy? I lived on that stuff at the McDonald.

A whole bunch of weird, wacky sad things happened to KORE when KMGE signed on and purchased KBMC. The owners of KBMC were going to take over and I believe purchase KORE from Eldon Knight. I dont believe Ralph Petti ever had a financial interest in KORE. He was most concerned with starting his own church and used KORE for that purpose to a degree. So anyway, after McKenzi River purchased KBMC and changed the calls to KMGE, I remember the staff of KBMC going to KORE but not for more than a few weeks. Tensions were tight between the former staff and the new KBMC staff. At this time the owner of the "big" Christian station in Portland (KPDQ?) and KBMC were involved in a divorce. (Another sex scandal as I remember.) So there was no money to purchase KORE and Eldon took control and placed his son Larry in charge who then moved his mobile home on the grounds. As far as I know the attitude at KORE today is just pay the bills, keep the status quo and dont worry about ratings or rock the boat.

And wow.....Ron Norwood and Fred Danz....what a blast from the past. Ron do you remember the price for KORE-FM? As I recall it was WAY TO LOW and I thought it was Eldon that sold it. Is that not correct? Fred Danz of Sterling Recreation Organization would visit the studios occasionally and request some weird staff and technological changes. He hired and fired almost as often as he changed his socks. And the transformation from KSND fully automated to "live assist" had us all wondering why.....until he announced the sale of KSND/KASH.

This could be completely wrong because I've never lived in Eugene but wasn't KATR a Country station when KEED was still Top 40?

Yes, KATR was country since it's 1962 sign-on (I think). KEED went country in '73.

KATR and KORE AM co-existed because both were daytimers, but then KEED came on strong as "Eugene's Only 24-hour AM Country Station," and blew the other two out of the water. KEED even won a Billboard award for best small market country station in the mid-70s.

Coupla things. KATR signed on as a "good music" station. They were automated and put the actual equipment in the front window of the station at their studios on either East 11th or 13th. Not sure when they went country. KATR and KORE-AM did co-exist in a very nasty battle for three years. We were both blown out by KEED's 24 hour signal. Interestingly enough, when KEED won that Billboard award, I was the Operations Manager of the station (operating from KGA in Spokane) and Tom Edwards was the PD. The stations played the same exact playlist. The difference with KEED was that the station was a strong promoter of local events, and thus won the award. In 1973 Norwood Broadcasting sold KORE-FM to Sterling Recreation for approximately $110,000. This was a good price in those days. KORE-FM had an ERP of 2,600 watts. The license was class "C" so whoever bought it had to raise the power. After selling the FM, we took the AM religion and operated it for about a year until we sold to Eldon Knight. We were told that Eldon bought it because it was a religious station. - Ron Norwood

That was back when any commercial FM in this region that wasn't a Class A was a Class C, despite the power and protected to the full extent of the class.

Herbert W. Armstrong began broadcasting at KORE in 1933:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_W._Armstrong#Radio_ministry

I just want to say I appreciate the conversation about Eugene radio...having grown up and started my radio career there. I could never figure out why KORE gave up their 1450 freq. to swap with KEED at 1050. I do remember thinking it was interesting that, when KEED was rockin' on 1050 you could walk down the hall a few feet to KEED-FM where a tiny IGM automation system was playing classical music.

I worked for KORE in the mid-late 80's for Ralph Petti and later for Eldon Knight. Including the transition phase when, shortly after the merger with KBMC Eldon shuffled around staff members from both stations and eventually settled on some from each station. In my time there the station was all over the map on Christian music, aired a lot of Christian teaching programs and--very hot at the time--Talk Back with Bob Larson, as well as news from the USA Radio Network.