Hi folks! I've been lurking here for a while, enjoying the conversation (and learning a heck of a lot about PDX radio history - thanks, Craig!), and now I figure I should be polite and introduce myself.

My name is Scott Fybush (no "l" in that last name, thanks!) I'm based in Rochester NY, where I write for Radio World, edit the 100000watts.com directory site, and do news part-time at our NPR station, WXXI - and I've managed to turn a hobby of visiting radio facilities into a neat freelance gig, putting out the annual Tower Site Calendar, writing the "Travels with Scott" column for RW, and sharing my pictures and stories on my own fybush.com website, where "Tower Site of the Week" has been a weekly feature since 2000.

http://www.fybush.com/sites/2007/site-070309.html is this week's piece.

http://www.fybush.com/siteindex.html is the list of all the sites I've featured (including earlier installments of my Oregon trip in Eugene, Corvallis, Salem and Astoria/Seaside.)

And as one or two people have already noticed, the current run of "Site of the Week" features a very enjoyable visit I made to Oregon and Washington last September - and in particular, right at the moment, the afternoon I spent with Kent Randles (thanks, Kent!) poking around Stonehenge, Skyline and some of the other really nifty PDX sites. Next Friday (3/16), I'll feature some of the downtown studios and nearby AMs, plus KEX/KPOJ and on 3/23, it's Mount Scott, 910, 1080 and on to Hood River and The Dalles.

One of the joys of doing this, for me, is that whenever I post a piece like this on a community with an active broadcast history scene, I always learn even more from people who see the pictures and share their stories. So please don't hesitate to tell me what I got wrong, what I might have missed - and what I should make a point of seeing next time I'm in town, because I definitely want to make a return trip to your beautiful city sometime soon.

Thanks for having me here - you've got a great board going!

Awesome job, Scott!

Does the tunnel at the Stonehenge tower interconnect with the Shanghai tunnel system in downtown Portland? That could explain where many of the live local dj's disappeared to.

Thanks Scott! The pictures and write-ups of your odyssey thru broadcast properties are excellent. And, I've watched your tower calendar just get better every year. Thanks for your contributions!

Great pictures.

Missing pics: The bullet holes at the KWJJ transmitter site, the old KUPL AM phasor cabinet at Mt. Scott with the little glass window and the sign pasted on the inside rear of the cabinet "If I really wanted to screw it up I'd call a consultant," the KVAN temporary antenna (long piece of wire) when the old tower blew down (Columbus Day storm?), the old KGW-8 transmitter with the tilt out meter panels like out of an old Buck Rogers flick ...

Scott: Welcome Aboard! Great Web Tour! Been watching your website ever since Kent turned me on to your eye catching calendars. Also been enjoying your northwest tour these past weeks.

Did find two areas that could be fine tuned:

"And the stonehenge site itself began as studio & transmitter of KPAM (1410)"

[The first to broadcast from this site was KPFM (94.9) in 1946, Oregon's 2nd FM which became (97.1) in 1947. KPAM (1410) followed in 1951. In 1955 it also became the transmitter site for KLOR (channel 12) which became KPTV (channel 12) when KPTV (channel 27) purchased KLOR in 1957. KPTV (channel 12) moved from this site to Skyline in 1965. KPAM predecessor KBNP (1410) moved to the Oaks Park site in 1990.]

"(This site it should be noted was the longtime home of KINK 101.9 the former KGW-FM,"

[KGW-FM (95.3) the Northwest first FM station (Yes! Even beating Seattle) began operation on May 7, 1946 at 5:45pm. It has no connections with KINK except in the C.P. when the first calls (never used) were assigned as KGW-FM for (101.9) in 1968. The original KGW-FM switched to (100.3) in 1947. King Broadcasting sold KGW-FM to it's Manager, Quenton H. Cox in 1954 becoming KQFM. That evolved into todays KKRZ.

Thanks for your work Scott. I just glanced through your material online. Excellent!

I'd also like to add that the only broadcast stations on the old tower were for KPAM & KPFM. The rest of the FM stations mentioned were next door on the KXL-FM tower, which KGON did not own. As I understand, KGON made a deal with KKSN-FM, giving the latter a free 99 year lease on the new tower in exchange for use of the land where the previous tower stood. Craig can correct me if that's not quite right. I'd also like to mention what quite possibly is the main reason for all those FMs being at Healy Heights in the first place: The Skyline, Sylvan and other current TV antenna sites were too close to Seattle for stations 0.2Mhz apart when the stations were allowed full Class C protection, ie. all stations on Class Cs were considered to be operating with 100kw @ 2000 feet or equivalent.

Yes I agree with Semoochie except to add, the deal with KKSN-FM's 99 year lease wasn't the entire agreement. Property & studio building (now transmitter building) were also included in the $470,000. transaction.

A few corrections to note...

KPXG-DT is not at the Sylvan site, it is at Skyline. KNMT-DT which was omitted, is at Sylvan. As for TV at Stonehenge. Doesn't Watch TV have one of there class A's transmitting from Healy Heights.

Also the name of the large peak. Seen in the picture of KAST AM Towers at Youngs Bay. Is named Saddle Mountain. Which BTW had at one time an active AT&T microwave site.

Great work as always Scott.

Craig,
The original KOPB (KOAP-TV)transmitter building and tower was across the street from the KXL-FM building. The KOAP-FM transmitter building and tower was behind the TV building (around the corner)and it was the original KGW-FM building. The building had KGW cast above the door.

Andy,
I don't remember anything about KVAN and Columbus day storm but the transmitter and tower were on Jantzen Beach, about where Video Only is, in the mid 60's. They were kicked out when the amusement park went away and the shopping center went in. I was there in 1966. What a mess. Having nowhere to go, they went to Vancouver way, near their present location on Smith Lake, in a mobile home and used a long piece of wire there. Cathryn C. wasn't known as one to follow the rules.

Jimbo: Yes! Didn't go into KGW-FM's site since it wasn't mentioned on Scott's tour.

Scott: Kent might have pointed you to where it was but there's nothing left of except the old KOAP-FM-TV building. No tower on the site either.

Many thanks to Craig, Jimbo, Semoochie, Washnotore, etc. for the insight! I'll do an update to the page today.

So to make sure I've got this something close to right: the building that's now Stonehenge, and the old tower that was on that site, was never anything radio other than 1410 and 97.1 until 1990, when KGON bought the property, 1410 moved to Oaks Park, and the new tower went up?

And that KPAM/KPFM/KKSN tower - that's the one that was also KLOR 12/KPTV 12, until the Skyline tower went up in 1965?

Kent did indeed point out the old KOAP building...which brings to mind another question: if the original KGW-FM 95.3/100.3 became KQFM and eventually KKRZ, where did it transmit from after it left Healy Heights?

And I know KOPB started out on 92.3 as the former KEX-FM. Where was that transmitter?

Thanks...

"Cathryn C. wasn't known as one to follow the rules."

Thanks Jimbo. Of the stuff I mentioned, the KVAN long wire was the only one I didn't see in person. The Big BA handed down the KVAN history to me when I got there in '76, and there is a certain amount of fuzz in my brain cells 30+ years later. Of course, the no plumbing Monomaniac site in the Smith Lake basin was a picture to be had in itself, not to mention the melted wire bundles in the transmitter.

For a long time, the former KPFM was KPAM-FM. From there, it became KCNR and KKLI before KKSN-FM. That's the tower that was torn down and replaced with the Stonehenge tower. KINK was on the old KGW-TV tower, which is several feet from and attached to the Skyline tower, which was built to accomodate DTV. KIJZ started there at about the same time that KRSK moved there from their old location in the Cascades. KRSK changed their COL from Salem to Molalla in order to locate their antenna in Portland. Around 1983, KPDX 49 went on the air and constructed their own tower near Skyline. KKCW began operation from that location and was joined by KOPB-FM & TV and KKRZ. They remained there until moving to the Skyline tower. I just noticed something that may be confusing: When Craig mentioned KPTV moving to Skyline in 1965, he meant Skyline Blvd, not the Skyline tower, which is the name of the new tower. KATU, KGW, KPTV and KPDX all have separate towers along Skyline Blvd.

Scott:
Great write-up of the Northwest sites, Glad you could make it to our little corner of the US.

I think that there is one more segment to the KOIN (CH 6) story... if I remember right (so there is some question here) ch 6 first went on the air from the 220 ft tower to the east of the old transmitter building, then built the 700 ft tower, which became the back-up after the first 1000 ft tower was built. The 220 ft tower was then taken down, to be re-assembled after the 700 and 1000 foot towers fell in an ice storm, ca 1971.

KEX-FM was to the west of the the old KOAP building, just off of Carl Drive.

Scott: KLOR (TV) built a 280 foot, 12-bay Ideco tower in 1955 on the site which is called Sentinal Hill. Originally KPFM signed on in 1946 using a poli-cylindrical antenna on a 75 foot wooden mast. A tower was installed in 1947.

It should be noted that KPAM (1410) had its own tower on site. The Oaks Park site has been in radio use since 1936 when KWJJ (1040) moved it's transmitter to the location. 1040 is now 1080 and moved in 1948 to North Portland. Then Oaks Park became the home of KBKO (1290) which became KLIQ.

KEX-FM Carl Drive transmitter building is still there.

Talk about coming full circle - isn't the current 1040, whatever its calls are this week, diplexed with 1410 on the Oaks Park site now?

So did 1290 stay at Oaks Park until the end, or was it somewhere else by the time it went dark?

When KLIQ relicensed to Lake Oswego, that gave them nighttime authority and they diplexed with 1520. I believe they kept the Oaks Park site for awhile in the daytime before giving it up.

Yes! KLIQ (1290) began night operation from the KYXI (1520) site in 1984.

Don't know where KXPD (1040) broadcasts from.

Gee, getting old has problems. You can be correct but you sometimes swap facts.
I stand corrected. The old KOAP-FM transmitter building behind the old TV transmitter building was, indeed, the KEX-FM building, not the KGW-FM building as I mentioned. It is KEX-FM that was "engraved/carved" over the doorway. It also had it's own tower next to the building.
It has been years since I worked there and was on that hill. When Scott mentioned that he knew KOAP started out as the former KEX-FM, that refreshed my braincells.

Andy,
The current 1480 site on Smith Lake is close to the original KISN site.... The original KISN was slightly west of there... a couple hundred yards or so. I don't know, maybe Stoner knows, if they had plumbing there, either.
Anyway, the gated entrance off Vancouver Way is where the mobile home and antenna were. As you go through the gate (there wasn't any back then) and turn left, that flat area right next to the road way is where it was. I forget but I think the antenna wire was strung between two wooden poles.

I thought the KPAM-1410 tower was "center" fed, with the feed going halfway up the tower. Also, Craig, I won't dispute your facts on the KLOR-12 antenna but I thought the "TV" antenna on that tower was a UHF style antenna, as opposed to the batwing type of antenna that was on all the VHF towers at the time.

Also, the original KOIN radio transmitters were home built. When I went in that building in the 50's, it sure looked like the tv transmitter was also home built. It sure was nice back then. No security fences. You could just walk up to the buildings, knock on the door and go in. Back then, the transmitter locations were manned and the engineers loved company.


The KPDX-49 tower and transmitter location are near Skyline but are actually off Miller Rd.

Isn't 1040 still diplexed with 1410 at Oaks Park? I'm still trying to figure out why 1040 isn't licensed to Milwaukie and 1010 isn't licensed somewhere else like Fairview, for instance. I can't imagine 1010 putting at least 5mv/m into all of Milwaukie and think 1040's coverage of Tigard is also suspect.

Jimbo: Your right about 1410 on the FM tower. I was thinking back to when Gary Hilliard told me about the old AM pad they unearthed, I believe when they were building Stonehenge.

You know I worked in that building for years but it's getting fuzzy for me now. Should have paid more attention! Who would have thought we'd all be hashing this over, decades later!

The infomation I posted on the KLOR tower however came from 1955 newspaper microfilm.

"Andy,
The current 1480 site on Smith Lake is close to the original KISN site.... The original KISN was slightly west of there... a couple hundred yards or so. I don't know, maybe Stoner knows, if they had plumbing there, either.
Anyway, the gated entrance off Vancouver Way is where the mobile home and antenna were. As you go through the gate (there wasn't any back then) and turn left, that flat area right next to the road way is where it was. I forget but I think the antenna wire was strung between two wooden poles. "

I have some duplicate maps from my 105.9 app (the original ones had to be submitted to the FCC back then, the bygone days of actually having to draw lines and plot points to calculate HAAT) and I have the 7.5' Portland Quadrangle 1961 photorevised '70 & '77 and it shows "KVAN" up the driveway (WNW) of where it is now just off of N. Portland Rd and shows two "towers." So that must be the old 910 site when 910 was still KVAN. Across the lake bed (NE) it shows "KWJJ" three towers located just NW of where N. Portland Road makes the 90 degree turn and becomes Marine Dr. (where the road to Kelly Pt. Park now is). On the other side of Denver Ave. (this map is pre-I5) over by Portland Meadows along Vancouver Way, there is no marking for any station, but that is no surprise since it was not an authorized move so USGS would not have had co-ordinates for it and could easily have missed it on a field survey.

By chance, I ran into Skip Hathaway today. What a nice guy! He built the original Oaks Park transmitter site for KWJJ in 1936 and was JJ's C.E. Then helped with the KMCM tower installation and installed the transmitter. He was KMCM's first C.E. Then moved to Eugene and built KUGN where he stayed for 20 years or more as C.E. Skip also built KIHR & KUMA. Got to go back and pick his brain with prepared notes.

Andy,
Looks like your map more accurately shows what I said from my feeble memory. The KVAN towers it mentions WNW of the current site is indeed the 910 KVAN site, which is the same 910 KISN site that I said was slightly west of the current KVAN site on Smith Lake. I was working from the "picture" in my mind of where I remember things.
Yes, KWJJ was on the north edge of Smith Lake. I went out there somewhere around 1960 and saw it. I was young but I thought the building was sort of on stilts. Their address in the phone book was on SW 6th across from the Trailways bus depot, with Rex Recording studio. I think it was mainly an office location because the main broadcast studio was out at the transmitter location. This was prior to their move to the present location on NE Marine Drive. They rerouted and closed down some of the roadway from what is on your map to the present day arrangement many years ago (20-30??).

I am surprised it would not show KGW towers north of Denver Avenue just south of the Expo building.

Washnotore2, In answer to your question; Yes, Watch TV has a transmitter at Healy Heights in what used to be the NASS building.

NASS sold to American Tower a number of years ago. Watch also has transmitters at Mt. Scott and at Eola Hills in Salem.

Both of those sites used to be owned by NASS.

NASS was owned by the folks that own Watch TV.

Jimbo: You are correct! In December 1948 work began on elevating KWJJ's transmitter building at Smith Lake with it's new 10KW Westinghouse transmitter. This was done because JJ had to abandoned Smith Lake and moved back to the Oak Park site, temporary operating at 1KW during the Vanport flood which occurred on May 30, 1948.

Jimbo: The KGW towers are on the map, but that is the W side of Denver. The Interstate is a purple overlay on this map since it was photorevised. Vancouver Way is on the E side of Union which is on an angle, and parallels Union Ave until it becomes N. Vancouver Way. I don't know where the KVAN trailer and wire antenna were. The approaches have had a lot of work over the years, but the basic road placement is still pretty much the same as what is in the Thomas guide 99.

Hey Scott!

Next time you get out to Corvallis, give us a buzz and we'll grab the keys and let you see the inside of the buildings too.

Radio World is my fav trade as it appeals to the inner radio geek who believes the tech side is just as fun as the air side.

Too bad you didn't make it out prior to 2001. The old KEJO/KFLY site was a gas. Complete with a 1920's vintage home brew transmitter and an FM transmitter with a black "X" drawn on the front panel to show you where to hit it with your fist when you couldn't power it up in the usual manner.

Happy Travels!!! (You've got a great job!)

Bill Lundun
KEJO/KLOO AM

Cool stuff! (And, loved the photos of KGY Olympia!) Your story about the busted VCR...LOL! Speaking of that, you say you aircheck local newscasts. What do you with them?
Are they posted somewhere?

BTW, if I could have a job traveling from market to market just to check out stations and studios and towers, I would almost do it for free! Need any assistants?

I have pictures of the old KFLY that I took in 1965 when they were on the second floor of some building. Don Yeager was the DJ at the time in the evening. They had a small studio at the T&R truck stop on I-5 back then, also.

Part VI of their trip is now at http://www.fybush.com/featuredsite.html
with the KEX/KPOJ transmitter site.

OK...part one was so much fun, let's see what kind of conversation part two can get going.

http://www.fybush.com/sites/2007/site-070316.html

In this installment, we hit the Eastside, burrow deep beneath KOIN Center, get a few hours of sleep, spend too much money at Powell's (very happily), grab some quick shots out the car window while driving down Macadam, head east to Clackamas and visit KEX. (And there's still more to come!)

Thanks, all, for the kind words and much-appreciated corrections to part one. Bill Lundun, drop me a line offlist, if you'd be so kind (scott at fybush dot com).

And Paulwalker (the South Carolina Paul Walker? Or is there another one in Oregon?) - it is a pretty cool "job," isn't it? I don't have the bandwidth to post the TV news airchecks anywhere, and there would be copyright issues with doing it on YouTube or what have you. But I do trade, from time to time, especially now that those tapes get dubbed to DVD when I get home, making dubbing and trading a lot easier.

I'm especially interested in getting my hands on some of KPDX's news, pre-KPTV merger, and on KPTV newscasts prior to the "Oregon's 12" era.

(I'm also looking, very intently, for anyone who can hear the Yakima FMs and might be willing to roll a little tape/CD/MP3 for me...anyone know anyone in Yakima? I missed a couple of TV newscasts there, too, for that matter...)

Another good, busy, installment from Scott.
A couple things....
The KLOR building is still there on the NE corner of NE 9th and Davis.
When KPDX started, I believe they operated out of a building in Vancouver just west of the Quay next to the Columbia River.

Scott: What a treat for me to see the KEX transmitter site inside & out!

Since your visit last Fall, KCMD (970) at The KOIN Center building has moved to 2040 S.W. 1st Ave. with sisters KUFO & KVMX. This occurred on January 27, 2007.

From your tour page: "At 4949 S.W. Macadam is the studio and office building KEX (1190) and KQFM (100.3, now KKRZ) built in the late seventies."

It's a little more intricate than that:

4949 S.W. Macadam was opened in 1978 as the "Golden West Broadcast Center" owned at the time by Gene Autry's, Golden West Broadcasters. It housed KEX & KQFM.

KQFM had previously been next door at 5005 S.W. Macadam. That building opened in 1975 as "The Audio Group Building". After KQFM was sold to Golden West, the building was the home of KKSN AM & FM beginning in 1989. Then in 1996 it became the home of KKCW which it is currently, although the front desk is at 4949 and KKCW might also use 4949 as its mailing address.

I definitely need to come back and spend a few more days visiting - there's lots to see that I didn't get to on the first round, obviously!

Thanks for the KEX/KQFM history, Craig.

>>>And Paulwalker (the South Carolina Paul Walker? Or is there another one in Oregon?<<<

No, S. Carolina is one of just a handful of states I've never visited. Would like to though!

BTW, your Chicago stuff was fantastic! All the history of 'LS, 'GN, and 'CFL is great. Have you ever visited the suburban stations?

Craig, studios for KIJZ are also located in the 5005 building.

DB asked this in the RDS thread (in the subdiscussion of KISN's alternating between The Window and xmtr site), so I'll move it here where xmtr location history is the topic, and throw a pebble at Jimbo's window:

"How did KISN get it's audio from the KISN Corner to the transmitter?"

While KISN had a license for a VHF STL (portable) which they used for remotes (voice only from a lunchbox transceiver; I don't recall them spinning records on location), I dunno personally but figger the fixed link was a leased line (probably balanced/equalized, but not necessarily), as it was just across town, and I don't think STLs were used for radio then except for roving remotes or to reach otherwise inaccessible FM sites sites on mountains. The FCC may even have discouraged such, even for just program (I think a hard line was a must for remote control). Every station I did see the innards of had a jack panel in the rack to feed the xmtr line.

I also believe most TV stas were still paying Ma's pound of flesh for coax service; I recall being shown the dish in KOAP-TV's attic in 1971 (an engineer had to check it daily or weekly, and one took me along once) and being told they were fortunate to have LOS of their tower from Front St for what it saved their pinchy budget, so I got the impression it was unusual back then.

I also remember KEX had a phone line run out to my high school's grandstand to broadcast a single football game (which kinda surprised me), and discovering a phone outlet marked with a station's call letters in the pews of First Presbyterian downtown (apparently to broadcast services; I didn't get out of the sack on Sunday mornings), so STLs must have been (or were regarded as) insufficiently reliable yet for sked programs.

I did see a full remote (KWJJ playing records from a pizza parlor) in that era; the STL filled 1/3 of the back of their station wagon.

"Craig, studios for KIJZ are also located in the 5005 building."

Matt: I didn't know that! Was KSTE-FM & KRVO also there at one time?

JeffryKopp,
Ah yes, the Microwave Associates transmitter in the attic at KOAP-TV. I would go up there in the attic every day to check the meter readings... rotating the dial. True, there was LOS at that time. I was there 67-70. I was just talking with one of the longtime engineers who still works at OPB on Tuesday and he said they no longer have LOS at that sight. Too many trees grew up. They also don't have LOS to anything where they are now on Macadam and shoot downtown and reflect back up to the old site at Healy Heights and relay it from there to Skyline.

I don't know specifically how KISN got their audio from the KISN corner to Smith Lake in the early years. I assume it was like most of the other stations.... they used telco. All the network programming went through Telco until around 1970's when they migrated to a separate microwave company that had their headend somewhere downtown. I don't remember the name of the company right now but it is in some old posting on this forum. From there, they went to direct satellite feeds. A lot of the stations used balanced and equalized pairs from Telco. I worked at Telco Toll 1965-1967 and we handled all the network feeds for audio and video. TVOC it was called in the Oak Street Building. That mainly handled toll and long distance. the local stuff went through exchanges. Usually, remotes were done by contracting with Telco to set up the line and you would show up and connect to it. Out of town remotes went through us at Oak Street and we would cross connect in the patch bay to a stations feed line. We had one or more for each station.

Currently, a lot of tv feeds are via satellite or fibre. A lot of feeds out of PDX are now done via fibre on a service called VYVX. Program feeds are migrating off satellite and moving to internet distribution and are sent as data files, not video. Commercials are also fed that way. makes for problems with audio because the levels are all over the map. Since they are digital files, we have no control over the audio levels. Unfortunately, there seems to be no standard.

You lost me about the "dish" in 1971! Are we talking about a satellite dish? I thought the only "dishes" in 1971 were owned by NASA! Most stations had a dedicated phone line. KKEY's was 15Khz. I presume that was standard.

Semoochie: I think Jimbo is talking about microwave dishes. This from the OPB history:

"by 1965 KOAP-FM had initiated a 960MHz microwave link with KOAC for better sound quality."

It was a low-powered microwave, aimed at a receiver roughly 2 miles away (not up), and somewhat bigger than today's home TV sat dish. Such had been used since the dawn of TV for remotes, but point-to-point use remained rare; you plugged into Telco and paid the price--probably not that bad for radio, because you got guaranteed service without the engineering burden. (It was always there, like water or electricity.)

TV bandwidth much spendier, but (as Jimbo explained), getting a clear shot for your own link was a matter of geographic happenstance, plus solid-state equipment sufficiently reliable to operate with little attention was just appearing. (I think one also needed an engineer endorsed on his ticket for microwave, like for radar.)

Actually it was Jeffreykopp that made the 1971 dish reference but that is OK. He said the dish was in the attic but only the transmitter was in the attic. The actual dish was on the roof.
No, you did not need an endorsement on your ticket. I got a radar endorsement on my First Phone while working at Telco but it wasn't necessary. It was one of those "Why Not?" moments.

Thank you, Craig! That makes more sense now.

Hi Craig.

Yes, 105.9's control room..regardless of format or call letters..has always been in the 5005 Macadam building. The studio is in what used to be the old KKSN traffic office at the north end of the back wall. It was converted into an air studio in the summer of 2000 in preperation for the launch of the 105.9 frequency in early 2001.

The room's first occupant, however, was KKRZ. Z100 moved into this new control room in the summer of 2000 for about six weeks, while its studio was being remodeled.

In the fall of 2002, the office at the sounth end of the building was converted into a production room, which is where I now call home (figuratively speaking)

Matt: Can't believe I was in the building a year ago and not shown this! Trouble is I didn't know, so I didn't ask!

I finally got a chance to read the next Fybush installment. Unless they've moved, KBOO should still be at Stonehenge. Everything else looks great! Keep up the good work.

The Big Trip 2006 Part VII is up at http://www.fybush.com/featuredsite.html

Includes KXL, KKPZ/KDZR, the former KKSN, KFXX, and stations up the Gorge.

Kent - Thanks for being the tour guide! (And to everyone else that had a contribution to the effort, too...) I only got to visit the 1080 transmitter once while I worked there in the 80s...sure looks a lot different today! Loved those Bauer tubes at the late, great Mighty 91, too!!

Superb job as usual, Mr. Fybush!

A couple points reading this one......
Scott states that KXL moved from Clackamas Town Center site to the Damascus site which is 3 miles southwest of the Clackamas site.
That is incorrect. The new site is mainly east and maybe a little south-east of the old site...(ESE). I am not sure of the mileage but I believe it is more than 3. They were on about 86th and Sunnyside. 3 miles would have put them at 145th and Sunnyside..... I would say it is more like 6 miles as the crow flies. Longer as you drive.

It also states that KWJJ moved to Marine Drive from Smith Lake in 1976. I am guessing but 1966 sounds more likely. It went there towards the end of the racetrack that was on the property at the time and I went there one night about that time. I was working at Telco at the time and checking their network feed in the morning when the DJ on duty invited me out there to look it over. Was 1976 when they moved to the big estate house by Washington Park? Maybe Craig knows.

Kent: Nice touch firing up the old Kisn 910 Bauer for Scott, Great Picture!

Here are some corrections:

"In October 1941 KXL moved down the dial to 750".

Correct but KXL also moved its transmitter & towers from the Multnomah Hotel to S.E. 82nd Ave. & Sunnyside Rd. (now Clackamas Town Center mall) when the switch from 1420 to 750 took place. This site would also become the main studio for KXL in September 1953 to 1977.

"KXL went to 50KW daytime operation in 1961 and in 1974 it lost its longtime transmitter site."

Since my old KXL history, I've discovered a KXL ad from August 1960 touting its "50,000 watts". I believe the switch happened in August or Summertime 1960.

In 1974 KXL and other land owners made a deal to sell their property and it became Clackamas Town Center mall. The studio & transmitter move took place in 1977. I visted KXL in 1976 and they were still broadcasting with studios at 82nd & Sunnyside.

"In 1984 KXL finally went fulltime, initially with 10KW at night."

Since my KXL history, I've questioned the initial power at 10KW. I seem to remember KXL was initially 1KW night. Vane Jones "North American Radio-TV Station Guide - Fifteenth Edition" copyright 1984, seens to bear this out.

"KPOJ-FM(98.5)"

Originally KPOJ-FM signed on the air on 98.7 in June 1948 from Mt. Scott switching to 98.5 in March 1964 and then back to 98.7 in September 1997 from the Sylvan site.

"KPOJ(1330)"

KPOJ(1330) moved to Mt. Scott in May 1948 as KALE. (calls switched to KPOJ in June). KALE(1330) transmitter site was at the Sylvan site before moving to Mt. Scott. KALE & KOIN at the time were sister stations. (1932-46).

"KISN lost its license in 1975".

That was 1976.

"KWJJ (then on 1040) went on the air in 1936 from Oaks Park."

KWJJ(1040) moved its transmitter site to Oaks Park in December 1936 from a location between S.E. Powell & Sunnyside Rd. This was on a farm owned by the family of the wife, of the owner of KWJJ. (Route One, Box 481).

"In 1976 KWJJ abandoned the Smith Lake site and moved to its current..."

KWJJ moved to the Marine Drive site in December 1965. In this move KWJJ increased day time power from 10KW to 50KW.

Jimbo: I can't figure out how he got 1976 listed. No KWJJ moves happened in 1976.

It was sometime in the late 70s that KWJJ changed the positioning of their towers. Before that, reception in Clark County wasn't too sharp. I believe there were as many as 5 towers standing at one time.

Then contruction happened in 1976, which was not mentioned in this:

"On July 1, 1974 KWJJ was granted FCC permission to dismantle two end towers and to construct two new towers, to be used with the existing two center towers."

That's an interesting quote. They only have 3 towers.

This is why I take all the "for mentioned information" plus more, with a grain of salt and try to verify things through newspaper microfilm when possible.

Of course in 1974 KWJJ might have had 4 towers. You did say they might have had as many as 5.

As I recall, they had 3 towers, put up 2 more and removed 2 of the original 3, giving them a different directional pattern than before.

Thanks Craig.
I was thinking Scott put a 7 instead of a 6 in his time for KWJJ. I knew KWJJ was on Marine Drive in the mid 60's but did not know exactly when they moved there. I do remember the racetrack, though. I don't recall more than 3 towers but there could have been for a short time. I wasn't paying too much attention around that time. We would be boating on that stretch of water in that era and I may have some "boating" pictures taken there with towers in the background. If I look through my umpteen jillion slides and find it sometime, I may report if I see anything.

Many thanks, as always, for the information and corrections - I'll be updating the page today.

The "1976" date for the KWJJ site came from the tower registration information at the FCC. It is, obviously, not always accurate, though in this case that date would reflect the move from 5 towers to 3 at the Marine Drive site, I guess.

I know why KUPL-FM moved from 98.5 to 98.7...but why did they move to 98.5 in 1964 in the first place?

Craig - Perhaps KISN lost it's license in '75, but took awhile to exhaust all avenues of appeal?

Semoochie - I believe you have it correct...I remember the old tower placement of KWJJ; three towers were arranged in-line a little northerly of NE-SW.

"Craig - Perhaps KISN lost it's license in '75, but took awhile to exhaust all avenues of appeal?"

If memory serves:
KISN's application for renewal was denied in '75.
It's last authorization (license) expired in '76.
You can appeal to when the cows come home, but
without a stay (temporary authorization) when the
active license expires, you have to cease broadcasting
or be in violation.

Yes! "On January 31, 1975 the FCC denied license renewals of the 5 Star Stations".

I was thinking of May 24, 1976. "The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the FCC decision."

Scott: On KPOJ-FM's switch to 98.5 in 1964. I believe it had to do with spacing in Seattle or Eugene to create more stations.

After the FCC denied KISN's license renewal, they went through the US Court of Appeals and failed there. That left them with the Supreme Court which refused to hear their appeal and that was the end of it. From what I understand, it was believed at the time that KUPL(current calls)would not be able to increase power on 98.7 so they moved to 98.5. They may have been grandfathered, locking them in at their then current power, tower height and physical location. This makes quite a bit of sense: Any change on 98.7 would erase the grandfathered status and require them to give full Class C to adjacent C protection of Seattle regardless of their own facility. That is, a station in this zone running 3.1kw at any antenna height would be considered a Class C and protected as much as one with 100kw at 2000 feet.

1080 rebuilt the directional array in the 70's.

The old tower base foundations are still there, as well as the feedlines from the transmitter building. The two new outer towers are farther away from the center tower.

They stopped using the phasor that was built into the Continental 317C (in the pictures at http://www.fybush.com/featuredsite.html it's the cabinet with the piece of paper in the window. The space now holds day and night matching networks for the DX50), and installed the new one behind it.

Fybush asked "I know why KUPL-FM moved from 98.5 to 98.7...but why did they move to 98.5 in 1964 in the first place?"
Craig answered "On KPOJ-FM's switch to 98.5 in 1964. I believe it had to do with spacing in Seattle or Eugene to create more stations."
That is kinda true. The manager wanted separation of one channel from another station. He heard of a station planned in Salem or Eugene on 98.3 and it bothered him so he asked the CE at the time to apply to change frequency. So he moved it another channel away.... to 98.7. Sounds dumb but that is the way it was done back then, I guess. I got this from the person that did it.

Scott: Sorry! I got waylaid and then forgot to read your latest on the Tri-Cities & Walla Walla.

KUJ did not sign on the air in Walla Walla in 1928.

KUJ signed on the air on July 12, 1928 from Longview, Washington on 1500kc. In February 1931 KUJ left the air and moved to Walla Walla, signing on the air in June 1931.

Central Washington's first FM station was KALE-FM Richland, signing on the air in 1950. KALE-FM was on 103.9mc.