Country-western was the music of our grandparents. For some of us, our parents, too. It was well before fancy radio programming format names like Adult Contemporary, Adult Oriented Rock, or certainly Current Hit Radio. Western music – later to be called “Country” – was always in the background until finally moving into mainstream radio in the early 1960s. It happened when a few broadcast owners and managers felt there was money to be made with that fiddlin’, pickin’ & singin’. And that’s the short version of how Seattle’s Kountry KAYO carved its place in radio history.
There were plenty of doubters when media entrepreneur Jessica Longston (with radio stations in Bellingham and Moses Lake) took number 2 ranked KAYO out of Seattle’s rock radio race. During and after the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962, KAYO had actually done well with a rock format, out-running long-established KOL.
But KAYO was a distant second to fast-rising KJR, worrying Longston and station manager John R. DiMeo about listener and financial gains in a three-station race for a potential audience comprised largely of teenagers. After all, the over-35 demographic was the financial key to success and most of the market’s combined purchasing power and highly prized ad revenue. KVI started moving away from its country-western leanings a few years after Golden West’s purchase in 1959. So, the time was right to put full-time C & W in the growing Seattle-Tacoma market. And, so they did.
On April 23, 1963 KAYO became Kountry KAYO, boosted largely by the confidence of creative program director Chris Lane. He’d come to KAYO from WLS Chicago in October, 1961 and had assembled a strong KAYO lineup in the station’s final 18-month Top-40 run against KJR and KOL. He crafted KAYO’s switch to country, eager to build on KVI’s earlier country music format success.
The first thing Lane did was hire KVI’s well known singer and on-air star Marion “Buck” Ritchey, whose down-home, devil-may-care delivery likely brought most of KVI’s country audience to KAYO with him. Also hired was Bobby Wooten, another former country singer/musician who’s broadcasting and on-stage style put him at even stride with Ritchey’s talents. Suddenly, Kountry KAYO was attracting a lot of attention.
That was the start of a 15+ year success story which saw Kountry KAYO become Seattle’s – and probably the country’s – first 24-hour country station. It soon became the marvel of the industry by hanging onto a large market’s number 2 spot for several years, showing better listener ratings (in many time segments) than KING, KIRO, KOMO – even KVI.
Here’s time-warp Buck Ritchey audio, including Wooten voicing a historically-awesome Studebaker spot, and fellow jock Don Chapman with a heating oil commercial – unfathomable stuff from 1964.
Audio Buck Ritchey (Running time 13:26)
This is personality radio, Ritchie’s style and delivery unlike anything on the air. It was down-on-the farm in the big city. His B-Buck Show aired few songs and rarely a station jingle. But lots of cornball jokes and a hefty commercial load – sold out almost every hour – the envy of just about all of KAYO’s competitors. The talk-load clearly was not seen as detrimental to the spot-load in those early Kountry KAYO days.
It didn’t matter that Ritchey and Wooten were ornery, cantankerous and constantly goading each other with their homespun humor. Listeners loved it. And, typical of their lot, fans were loyal and turned out in droves for big Ritchey and Wooten-emceed country spectacular shows (Buck Owens, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, and many others), as well as endless local picnics, parades, live remotes and other events. In addition to Ritchey’s regular morning drive time show, many will remember his Saturday night “Heidelberg Hoedown,” another ratings bump.
Chris Lane left at the end of ’64 for Chicago’s Country WJJD. KAYO’s program director duties went to Wooten, who held the job while the station’s fortunes and solid market position continued, even though radio’s well-known “star egos” issue began to surface. In his PD role, Wooten tried to get Ritchey to shorten his droll, lengthy on-air chit-chats. But Ritchey wasn’t about to learn new tricks. Some say those off-air discussions sometimes got heated.
After Lane left, and well into the mid-’60s, other staff jocks held up their end of the lineup pretty well. Among them was Dan Williams, Don Chapman, Eddie Briggs, Duke Martin and Paul Scott. Another, Ron Magers (from Toppenish, WA), later converted his KAYO weekend gig into a long and impressive news anchor job at Chicago’s WLS-TV.
Ritchey’s and Wooten’s country singing careers added authenticity to Kountry KAYO’s stature. In his KVI years, Ritchey had his own local country band, which featured steel-guitarist Paul Tutmarc and Tutrmarc’s singing wife Bonnie (who later became Bonnie Guitar). In Ritchey’s 3-hour daily broadcast, his group, the K-VI (“K-6”) Wranglers, benefited from the built-in promotion for themselves and other country performers.
Country singing legend Hank Snow credited Ritchey’s playing of his records as a prime reason for his career success. As for Wooten, he got impressive Nashville recording attention through the ’50s and ’60s. While playing with local bands, he started his radio career in San Jose, CA in 1952, and worked in Salt Lake City radio before coming to Kountry KAYO.
Here’s audio of two songs written and recorded early in their radio days. It starts with a clip of Ritchey’s Only the Moonman Knows, followed by a piece of Wooten’s Goin’ Deer Huntin’.
Audio Ritchey and Wooten (Running time 1:12)
Kountry KAYO was flying high, as evidenced by the classic 1966 Country Gentlemen/General Store photobelow. Ritchey and Wooten were the recognized mainstays, their popularity propelling the station for a decade and more. Equally important was the music – perhaps corny sh*t-kickin’ to some, but endeared by many – not regularly on the dial anywhere else. If you heard it on a passing car radio, you knew right way it was Kountry KAYO.
Standing, from left: Dick Osborn, Paul Scott, Bobby Wooten, Dan Williams, newsman Bill Goff. Seated, from left: Buck Ritchey, George Richey.
Williams, highly versatile but less publicized, started in the ’50s, and became one of Longston’s longest serving on-air talents. He worked all over the broadcast clock at more than one Longston station and spanned the Kountry KAYO run from 1963 to ’79. Newsman Bill Goff, who came over from KVI in ’64, logged 11 years at Kountry KAYO, which was a Mutual Radio affiliate before switching to ABC Entertainment in the late ’60s.
Also contributing to success was less frequent jock turnover – a high profile issue, particularly with its Seattle pop music competitors. The on-air chronology (late ’60s-to late ’70s) was George Richey, Gary Vance, Ed Howell, Don Lane, Gene Larson, Dick Ellingson and Jaynie Jo Royal Dillon. It added up to KAYO being one of Seattle’s most consistently stable operations – mostly for listeners.
By 1973-’74, Kountry KAYO took on a more urban sound, as heard in this quick audio grab of 4 jingles from the mid-’70s . . .
Audio Kountry KAYO jingles (Running Time :34)
Two major factors contributed to Kountry KAYO’s eventual demise. The first was Buck Ritchey’s 1970 cancer diagnosis. He displayed a lot of public courage by continuing his early morning show – and openly telling listeners of his illness and how he was trying to cope with it – until a few weeks before his death. He passed at age 58 in December, ’73. His Seattle radio time (KVI and KAYO) totaled 32 years. Since 1943, he’d been the biggest country music influence in the Northwest.
The second game-changer in 1975 (when Bobby Wooten retired) saw Hercules Broadcasting acquire KOL and flip it to country KMPS. That was the start of KAYO’s first strong competition (other than smaller station challenges, such as KQIN). KMPS and KMPS-FM began drive-time simulcasting in early 1978, a fatal blow toward the station’s sale to Obie Broadcasting in ’79. The famous K-A-Y-O calls were gone in ’82 (after a near 30-year presence in Seattle) when Obie sold out to a Seattle investor group which changed the station to KSPL.
Kountry KAYO roll-call (1963-1979): Chris Lane, Dan Williams, Buck Ritchey, Bobby Wooten, Eddie Briggs, Jeff Mitchell, Don Hughes, Duke Martin, Don Chapman, Paul Scott, Bill Goff, Ron Magers, Tracy Smith, Gentleman George Richey, Dick Osborn, Chuck Winston, Ron Dini, Gary Vance, Ed Howell, Don Lane, Skip Piper, Brian Calkins, Tracy Smith, Gene Larson, Dakota Williams, Lou Gillette, Dennis Buckle, Kris Carpenter, Dave Young, Ben Peyton, Bo Wiley, Dick Ellingson and Jaynie Jo Royal Dillon, Seattle’s first female radio personality , 1977-’79
KAYO’s listener numbers waned somewhat by the early ’70s. But the station’s overall performance produced much discussion about reasons for its success. Some say KAYO had no real country competition. Others counter by praising KAYO’s conquests in a market some felt wasn’t really a country music town. KAYO showed it could be done, as would other local C & W’s who followed.
Perhaps a much better guess relates to a patient and enduring management set. The steady traits of station manager John R. DiMeo and only two program director changes says a lot about an operation that stayed runnerup in the Seattle-Tacoma market for nearly a decade. Sure, Ritchey and Wooten were country corny. But a large, loyal listener base loved – and expected it – just as they did the music and the solid performance from the rest of the on-air staff. Bottom line: Kountry KAYO delivered – consistently.
DiMeo was KAYO GM for nearly two decades, leaving the Longston group (Washington Telecasting) after 30 years (1980). In addition, KAYO radio enjoyed the consistency of program directors Chris Lane, 1961 through ’64, Bobby Wooten 1965-’75 and Ben Peyton 1976-’79. Lane made his mark in several large markets before his retirement and death in 2000. He was later inducted into the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame.
Through its 16-year ride, Kountry KAYO enjoyed 10 years of Ritchey and 12 years of Wooten, who together were most instrumental in elevating KAYO to one of the nation’s more profitable full-time country operations.
And that proved again that satisfying loyal listener expectations isn’t just a part of the game, it IS the game!
Reference credit: Northwest Music Archives, Broadcasting Yearbook, Mrs. Dan Williams
Ron DeHart is a former newspaper and broadcast journalist and a retired Public Affairs Officer from both the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Navy/Naval Reserve. His historical accounts of Pacific Northwest broadcasting are published by Puget Sound Media.
View more articles by Ron DeHart
We loved KAYO!! We went and saw both Don Williams and Ronnie Millsap get a star there! What was the address though? We’d like to drive by whatever is there now.
The former site of KAYO – 2939 4th Avenue South – Seattle
O thank you!!!!
My grandmother’s were Jessica Longston and Vick Zaser. My Mother is Vicki Zaser. I would love to get any pictures or information that any of you have about this time in my families history. We all still live in the area.
JR…There is lots of information about Jessica and Vicki and their operation and employees in two articles I wrote here, links below. I have some photos and news clippings as well. In the collection from your family, would you have a photo of KAYO longtime manager and employee Garry Lee White? That I have been looking for with modest success. See two links of interest below….
https://qzvx.com/2023/12/11/pacific-nw-radio-the-road-to-top-40-pt-1/
https://qzvx.com/2023/12/26/bellingham-the-road-to-top-40-pt-2/
My uncle, Felix Adams, was brought up from California to work at KAYO when they transitioned to a CW format in 1963. I was about 11 at the time. I remember some fun times. I especially remember when they did a show at the Space Needle, and we rode up in the freight elevator with a cow and bales of hay.
My father was Ed Howell who worked at KAYO in the 60’s & 70’s.
I have pictures from many of the events (KAYO picnics, and of most of the on-air personalities.
I also have my dad’s aircheck at KAYO as well as many old commercials from the station during that time period.
If you would like to have any of that material, let me know.
Kerry,
I worked at KAYO in the 70’s and remember that your dad worked for a time at KMO after KAYO’s new program director “cleaned house” in 1975. When I hired on, Ed allowed me to sit in one shift with him to get to learn the board and all the ins and outs before my first air shift that next weekend. He was a good guy with a sense of humor. I bought a new white Datsun B-210 in 1975. He said it looked like a tipped-over refrigerator and he named it Coldspot. The name stuck and my wife called it Coldie from then on.
That is very awesome to hear you have all of that stuff from your dad Kerry. I loved going to the picnics at Crystal Mountain Ski area in the summer months when they were held there. I got to know Don Lane through his daughter when we went to and they lived right by West Woodland Elementary in the late 60’s and early 70’s. I got to go to the station one night when Don’s wife took him some dinner when he was on the air and i got to say hi over the radio to my parents. The night that the Hee Haw show came to Seattle at the Seattle Opera House, I got to go with Don and his family backstage to watch Don introduce someone from the show and got to meet Buck Owens and Susan Raye. I got a kiss on the cheek from her. Pretty awesome
I loved reading these articles. My Grandfather was Dan Williams (Walter Bjerke) I remember going to the KAYO radio station with him talking on the radio and choosing a record to take home It was magical
I have been trying to find a single that my Grandfather made He talks on it its a Christmas story about an Angel any info would be wonderful 😊