KONP-AM (1450 kHz) Port Angeles is celebrating its 80th anniversary of service to the Olympic Peninsula. The station commenced broadcasting at 6:30 am on February 3, 1945, after an eight-year effort by Evening Press, Inc., a subsidiary of the Port Angeles Evening News, to bring the first radio service to the city of Port Angeles.
Final FCC approval was delayed for a variety of reasons, among them the wartime suspension of all new construction. The station’s first tower was a 180’ Douglas fir tree cut in the Indian Valley – the red beacon for which was visible for many miles.
KONP-AM started with the sounds of the Big Band Era, followed by a Top 40 presentation that lasted well into the 1990’s. Newsradio 1450 KONP debuted in 1995 with a news and talk format. Today, the station offers comprehensive and award-winning local programming on the Peninsula including news, high school sports, weather, traffic and up-to-date community events. As an ABC Radio affiliate, KONP provides regional, national and world news at the top of each hour. KONP-AM is proud to be the home of the Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, Washington Huskies and the Seattle Kraken.
KONP-AM is locally owned by Radio Pacific, Inc. – a partnership with majority owner Brown M. Maloney and minority owner Todd Ortloff. The pair jointly purchased the company in 2002. (Washington Broadcasters/FB)
from the Port Angeles Daily News
February 2, 1945
February 3, 1945
Port Angeles Evening News – February 5, 1945
February 23, 1945
March 3, 1945
March 30, 1945
Radio's ultimate aural broadcast service—FM—is permanently assigned. By unanimous vote, the FCC has pegged the…
On December 4th, during a segment on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper, host Jake…
After Bob Hale was let go from KING 5 in 1963, he worked at stations…
Former KLSY air personality, Dave Wingert, now in Omaha at KOBM FM Boomer Radio, updates…
The Official Tennessee Radio Hall Of Fame Community · (Facebook) From QZVX: October 1961 –…
View Comments
February 1, 2025 at QZVX
T.K. says:
No smoking by order of the fire chief due to the “fire hazard to the extensive radio installation”?! He obviously never set foot in a radio station before.
February 1, 2025 at QZVX
Lou Robbins says:
There were a few picky engineers who demanded that no one smoke in the control room. And then run back before your record runs out.