KTW not hiring any old Joe

July 1964/Marty Loken-Seattle Times

Tom, Dick, Harry (and Sam?) Coming

Ever since KTW radio (the elderly Presbyterian Church station) was sold last October, wild but logical rumors have been circulating about possible format changes the new owner will make.
The most persistent chatter has insisted that the new management will “undoubtedly” come whisking into town, hire a batch of unknown disc jockeys, start a rock ‘n roll station that couldn’t possibly compete with KJR, and whisk back to a financial empire elsewhere.
It may come true, and it may not, but we will all know very soon, because the Federal Communications Commission has made a final approval of the sale, and that new station will make its debut Saturday, August 1.
The owner, David Segal of Denver, was out of town last week to survey the property and blaze a trail for Tom, Dick, Harry and Sam (and Sam?), four out-of-town announcers who will take over KTW’s air controls.
The four unlikely-sounding disc jockeys are Tom Morgan (5:30 a.m. to 10 AM); Dick Jones (10am to 3 pm); Harry Smith (3 PM to 7 PM), and Sam Kelly (7 PM to 8:30 PM sign off).
The daylight stations signoff time, as always, will fluctuate from 4:15 PM to 9:15 PM depending on the hour of sunset.
Talking about the inevitable programming changes To Take place, Segal claims that “It’ll be a radical change from what is on the station now. By that I mean we will have one of three things: (1) sophisticated, up-to-date popular music (Mancini, Mantovani, etc.); (2) big-band sounds (including oldies) or (3) rock ‘n roll (possibly less talk, and more music than KJR). We wish we knew ourselves what we will be programming… we will probably make the final decision Saturday morning, August 1 at 5:30 a.m.”
Asked about the rumored possibility of KTW joining KJR in the rock ‘n roll classification, Segal’s only comment was “there’s room for two of everything but wives–at the same time–and that includes rock ‘n roll stations.”

The future KTW will offer, in addition to an unknown quality of music, a number of public-service programs (“Radio stations must serve the public a lot better today than they used to, and we must give the listeners something to listen to besides music,” said Segal).
A few of the features will be “Fun Seattle”, offering tips on what to do and where to go forfamily fun; (“Profile”), bringing listeners up to date on what has happened to a man or woman who was in the headlines of yesteryear; “Something to Think About”, a program designed to jog the mental processes; and the usual number of announcements on such things as club meetings, social functions and weather reports.
Although Segal could not (or would not) announce the musical direction to be taken by the revamped outlet until a later date, he did offer one strong hint: “Perhaps the most competitive thing we could try would be the contemporary sound that KIXI is trying, but failing to do properly.”
Judging from past rumors, estimates and results in the radio world, we had better reserve our personal calculation about the new KTW format for the time being.
Announcer-actors: three Seattle air personalities, Al Cummings and Howard Hall of KING radio, and Lan Robertson KJR, will participate in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Nights Dream,” a merry play which will open Wednesday night at the Aqua Theater.
Cummings will take the role of Bottom (who wears the asses head); Roberts will play Flute, and Hall will be seen as Snug.
A cast of 125 other local performers will present the comedy, under the direction of the University of Washington’s Ralph Rosenbaum.

July 1964