From Gord Lansdell’s NWBroadcasters —
April 30, 2015 – Chris Sargent has been appointed Program Director of The Jet KJR-FM 95.7 Seattle. He most recently served as Operations Manager for the Mapleton Communications cluster in Medford, OR. He begins his new position May 11.
April 29, 2015 – KING-TV Seattle environmental specialist Gary Chittim has left the station to join LED lighting company Planled as Vice President of Marketing. He’s been with KING-TV for 15 years.
April 28, 2015 – KNBQ-FM 98.5 Central Park signed on over the weekend with Christmas Music as North Pole Radio. The KNBQ call letters have a long history in the southern Puget Sound region from their use on 97.3 Tacoma in the 1980s and iHeartMedia’s 102.9 Centralia from 2005-13. Permanent format plans have not yet been announced.
April 27, 2015 – Carey Edwards, former Production|Imaging Director at Seattle market Warm KRWM-FM 106.9 has left his position at Y100 KCYY-FM 100.3 San Antonio. He was on staff at Warm in 2013 and part time/swing at The Wolf KKWF-FM 100.7 before heading to Texas.
April 27, 2015 – Public Television KCTS-TV Seattle has laid off most of its production staff, including two producers, a floor director who’s been with the station for 40 years, and camera operators. While in-studio staff lose jobs, an on-air victim of the new emphasis will be KCTS’ new, widely heralded half-hour program IN Close, which will shift from a 30-minute program to short digital stories.
April 25, 2015 – Jesse Jones, longtime consumer advocate and Get Jesse host on KING-TV Seattle, returned to the airwaves Friday on KIRO-TV. He dropped out of sight last August after announcing a move to KIRO, as his contract with KING required the hiatus. Jones’ title at KIRO is “Consumer Investigator” and he’ll appear on Eyewitness News weekdays at 5:45 p.m.
April 24, 2015 – Garett Michaels has left his position after two years as PD of The End KNDD-FM 107.7 Seattle. Entercom Seattle VP/Programming Dave Richards will hold down the position until a successor can be found. Digital PD Leslie Scott will serve as Associate PD and APD/afternoons Jon Manley will oversee all music operations.
April 23, 2015 – MOViN KQMV-FM 92.5 Seattle morning drive show Brooke & Jubal in the Morning will be simulcast on Live 95.5 KBFF-FM Portland beginning Monday, April 27. Hosted by Brooke Fox and Jubal Flagg, the program is also part of the syndicated Dish Nation television show.
April 21, 2015 – Dale Comer died April 14 at his home in Burien after an extended battle with cancer. He was 35. He began his career in broadcasting at KVNI Coeur d’Alene, continued on to KPLU Tacoma and was most recently a Maintenance Engineer, Operations Specialist & Production Technician for KBTC-TV Tacoma.
April 16, 2015 – KIRO-TV Seattle has added Laff on over-the-air channel 7.3. Laff specializes in comedy programming, featuring a mix of feature films and archived sitcoms, and is targeted at adults between the ages of 18 and 49.
April 16, 2015 – KMPS-FM 94.1 Seattle has released Program Director Ed Hill. Carey Curelop has been promoted to VP/Programming for the CBS Radio Seattle cluster and PD at KMPS. Hill joined KMPS in 2011.
April 14, 2015 – Click KLCK-FM 98.9 Seattle has cancelled it’s morning show of Jackie, Marco and Moote. They, along with producer Justin Nettlebeck joined Click in a.m. drive last March. Jackie Cunningham had previously spent over 13 years at Seattle market KISS KBKS-FM 106.1.
April 13, 2015 – Former Seattle radio host J.J. Hemingway is the new morning host, as Fox Sports KZFS AM 680 Spokane and translator K257FX 99.3 changed format Friday to Contemporary Christian as UP 99.3. Hemingway began his radio career at age 16 in Seattle and more recently worked at KJR-FM 95.7 from 2001-06.
April 06, 2015 – KRPA AM 1110 Oak Harbor returned to the air over the weekend with automated AC and The Whale imaging. However sister station KWLE AM 1340 Anacortes has not returned to air.
April 01, 2015 – The FCC has granted voluntary assignment of license for KXOT-FM 91.7 Tacoma from PRC Tacoma — I LLC to Bible Broadcasting Network, Inc. The sale for $2.4 million was announced in February.
April 01, 2015 – Classy Bob Massey, who celebrated his 90th birthday this year, lays claim to be the oldest broadcaster in the US with a regular show. He hosts mid mornings with music from the “Great American Songbook” on community station KSQM-FM 91.5 Sequim.
April 01, 2015 – KNTB AM 1480 Lakewood is now officially dark. It lost its transmitter site and subsequent operations will have to be from another location. The licensee, Seattle Streaming Radio, LLC, has vacated the property and developers are making plans to remove the towers. Immediate plans are for a high density residential development. Sister stations KBRO AM 1490 Bremerton, KLDY AM 1280 Lacey and FM translator K221FJ Tacoma are temporarily off air, but are being maintained to return. A Special Temporary Authority (STA) has been filed with the FCC.
