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
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.