KBKS-FM (106.1 FM) – branded as ''Hits 106-1'' – is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, and serving the

Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state—King, Snohomish, and Pierc ...

. Owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

, it broadcasts a Top 40/CHR

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informati ...

. The studios and offices are located on Elliot Avenue West in the Belltown neighborhood of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to ...

is on Tiger Mountain, in

Issaquah Issaquah ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 40,051 at the 2020 census. Located in a valley and bisected by Interstate 90, the city is bordered by the Sammamish Plateau to the north and the " Issaquah ...

. KBKS is the flagship station of the syndicated morning show ''The Jubal Show.''

History

Beautiful music (1959-1972)

The station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...

the air in May 1959 as KLAY-FM. It was originally on 106.3 MHz, with an effective radiated power of 830

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s. KLAY-FM was owned by Clay Huntington and aired a

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator m ...

format, playing 15-minute music sweeps of mostly instrumental

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

s of pop songs,

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

showtunes. KLAY-FM was the first FM station in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

broadcasting in

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

. In 1961, the station moved to 106.1 MHz, its current frequency, and increased power to 25,000 watts. With a tower 700 feet tall, the station was still limited to the area around Tacoma and not the larger Seattle radio market. (The transmitter would be moved to Tiger Mountain in 1980.)

Progressive rock (1972-1980)

On May 1, 1972, KLAY-FM began airing a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

format during the evening and overnight hours, with the beautiful music format remaining in other dayparts. By October 1972, the rock format was airing full-time. Several famous Seattle radio personalities got their start here during this time period.

Country (1980-1996)

In March 1980, the station was sold to Ray Court. The station then flipped to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

as "K106," and the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assig ...

changed to KRPM. The station competed against EZ Communications-owned KMPS. In 1984, Olympic Highsmith Broadcasting bought the station, with Heritage Media buying it four years later. The station was

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simult ...

on KRPM/KULL 770 AM from 1986 to 1991, and again for a brief time beginning in January 1995. On November 1, 1995, the station switched its call sign to KCIN-FM when the station rebranded to "Kickin' Country K106." The AM simulcast moved to AM 1090 as part of a format swap with 770, with 1090 taking the KRPM calls. Lia Knight began her evening show, then known as ''Cryin', Lovin' or Leavin' '', on KRPM, lasting until the station's format change and her departure for

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uni ...

; in 1998, the program became nationally syndicated as '' The Lia Show'', running until 2022. In the Spring of 1996, shortly after the passage of the

Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of t ...

, Heritage swapped KCIN and KRPM to EZ Communications in exchange for EZ's

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s. EZ immediately took over the stations via a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...

(LMA) until the purchase was completed later that year. EZ also bought rival KYCW-FM from

Infinity Broadcasting Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus ...

two weeks prior, which then lead to the end of the country format on KCIN and KRPM. On March 18, 1996, KCIN/KRPM dropped regular programming and began simulcasting KMPS from Monday (March 18) to Thursday (March 21), then began simulcasting KYCW on Friday (March 22) and Saturday (March 23). At Midnight on Sunday (March 24), KCIN/KRPM began a 39-hour

stunt A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery sp ...

with random audio soundbites, while announcing a change to come the following afternoon.

Rhythmic (1996-1997)

On March 25, 1996, at 3 p.m., KCIN/KRPM flipped to a gold-leaning

Rhythmic Adult Contemporary Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adul ...

format, branded as "Kiss 106." KCIN reacquired the KRPM-FM call sign on April 5, but would adopt the KBKS call letters on April 15, with the -FM suffix being added on January 12, 2004. (KRPM AM continued to simulcast until February 1, 1999, when it flipped to

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on inn ...

.) KBKS's

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sev ...

consisted of a wide range of rhythmic hits targeting adults 25–54 years old, including

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

, gold hits from the 1960s through the 1980s, re-currents, and current-day hits from artists like

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won ...

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the ...

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

, and

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Natha ...

. The station primarily competed against

KUBE KUBE or Kube may refer to: Broadcasting * KUBE (AM), a radio station (1350 FM) licensed to serve Pueblo, Colorado * KUBE-TV, a television station licensed to serve Houston, Texas, United States * Kube Radio, a student radio station at Keele Uni ...

, KLSY, and KPLZ-FM.

Top 40 (1997-2016)

On May 23, 1997, the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, KBKS flipped to Top 40/CHR and modified its moniker to "Kiss 106.1." This marked the first Mainstream Top 40/CHR in the market since KPLZ shifted to

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, qui ...

three years prior. The Rhythmic AC format later returned to Seattle radio on

KQMV KQMV (92.5 FM, " Movin' 92-5") is a commercial radio station licensed to Bellevue, Washington, and serving the Seattle-Tacoma-Puget Sound radio market. The Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. outlet airs a Top 40 (CHR) radio format. KQMV has an ef ...

from 2006-2010, and KMTT in 2013. EZ and

American Radio Systems American Radio Systems Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1993 until 1998. Its predecessor, Atlantic Ventures, was founded by Steven B. Dodge, Eric Schultz, Joseph Winn, and Michael Milsom. American Radio Systems was formed from ...

merged in July 1997. Westinghouse/ CBS bought American Radio Systems' stations (including KBKS) on September 19, 1997. In June 1998, CBS split off the radio division under the revived

name, which would be renamed

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broa ...

in December 2005. At first, KBKS' direction leaned more towards

Modern AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

as a way to counter

Rhythmic Top 40 The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...

direction. KBKS became more mainstream in early 2000. In 2007, at the same time the station rebranded to "106.1 KISS FM," the station began leaning more rhythmic, in the hopes of denting KUBE's dominant ratings in the Seattle Top 40 battle.

Sale to Clear Channel

On December 10, 2008,

announced it would swap five stations, including KBKS, to

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

while trading two stations in

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The deal was approved by the FCC on March 31, 2009, and consummated on April 1. Under Clear Channel, now iHeartMedia, the station backed off of its rhythmic lean and returned to a more mainstream direction. The acquisition by Clear Channel joined KBKS with former long-time rival

rhythmic top 40 The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...

station

, as KBKS began competing against Sandusky Broadcasting's Top 40

(Movin' 92.5) and

KLCK-FM (Click 98.9), as well as

Fisher Broadcasting Fisher Communications was a media company in the United States. Based in Seattle, Washington, the company primarily owned a number of radio and television stations in the Western United States. It was the last company in the Seattle area to ...

KPLZ-FM (Star 101.5). (KLCK-FM has since switched to

as KNUC.)

Hot AC (2016-2018)

As part of a major format shuffle involving four of iHeartMedia's Seattle stations, on January 19, 2016, at Noon, KBKS's Top 40 format moved to 93.3 FM (as KPWK, "Power 93.3"), displacing KUBE's Rhythmic Top 40 format (which moved to co-owned KKBW). At the same time, KBKS shifted to

, adopting the format from KYNW, which flipped to alternative (then, after a sale to

Bustos Media Bustos Media L.L.C. is a media corporation headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Bustos Media specializes in operating Spanish-language, and other ethnic, radio stations in the United States. Most of its stations broadcast in Spanish; however, two ...

in 2019,

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mex ...

). Bender & Molly remained in mornings, with midday host Karen Wild and afternoon host Eric Tyler being let go as part of the change.

Top 40 (2018-present)

On May 3, 2018, at 3:00 p.m., concurrent with the revival of the rhythmic format and KUBE branding on 93.3, KBKS reverted to its previous mainstream Top 40/CHR format. Despite this, ratings remained rather low. The station registered a 2.2 share in the October 2018 Nielsen Audio ratings, down from a 3.2 in September, and trailing KQMV's 6.8 share by a significant margin. On October 24, 2018, KBKS dropped all of its on-air personalities, and began to run promos hinting at the end of the Kiss format. The next day, the station began to interrupt songs with a voiceover saying "Kiss is Dead". On October 29, the station also began promoting an impending announcement on

October 31 Events Pre-1600 * 475 – Romulus Augustulus is proclaimed Western Roman Emperor. * 683 – During the Siege of Mecca, the Kaaba catches fire and is burned down. * 802 – Empress Irene is deposed and banished to Lesbos. Consp ...

at 4:00 p.m. At that time, the station ran an announcement by iHeartMedia's regional president Robert Dove, saying the company was in the process of revamping KBKS to create a station "that is real, connected to the community, positive, and proud to live in Seattle". KBKS retained its existing format and ''Kiss FM'' branding. The station also announced that it would hold a contest to find new hosts for its morning show, explaining the prior stunt by stating that they were "dead serious" about finding "Seattle's Funniest Person". The station solicited nominations for this title from listeners, with a chance to win $10,000 if someone is hired based on their suggestion. This came as longtime host Bender Cunningham was let go after nearly 18 years. On November 12, 2018, ''The Carla Marie & Anthony Show'' (which originated with KPWK's CHR format) premiered as KBKS's new morning show. The attempts at retooling did little to improve KBKS's ratings, only increasing by a single tenth of a share by February 2019. In March 2019, Amber Cole (from WEBG

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

) and Evan Omelia were announced as the winners of the aforementioned "Seattle's Funniest Person" contest, and joined the morning show as co-hosts on April 1.

''The Jubal Show'', Hits 106.1 (2020–present)

On July 26, 2020, Carla Marie and Anthony announced their departure from the station. The next day, KBKS announced that Jubal Fresh, formerly the co-host of

's nationally-syndicated morning show ''Brooke & Jubal'', would host mornings on the station beginning in August. It marked Jubal's return to KBKS, as he had previously been involved in the station's previous ''Jackie & Bender'' show. To promote the launch of the new morning show, KBKS temporarily rebranded as ''Jubal 106.1'' on August 3, 2020. On August 20, to coincide with the debut of ''The Jubal Show'', KBKS relaunched its CHR format as ''Hits 106.1''. iHeartMedia began to

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French word ''syndica ...

''The Jubal Show'' via

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. ...

in October.

HD radio

Since January 19, 2006, KBKS has broadcast in

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

, with the HD1 and HD2 channels providing Artist Experience data including song titles, artists, and albums on compatible radios. Over the years, 106.1 FM has hosted a variety of formats on its HD sub-channels. The most recent HD2 sub-channel format was the dance radio format ''Evolution''. The HD2 sub-channel was turned off sometime in 2019, but would be reactivated in 2021, carrying iHeart's "

Pride Radio Pride Radio (stylized as PRIDE Radio) is an LGBTQ+ lifestyle and top 40 radio network launched by Clear Channel Communications Format Lab under the direction of Michael Albl, who conceived the format, on terrestrial HD2 & HD3 stations and onlin ...

" format.

Previous Sub-Channels

*HD2 ** 'New Kiss 2' - New CHR Format - The station had a website and had on-air personalities. (Prior to Winter 2011) *HD2 ** 'Russian language' - Programming outsourced to a different provider (December 2011) *HD2 ** 'Club Phusion' -

Dance Top 40 Dance radio is a format that consists of current and recent dance and electronic music. While the format is popular in Europe and Asia, it has yet to make an impact in North America, although there are several top 40 and rhythmic radio stations ...

- July 2012 *HD2 ** 'Evolution' - Electronic Dance Music - 2019

References

External links

* {{IHeartMedia BKS-FM Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States IHeartMedia radio stations Radio stations established in 1959