KBLE (1050 AM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

broadcasting a

religious radio Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...

format in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, United States. It is owned by Sacred Heart Radio and is the key station in a regional network broadcasting

Catholic radio Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

programming in much of Washington state as well as

Kodiak, Alaska Kodiak (Alutiiq language, Alutiiq: ) is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside ...

. Sacred Heart Radio maintains studios and offices in Kirkland, while KBLE is broadcast from a transmitter site in southwest Seattle. In part of the coverage area, primarily encompassing Seattle's northern suburbs, KBLE is broadcast on FM translator K262CX (100.3 MHz). KBLE has been on the air since 1948. It was established in Kirkland but moved to Seattle in 1963, the same year it adopted its present call sign and daytime power of 5,000 watts. For almost all of its history, the station has been associated primarily with religious broadcasting,

History

Early years

F. L. Thornhill, trading as the East Side Broadcasting Company, applied for a construction permit to build a new 250-watt, daytime-only radio station in Kirkland on October 8, 1946. Originally specifying 860 kHz, the application was amended to 1050 kHz before the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) granted it on June 3, 1947. ( Guide to reading History Cards) The station went on the air on February 24, 1948, under the call sign KRKL, and in 1950, the station was sold to Lamar N. Ostrander and W. A. Chamness. In 1954, KRKL was approved to increase its power from 250 to 1,000 watts, remaining a daytime-only station. After the power increase, the station changed its call sign from KRKL to KNBX on December 1, 1954 (beginning to use them on the air on December 13); the renamed station's programming continued to consist of "quality music, weather reports and the broadcast of leading gospel programs". Wilson replaced Chamness as owner in two transactions between 1958 and 1959. Meanwhile, in 1956, KRKL filed to move from Kirkland to Seattle proper. The FCC approved of the change more than six years later, on January 23, 1963, and on December 16, the call letters were changed from KNBX to KBLE, marking its move into Seattle and an increase to 5,000 watts of power from the present southwest Seattle transmitter site. The studios were located at 114 Lakeside Avenue, near one end of a piece of Seattle's transit history. Until 1940, a cable car system—the last in Seattle to remain open—operated along Yesler Way and terminated near the studios, connecting

Colman Dock Colman Dock, also called Pier 52, is the primary ferry terminal in Seattle, Washington, United States. The original pier is no longer in existence, but the terminal, now used by the Washington State Ferries system, is still called "Colman Dock ...

to what once was a major ferry terminal serving

Lake Washington Lake Washington () is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest lake in King County, Washington, King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington (state), Was ...

. Wilson, a resident of

Mercer Island Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle metropolitan area, with Seattle to its west and Bellevue t ...

, often rode the cable car en route to the ferry to the island. As a result, the owners chose what Wilson called "a significant and nostalgic bit of Seattle history" in their new call sign. Meanwhile, Ostrander and Wilson were busy expanding. With a third investor, they had started

KARI Kari or KARI may refer to: Places *Kari, Jhunjhunu, a village in Rajasthan, India * , a village in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso * Kari, Tikamgarh, a town in Madhya Pradesh, India * Kari, Iran, a village in Bushehr Province, Iran * Kari-ye Bozorg ...

Blaine, Washington Blaine is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The city's northern boundary is the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. border; the Peace Arch international monument straddl ...

, which when it started in 1960 brought religious broadcasting to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

for the first time, and FM stations in Seattle (KBLE-FM 93.3, today

KJR-FM KJR-FM (93.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Seattle, Washington. The station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. The studios and offices are on Elliott Avenue West in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood northwest of downtown. T ...

) and Bellingham (KERI-FM 104.3, today

KAFE KAFE (104.1 FM, "KAFE 104.1", pronounced "Café") is a commercial FM radio station in Bellingham, Washington. It is owned by Saga Communications, and is operated as part of its Cascade Radio Group; the broadcast license held by Saga Broadcast ...

at 104.1) followed in 1964. KBLE-FM initially provided a complementary service to the AM station by broadcasting specialty foreign-language programs. While KBLE continued to be dominated by Christian religious programming for the next 36 years, it also aired several brokered-time programs that were not religious in nature. In 1980, a Seattle radio fixture, the weekend ''Scandinavian Hour'', landed at KBLE, airing its 2,000th episode in 1998. Broadcasting was also extended to nighttime at 440 watts on October 1, 1986, after a relaxation of rules governing clear-channel frequencies like 1050 kHz.

Sacred Heart Radio

In 2000, Ostrander and Wilson sold KBLE to HHH Broadcasting for $2.85 million. HHH turned around and sold the station just two months later to Sacred Heart Radio as its first station. The ownership change displaced all of the existing programming on the station, including the ''Scandinavian Hour''. Catholic radio programming from Sacred Heart Radio began in 2001. The ministry has since expanded its reach with AM stations and FM translators serving

Tacoma 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, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

(

KLAY Klay may refer to: Places * Klay, Liberia * Klay District, one of four districts of Bomi County, Liberia People People with the given name * Klay Hall, American animation director * George Klay Kieh (born 1956), Liberian politician * Klay Thompso ...

(1180 AM)), Olympia (

KBUP KBUP (1240 AM) is a radio station licensed to Olympia, Washington. Owned and operated by Sacred Heart Radio, Inc., it relays the Catholic religious programming originating at KBLE 1050 AM Seattle. KBUP is one of the oldest radio stations in t ...

(1240 AM)),

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

(

KTTO KTTO (970 kHz) is an AM radio station in Spokane, Washington, serving the Spokane metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by Sacred Heart Radio, Inc. It airs a Catholic radio format with most programming provided by the EWTN Radio Ne ...

(970 AM)),

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

(KYTR (88.1 FM)), and

(KBKO (88.3 FM)). Ten hours a day of Sacred Heart's output is live, mixing local and

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic programming. It is the largest Catholic television network in America, and is purported to be "the world's larges ...

programs.

References

External links

* * * Information for KYTR: • {{Seattle Radio Catholic radio stations BLE Radio stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Washington (state)