KGON (92.3 FM) is a commercial

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 ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. The station airs a

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

and is owned by Audacy, Inc. KGON broadcasts in the

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

format. Its HD2 subchannel formerly carried a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

format, known as "Waterfront Blues Radio." KGON's offices and studios are located south of Downtown Portland on Bancroft Street. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

site is in the city's Southwest Hills district, off SW Seymour Street. KGON has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, the maximum for most FM stations. The signal covers much of Northwestern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and Southwestern Washington.

Programming

KGON competes with

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or 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 founded by ...

-owned KFBW 105.9 FM. While KFBW plays mostly rock from the 1980s, 1990s and a few 2000s titles, KGON goes back as far as

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

for some selections and rarely plays titles later than 1990. KGON also carries Seattle Seahawks football games during the NFL season.

History

The station signed on the air on . Its original

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 as ...

was KLIQ-FM. It was the FM counterpart to KLIQ (AM 1290), which is no longer on the air. The two stations were owned by the Cascade Broadcasting Company, simulcasting a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

format. Because KLIQ was a daytimer, the staton's programming could only be heard on KLIQ-FM after dark. In 1973, as more people bought radios that received FM stations, KLIQ-FM was sold to KYXI, Inc., the same firm that owned KYXI (now AM 1520, KGDD). On February 1, 1974, the new owners changed the format to

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

under new

KGON. The first song after the flip was " Here Comes the Sun" by

. The flip put KGON in competition with KINK, which went on the air in 1968 as a

freeform radio Free-form, or free-form radio, is a radio station Radio programming, programming Radio format, format in which the disc jockey is given wide or total control over what music to play, regardless of music genre or commercial interests. Freeform ra ...

station, along with KQIV, which signed on in 1972 playing

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

. KGON was programmed with a more structured format, playing only the most popular tracks from the top-selling rock albums. It would continue in this direction until November 4, 1992, when it shifted to its current classic rock direction. In 1992, KGON and KWJJ (now KFXX) were bought by Apogee Communications for $5.5 million. In 1995, the station changed hands after just three years when Entercom acquired KGON.Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1996 page B-347
/ref> Entercom changed its name to Audacy in 2021.

References

External links

* * {{Entercom GON Classic rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1967 1967 establishments in Oregon Audacy, Inc. radio stations