KPOJ-AM

KPOJ (620 AM) is a commercial radio station in Portland, Oregon. It airs a sports radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. KPOJ airs two local sports shows on weekdays, ''Rip City Mornings with Justin Myers'' from 6 to 9 a.m. and ''Rip City Drive with Dwight and Chad'' in afternoon drive time. In middays, KPOJ carries nationally syndicated sports programs: ''The Rich Eisen Show, The Doug Gottlieb Show'' and ''Covino & Rich''. The Fox Sports Radio Network is heard nights and weekends. The KPOJ studios are on SW 68th Parkway in Tigard.

By day, KPOJ is powered at 25,000 watts. But to protect other stations on 620 AM from interference, it reduces power at night to 10,000 watts and uses a directional antenna with a two-tower array. The transmitter is off SE Lawnfield Road, near Interstate 205 in Sunnyside, Oregon.

History

KGW

On December 1, 1921, the U.S. Department of Commerce, in charge of radio at the time, adopted a regulation formally establishing a broadcasting station category. It set aside the wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) for entertainment broadcasts, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for market and weather reports. On March 21, 1922, the Oregonian Publishing Company, which owned ''The Oregonian'' daily newspaper, was issued a license for a new Portland station. It had the randomly assigned call letters KGW, transmitting on the 360 meter entertainment wavelength.

The station performed some test transmissions in March."The Oregonian Test of Radio Makes Hit"
(March 24, 1922). ''The Morning Oregonian'', p. 5. KGW began regular broadcasting at noon on . The debut program included singing by Chicago Grand Opera soprano Edith Mason.

The station's studios and transmitter were located in the Oregonian Building."Radio Is Installed By The Oregonian"
(March 19, 1922). ''The Sunday Oregonian'', p. 1. The studios remained there until 1943, when a fire destroyed the facility."Blaze Hits Oregonian Top Floors". (September 24, 1943). ''The Oregonian'', p. 1. At that point, the station moved to other quarters. In late September 1922, the Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming, and KGW was assigned use of this more exclusive wavelength. In early 1923 the station received an additional authorization to broadcast weather reports on 485 meters.

In May 1923, additional "Class B" frequencies were made available, which included a Portland allocation for 610 kHz (492 meters). KGW was exclusively assigned to this frequency. On November 11, 1928, as part of the implementation of a major nationwide reallocation under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40, KGW was assigned to a "regional" frequency, 620 kHz.

NBC Red Network

KGW affiliated with the NBC Red Network in 1927. It carried NBC's dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio." At the time, KGW was powered at only 1,000 watts, a fraction of its current output.

KGW remained an NBC Network affiliate for 29 years until joining ABC Radio in 1956. Among KGW's early personalities was Mel Blanc, a local musician and vocalist featured on the "Hoot Owls" variety program.Murphy, Francis (May 9, 1965). "Multi-Voiced Mel Blanc Recalls Days Of Ad-Lib Portland Radio High Jinks". ''The Sunday Oregonian'', Section 1, p. 40. Hoot Owls ran from 1927 to 1933. Here, Blanc discovered a talent for character voices that would win him stardom as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and many other Warner Brothers cartoon features.

TV and FM

Under the ownership of ''The Oregonian'', the station gained a sister station, KEX, in 1933. It put the Northwest's first FM station, KGW-FM on the air in 1946. KGW-FM mostly simulcast 620 AM in its early years, when few people owned FM receivers. In 1954, it broke away from the simulcast, becoming easy listening KQFM. Today it is 100.3 KKRZ.

In 1957, KGW-AM-FM were sold to the Seattle-based King Broadcasting Company. King Broadcasting founded KGW-TV in 1956. KGW-TV channel 8 is now owned by Tegna, Inc.

Top 40, AC and talk

As network programming moved from radio to television, AM stations began airing music formats. KGW flipped to Top 40 hits on January 9, 1959. "62 KGW", as it called itself during the 1960s and 70s, was one of the most popular radio stations in Portland among young people. For many years and with various formats, the station also called itself "Super 62".

But in the 1980s, as younger listeners tuned to FM radio for their favorite songs, KGW's ratings declined. That prompted a shift to a full service, adult contemporary music format.Farrell, Peter (August 8, 1989).

The AC format also struggled in the ratings. On July 28, 1989, the station changed to a talk format, using primarily local hosts. The change did not produce the hoped-for ratings turnaround. On July 26, 1991, the talk programming was replaced by a simulcast of sister station KINK-FM's adult album alternative (AAA) programming. AM 620 retained the longstanding and locally well-known call sign KGW at first. Then on March 1, 1993, the call letters were changed to KINK.

Syndicated talk

On February 6, 1995, KINK 620 changed back to all-talk, now airing nationally syndicated talk hosts instead of local talk. The call letters changed to KOTK, representing Oregon's Talk. The frequent changing of call letters continued, with the station becoming KEWS ("K-News") in 1997, KDBZ ("The Buzz") in 2000, and KTLK ("K-Talk") in 2002.

On July 25, 2003, the station flipped to oldies. It began the call letters KPOJ on August 18. They refer to the '' Portland Oregon Journal'' newspaper, which once held the call sign for its AM station. The KPOJ call sign originated at what is now KKPZ AM 1330, which for many years was the Mutual Broadcasting System's Portland affiliate. In the 1970s, that station changed its call letters to KUPL. It was once owned by the now-defunct ''Portland Oregon Journal''.

Progressive talk

On March 31, 2004, KPOJ flipped to progressive talk, with hosts who advocated liberal politics. The station was one of the first Air America affiliates, joining when the network launched in that same month. KPOJ ran most of Air America's shows.

Hosts included Marc Maron Rachel Maddow, Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder and Mike Malloy. It also served as broadcast home for Thom Hartmann with Carl Wolfson and Christine Alexander doing a locally focused morning show for a time.

Sports talk

At 5:30 PM on November 9, 2012, the progressive talk format was replaced by all-sports. This happened three days after the 2012 general election.

Fans of the progressive talk radio format immediately started a campaign to "Save KPOJ", with thousands of listeners signing a petition to the station's owner, Clear Channel Communications. Clear Channel changed its name in 2014 to iHeartMedia, Inc.

In 2013, KPOJ became the flagship station of the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team, replacing sister station KEX 1190 AM. The station had already aired some Blazers games during the 2012–13 season when there were conflicts with KEX's broadcasts of the Oregon State Beavers. On April 14, 2014, KPOJ rebranded as "Rip City Radio 620." (Rip City is a nickname for Portland, inspired by the Blazers.)

Fox Sports Radio

The station is a long-time Fox Sports Radio affiliate. It has carried many Fox Sports hosts, including Rich Eisen, Jay Mohr and Clay Travis. In March 2015, a local morning drive time show was added, "Rip City Mornings" with Andy Bunker and Taylor Danforth.

Travis Demers was brought in to host the afternoon drive show "The Rip City Drive" in October 2015. Dan Sheldon and Nigel Burton took over hosting the morning show on September 1, 2016. Chad Doing was added to the afternoon show on March 20, 2017.

Partnership with NBC Sports Northwest

On January 14, 2018, Rip City Radio announced a partnership with NBC Sports Northwest, formerly Comcast SportsNet Northwest. The lineup included a television simulcast of Rip City Mornings with Dan Sheldon and Nigel Burton from 6-9 a.m., and the Rip City Drive with Travis Demers and Chad Doing 3-6 p.m. A new midday show with Dwight Jaynes and Aaron Fentress was added from 12-3 p.m.. In July 2018, the Brian Noe Show replaced Dwight and Aaron.

The partnership also included adding a radio simulcast to shows originated by NBC Sports Northwest including 'Talkin Beavers', 'Talkin Ducks', 'The Bridge', and 'Outdoor GPS'.

Previous logo

(KPOJ's logo under previous progressive talk format)

See also

* List of initial AM-band station grants in the United States

References

External links

KPOJ Website

FCC History Cards for KPOJ
(covering 1927-1980 as KGW)

{{Portland Trail Blazers

POJ
Sports radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1922
1922 establishments in Oregon
The Oregonian
IHeartMedia radio stations
Fox Sports Radio stations