KVI (570 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, known as "News Talk 570 KVI." Owned by

Lotus Communications Lotus Communications Corporation is a media company that owns numerous radio stations and a few TV stations, and is one of the largest privately owned radio station groups in the United States. Headquarters are located in Los Angeles, and the co ...

, it airs a

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

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, ...

. The studios and offices are located with former

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 ...

KOMO-TV KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue-licensed The CW, CW affiliate ...

at KOMO Plaza (formerly Fisher Plaza) in Seattle. KVI is powered at 5,000

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, using a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle to the axis (elevation angle), declining t ...

, giving it a signal that extends from the U.S.-Canada border to Olympia. Its

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 ...

is on Vashon Island, located roughly halfway between Seattle and

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 ...

. On weekdays, KVI airs both local and nationally syndicated shows. Local hosts include John Carlson (''Commute with Carlson'') and Ari Hoffman. National programs include ''Markley, VanCamp and Robbins'' (whose show is syndicated from the WMBD studios in Peoria), '' The Dana Loesch Show'' and ''

Red Eye Radio ''Red Eye Radio'' is a talk radio program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by Westwood One, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history throug ...

''. Two versions of "The

Lars Larson Lars Kristopher Larson (born March 6, 1959)"Lars Kristopher Larson". ''Who's Who in the West'', 26th ed. Accessed June 17, 2013 via LexisNexis. is an American conservative talk radio show host based in Portland, Oregon. Larson worked in televis ...

Show" are heard, one for the

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

at noon and a national show at 2 a.m. Weekends feature shows on money, health and cars, some of which are paid

brokered programming Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot com ...

. Syndicated weekend shows include '' Sunday Night Live with Bill Cunningham'' and '' Somewhere in Time with Art Bell''. Most hours begin with an update from

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 ...

's 24/7 News.

History

Early years

KVI's history can be traced back to . It

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on 1280

kilocycle The cycle per second is a once-common English name for the unit of frequency now known as the ''hertz'' (Hz). Cycles per second may be denoted by c.p.s., c/s, or, ambiguously, just "cycles" (Cyc., Cy., C, or c). The term comes from repetitive ph ...

s and was licensed to

. By the spring of 1928 its frequency shifted to

1060 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1060 kHz: 1060 AM is a United States and Mexican clear-channel frequency. KYW Philadelphia and XECPAE Mexico City share Class A status on 1060 kHz. Canada * CKMX in Calgary, Alb ...

, followed by another shift to

760 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 760 kHz: WJR in Detroit, Michigan, is the only class A station in North America broadcasting on 760 AM; 760 AM is a U.S. clear-channel frequency. I ...

in the fall. By September 1932, it had moved to its permanent home at 570 AM. It was powered at 1,000

s and was owned by the Puget Sound Broadcasting Company. During the "

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

," KVI was a

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, carrying its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports,

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

s and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

broadcasts. It also carried programs from the

Don Lee Network The Don Lee Network, sometimes called the Don Lee Broadcasting System, was an American regional network of radio stations in the old-time radio era. Origin Don Lee made a fortune as the exclusive West Coast distributor of Cadillac automobiles. ...

. In 1949, KVI relocated its city of license to Seattle and got a boost to 5,000 watts. KVI broadcast from a single tower on Vashon Island and it moved its studios into the Camlin Hotel in

Downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...

. With its arrival in Seattle, it shifted its network to the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Golden Age of Radio, ...

, since KIRO was already the CBS affiliate in Seattle.

AC and MOR music

In 1959,

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

's Golden West Broadcasters added KVI to its portfolio. KVI switched to an

adult contemporary 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format in 1964. By 1973, KVI had evolved into a full service, middle of the road (MOR) direction. It was during this period that it became established as a dominant player in the market. KVI was the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

for the ill-fated

Seattle Pilots The Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington, during the 1969 Major League Baseball season. During their single-season existence, the Pilots played their home games at Sick's Stadium and were a me ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team in their only season of play in 1969. It later became the radio home for the successful

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

, from their inaugural season of 1977 until 1984. KVI was also the original home of the

Seattle Sounders (NASL) Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

from their inaugural season in 1974 until 1976, and was the westside flagship station of the

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

Cougars from 1972 until 1979 and again from 1983 until 1987. In 1976, KVI acquired an

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

station, KETO at 101.5 MHz. Under Golden West, the new KVI-FM became a successful

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

station, now known as KPLZ-FM. With the beginning of the 1980s, music listening on AM radio was shifting to FM and KVI added several talk shows.

Oldies and Talk

On July 23, 1984, KVI switched to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

. That direction would last less than a decade, and by 1992, KVI had a fulltime

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. At first, the station used the slogan "the balanced alternative" with a line up alternating liberal and

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

talk hosts, but by 1993, KVI dropped all its liberal hosts except

Mike Siegel Mike Siegel (born March 16, 1945) is an American radio talk show host. Siegel is a native of New York. He has worked hosted the nationally syndicated radio program Coast to Coast AM, and worked at stations from Seattle's KVI to Boston's WRKO an ...

. Siegel, formerly a liberal, swung right in his views during this period and remained on the station. The other slots were filled by a line up of both local and nationally syndicated conservatives. By May 1994, the year KVI and KPLZ were sold to

Fisher Communications Fisher Communications, Inc. 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 ...

, KVI had an almost entirely conservative-talk format. KVI returned to a full service format at 4 p.m. on November 7, 2010, with a mix of oldies and recent hits, news and traffic updates.

Smart Talk

Due to the failure of the format, which only garnered an average of a 0.5 share of the market, KVI began stunting with

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...

on Thanksgiving Day, 2011. On January 3, 2012, the station flipped back to talk, this time as "Smart Talk," with an emphasis on entertainment reports, lifestyle and health info, and local news. Programs included "Sunrise Seattle", a

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

-type program hosted by Mark Christopher and Elisa Jaffe,

Don Imus John Donald Imus Jr. ( ; July 23, 1940 – December 27, 2019), also known as Imus, was an American radio personality, television show host, recording artist, and author. His radio show '' Imus in the Morning'' was aired on various stations and di ...

Clark Howard Clark Brian Howard (born June 20, 1955) is an American author and radio/podcast host, focused primarily on personal finance, consumer protection, and related topics. He has hosted ''The Clark Howard Show,'' which began in 1989 and has lasted ov ...

Phil Hendrie Philip Stephen Hendrie is an American radio personality and actor. He is widely known for his voiceover talent throughout the radio and film industry. He came to prominence in the 1990s hosting '' The Phil Hendrie Show'', a radio talk show where h ...

, "The Buzz" with Scott Carty, the "Daily Wrap from the Wall Street Journal" with Michael Castner, ConsumerMan with Herb Weisbaum, as well as paid

on weekends. After only nine months, the "Smart Talk" format was dropped on September 4, 2012 in favor of a return to conservative talk. On April 11, 2013, Fisher announced that it would sell its properties, including KVI and KOMO-TV, to the

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...

. The price for all the stations was $373.3 million. Although nearly all of Sinclair's broadcast properties are television stations, the company initially retained KVI, KPLZ-FM, KOMO and KOMO-FM. The deal was completed on August 8, 2013. On June 3, 2021, Sinclair announced they would sell KVI, KPLZ and KOMO-AM-FM to

for $18 million. Sinclair retained KOMO-TV. The sale was completed on September 28, 2021.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KVI
* {{Lotus Communications Conservative talk radio VI Talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1926 News and talk radio stations in the United States Lotus Communications stations 1926 establishments in Washington (state)