KKXA debuts Classic Country in Seattle

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The Skotdal family’s new Seattle AM has been cleared for takeoff and launched 10/11 at 4PM with a daytime power of 20,000 watts and nighttime of 50,000 watts. The station also has an application on file with FCC to go 50,000 watts full-time. The towers are located just south of Snohomish, WA. “Classic Country 1520 KXA” launched with “Simple Man” by Charlie Daniels.


“Getting on the air is the first step,” said GM Andy Skotdal. “Next, we’ll see how listeners respond to the Classic Country format and eventually add some on-air personalities to the mix. Seattle radio stations are running extremely tight music playlists and repeating the same songs over and over. We’re going to bring songs to the radio that Seattle stations won’t play any more.”

The station shares a combined radio transmitter site with sister heritage Sports talker, 50-kW KRKO-AM 1380 (Fox Sports 1380). Check this out—Skotdal says they were having trouble with the tune-up of KKXA.  The transmitter would trip.  “We knew we had an arc in the transmission system, but we couldn’t locate it because it was intermittent.  Then, we found it.  And it was an impressive arc.  The smell of ozone was particularly pungent.  Stephen Lockwood of Hatfield and Dawson is opening the ATU door.  I’m recording it.  Buzz Anderson, our contract engineer, found it.  The beast is alive.  And now we can truly claim we have two 50,000 watt flamethrowers (since they share this tower in the directional mode).”

A photo from the video:

Classic Country 1520, consulted by Jaye Albright, of Albright and O’Malley,  features Country favorites from the 80’s and 90’s with artists like Travis Tritt and Brooks and Dunn and will include legends of the format like the late Johnny Cash.  The station’s online presence is on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KKXA1520

The station will also carry Washington State University football and basketball as well as some Everett Silvertips, Everett Aquasox and high school sports games.

The calls are a tribute to the former KXA, Seattle (now KTTH 770), and one of the oldest radio stations in Puget Sound.  Call-sign KXA’s heritage (1927) dates back almost as far as KRKO 1380 AM (1922), but KXA also has a bit of a storied past as a station once owned by Roy Olmstead, Seattle’s most famous bootlegger.  It is claimed that Olmstead’s wife used coded messages during her children’s story hour to signal offshore boats loaded with alcohol.