From the Queen City's premier radio historian, Feliks Banel:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/415324_radio13.html
Especially interesting: why stations were all within a few blocks of each other downtown: That's where the intercontinental phone lines terminated.
The article leads you to believe that Seattle stations were receiving network programming from the East in 1927. This is not correct. Here's the paragraph:
______________________________________________________________________________________
"Being a full-fledged network affiliate meant carrying live NBC and CBS programming from New York and Chicago. This became possible in Seattle in April 1927, when special transcontinental lines, owned by AT&T and designed specifically for connecting radio stations, reached the city."
______________________________________________________________________________________
When NBC inaugurated it's "Orange" Network on April 5, 1927 it was a network of stations just in Washington, Oregon & California that were connected. There was no transcontinental lines for radio to New York in 1927. The network was more commonly referred to as the "NBC Pacific Coast Network". Programming originated from NBC Studios in San Francisco where entire East Coast programs were re-enacted by a West Coast casts. East Coast scripts were sent by train. The NBC Orange Network stations were:
KOMO & KFOA Seattle.
KHQ Spokane.
KGW Portland.
KPO San Francisco. (now KNBR)
KGO Oakland.
KFI Los Angeles.
I wish they would have dived in a little more with Seattle radio. Like KTW and KXA. Seattle has always been kinda interesting place for radio. My love is still for Portland and always will be, Thanks Craig.
I was born in Seattle in the 50's and grew to love radio in the early 60's.
Of course favorite station was KJR...jingles were incredible. Parents bought a big console with a special tube used for center dial tuning. Mostly listened to AM of course KVI,KGDN,KIRO,KXA,KIXI,KJR,KOMO,KBLE,KING,KTW from left to right on dial from what I can remember...
Craig Adams is correct re April 1927 and the Coast Network of NBC (rather than transcontinental)--good catch. I have Seattle newspaper radio listings from December 1928 that show actual transcontinental NBC programs on KOMO--anybody know when the full transcontinental connection was made to Seattle? Must have been sometime in '27 or '28.
thanks,
-Feliks
pdxgary98: Yes, I just did a web search for the old KTW & KXA histories. They're no longer on-line from the psrba.org website. Glad I made paper copies of all of the Seattle/Tacoma AM-FM histories back in 2006. Was going to post them both for you here but they're quite extensive and too much to type.
Feliks: I don't think there ever was a date for the change to Eastern programming, I believe this happened little by little. I do know the last vestiges of the old NBC "Orange" & "Gold" Networks gave way to the Eastern "Red" & "Blue" Networks on March 12, 1936. At the time KJR, KGA & KEX were "Gold" and became "Blue" stations. KOMO, KHQ & KGW became part of the "Red" Network.
The really cool thing about Northwest Network Radio history is the common bonds in events that took place in Seattle, also took place in Portland, or vice versa.
I think I see another mistake: KPLU's studios are in Tacoma on the Pacific Lutheran University campus (hence the call letters). The article says they're in Belltown, which is a neighborhood in Seattle. If that's true it must have been a very recent move.
KPLU has a satellite studio in Seattle- they also keep a business office there as well.
KPLU has had that Seattle studio for around 10 years that I know of.
But where is their control room? Do they actually broadcast from Seattle nowadays, or is that just a production studio?
KPLU had a Seattle studio in the early 1990's, I recall, at around 6th avenue and Stewart street for news editing.
For a long time I've felt that the establishment of a national radio network is one of the most overlooked achievements in U.S. history. For the first time everyone in a transcontinental country could hear the same thing at the same time whether it was entertainment or important news events. This was the first time that Americans could regularly hear the voice of the President instead of reading when he said in a newspaper. I think it unified American culture even more than motion pictures.
The technical hurdles of long distance phone lines had to have been incredible using pre-WWII vacuum tube technology but I've read almost nothing about them. Even great books like "Empire of the Air" describe the national radio networks as if they had appeared naturally.
Hi again Craig (and everybody else . . .)--according to Michael J. Socolow, the NBC basic chain (east of the Rockies) was linked to the Pacific Coast chain on December 24, 1928 (the connection was from Denver to San Fran). This is from an essay by Socolow called "Always In Friendly Competition" in a book called "NBC: America's Network" that was published in 2007 by the University of California Press. Socolow cites the 1930 book "This Thing Called Broadcasting" by Goldsmith and Lescarboura for this particular fact.
Speaking of NBC, you perhaps saw this bit in today's NY Times about their original home in NYC:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/realestate/21streets.html
thanks,
-Feliks
Feliks: Hey Thanks! With the date in hand I put it into google with the network, like this: "December 24, 1928" NBC. Letting NBC float in the wording. I did find one reference (below). I also saw a Dec 23rd on a calendar listing so I did a google with Dec 23rd and came up with a bunch of listings, leading me to believe that Dec 23, 1928 is the correct date. Take a look at some of the listings found below:
In September 1928, the first network coast to coast broadcasts began, although it required a dialup line from Denver to Salt Lake City. NBC used AT&T lines entirely for "The General Motors' Party" on December 24, 1928.
1928 - The first permanent coast-to-coast network in the United States was established by NBC on December 23, 1928.
NBC began broadcasting with 19 stations on November 15, 1926, and on December 23, 1928, it established the first permanent coast-to-coast network in the United States.
Hi Craig--the flurry of pre-Christmas activity to get the transcontinental network all linked up in time for holiday broadcasts is GREAT! It coincidentally ties into and supports another of my wacky theses: the link between Christmas and radio in the first half of the 20th century. Here's the URL for a paper about it that I wrote a few years ago and posted this past November:
http://istillloveradio.blogspot.com/2009/11/audible-night-links-between-rise-of.html
thanks,
-Feliks
WOW! A lot of research there! Thanks!
In 1921 in Portland at "The Oregonian: & "Oregon Journal" newspapers, the writers would not list the call letters, just ownerships. That might have occurred in Seattle as well and might have been the reason you thought the calls KFC were not assigned as of Christmas 1921. They were!
KFC calls were assigned on December 8, 1921. The calls were deleted on January 23, 1923. KFC was not the first Seattle station however, that was 7XC when it's calls were assigned in Sept 1920. 7XC would become KJR on March 9, 1922 & KOMO May 6, 1944.
...sounds like we're playing a game of chicken! 
(I know there's a better line in there somewhere but am sticking with that one.)
You'll also note I threw in KJR's call switch to KOMO in 1944. That was added JUST for YOU. 
Thanks, it's a good explanation, wanting NBC Red on the stronger signal.
Hey again everybody--I just took delivery of my own copy of "This Thing Called Broadcasting" (by Goldsmith & Lescarboura, published in 1930 by Henry Holt and Company). The book has the best account I've ever read about how transcontinental broadcasting became possible and how it all came together from a logistic standpoint. Here's a section about how the link was finally made to the Pacific coast (from pages 170-171):
For a Permanent Country-wide Hook-up
For a time the country was divided into two definite radio audiences, namely, that east of the Rockies, and that of the Coast States. On special occasions both audiences were joined together through the use of the transcontinental telephone lines, but so great was the expense that a combined audience was out of reach of routine programs. [WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THOSE 'special occasions'--DATES, CIRCUMSTANCES, ETC.]
However, the demand for a national audience by the largest sponsors brought about the permanent linking of both radio groups on December 24, 1928, when a nation-wide program inaugurated the twenty-four-hour coast-to-coast circuit of the NBC. The final link in the chain between Denver and San Francisco required intensive work for more than a year, and was the final operation in connecting by special wires the fifty-eight transmitters then comprising the NBC chain.
The first span in this transcontinental link was completed on June 1, 1928, when the line was extended from Omaha to Denver. Maintenance of the permanent circuit was estimated at $220,000 a year [ROUGHLY $2.7 MILLION IN 2008 DOLLARS]. Successful installation of this circuit was regarded by engineers as an achievement of the first magnitude, recalling that the first telephone circuit between New York and San Francisco was not completed until 1915, and that it was comparatively simple to instal (sic) telephone circuits in comparison with permanent, specially engineered lines capable of carrying musical tones without distortion. Experiments were made for eighteen months before the circuit was ready. Extensive tests were made to assure uniform transmission of programs to and from the coast.
The new circuit served two intermediate transmitters, KSL Salt Lake City, and KOA Denver, and provided the entire country with network programs. Amplifiers or repeater points in five States serve to check the transmission of each program as it passes along the 1,600-mile line to the Pacific Coast. From Omaha the circuit goes to North Platte and from there to Rawlings, Wyoming. Next it is checked at Salt Lake City and then at Winnemucca, Nevada. The next tests on the transmission occur at Sacramento, California, and then it goes into San Francisco for distribution to the NBC Pacific Coast network.
It was estimated at the time of the inauguration of the permanent national hook-up that the NBC Eastern circuits served 69.4 per cent of the radio audience in the United States, while the Pacific Coast system reached an additional 12.1 per cent. The new link added 1.2 per cent and brought to listeners in the mountain district the same programs heretofore heard only in the East and on the Pacific Coast. Before this link was made, these listeners heard only special network programs and events of national importance.
thanks,
-Feliks
http://www.istillloveradio.blogspot.com
That's most in-depth research I've ever read on the subject. Thanks for posting!
[WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THOSE 'special occasions'--DATES, CIRCUMSTANCES, ETC.]
On October 20, 1928 a hook-up of 60 NBC stations including KGW broadcast ceremonies in connection with the presentation to Thomas A. Edison of a medal from the U.S. Government. On November 11, 1928 President Coolidge spoke over the entire NBC Network.
When the link took place in 1928, only NBC Red Network programming was available on West Coast stations thru the Orange chain. The Red Network had all the hit programs. Blue Network programming wouldn't begin until October 18, 1931 when the Pacific Gold chain inaugurated.
This posed a big problem beginning on August 19, 1929 when a little syndicated program was picked up by the Blue. It was called "Amos N' Andy" and caught fire becoming an Eastern sensation. The West would read in newspapers about this, then ask the West Coast affiliates why they couldn't hear it too. This went on for months with "Amos N' Andy" only growing stronger. Finally on November 28, 1929 the show under special arrangements began on the Orange chain. By 1931 Amos N' Andy had become a national phenomenon with nearly 40 million listeners.
Hi Craig--that's great info, especially about A&A and the Pacific Coast (hadn't heard that before). There are a few more excerpts from "This Thing Called Broadcasting" related to the Pacific Coast that you'll likely find interesting--I'll get those typed up and added to the record here in the next couple of days. thanks, -Feliks
Hi everybody--while I haven't yet added more material from "This Thing Called Broadcasting" per the promise in my last post, I did recently come across a promotional book published by Mutual in 1944--it has a nice timeline of Mutual developments from the network's founding in 1934 up through late 1944. It was so nice, I decided to type it up and share it. Find the timeline (and a photo of the cover) posted here:
http://istillloveradio.blogspot.com/2010/05/ten-telling-years-mutual-broadcasting.html
Nice Mutual bio. It's interesting to note Mutual says they affiliated with Don Lee in 1936. True, it was on December 30, 1936 that KHJ, KFRC & KGB became Mutual affiliates but the Northwest wouldn't hear Mutual on their local stations until September 26, 1937 with the additions of KOL, KMO, KALE, KORE, KSLM, KIT, KVOS, KGY, KIEM, KPQ, KRNR & KXRO thru the Don Lee Broadcasting System.
KMO? Did you mis-type KOMO, or is that a different station?
KMO Tacoma.
It's been on 1360 as long as most can remember. It's now KKMO, after a brief flirtation as KAMT, so they could say, "AM Tacoma". A short time later, they tried to change back to the legacy calls, to no avail. As late as the 1970s, the Seattle area was home to a plethora of 3-letter call signs, including KVI, KXA, KJR, KTW, KOL and KMO. Sadly, only KVI and KJR remain. 
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