City Tacoma, Washington Slogan 100% Throwbacks | Branding Hot 103.7 | |
Broadcast area Seattle metropolitan area Frequency 103.7 MHz FM (also on HD Radio)
103.7-2 FM- "103.7 The Mountain" Translator(s) 103.3 K277AE (Seattle)
104.1 K281AD (Olympia) | ||
KHTP (103.7 FM), also known as "Hot 103.7", is a Rhythmic Hot AC-formatted FM radio station in the Seattle, Washington market. The station broadcasts at 103.7 MHz and is owned and operated by Entercom Communications. The station's transmitting antenna is on Tiger Mountain, and operates from its studios at the Metropolitan Park complex in Downtown Seattle.
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Translators
KHTP is also carried on the following satellite and broadcast translator stations to improve reception of the station:
History
103.7 FM first began broadcasting in 1958 as KTWR at 103.9 FM. In 1964, they changed their call letters to KTAC-FM and aired a contemporary format. In 1977, they changed their call letters to KBRD ("K-Bird FM 104"), switching to a beautiful music format, and upgraded to a stronger signal at 103.7 FM in 1981. At 2 p.m. on April 10, 1991, it flipped to its long running adult album alternative format as FM 104 The Mountain and the KMTT call letters. The first song on "The Mountain" was Rock Me on the Water by Jackson Browne. The former KBRD callsign is now on 680 AM in Olympia. The station did have some ratings issues for the first couple of years due to its transmitter location at the time located south of Tacoma; this was changed when the transmitter relocated to Tiger Mountain. The station, while it was never #1 in Arbitron ratings books, did very well with certain demographics. However, as time went on, the station suffered a decline in ratings, especially after the introduction of the Portable People Meter in the Seattle market in 2009. Towards the later years of its format, KMTT was usually in the 2-low 3 share range.
KMTT has been the home of several different morning shows. The Mountain was the home of John Fisher & Peyton Mays, Fisher & Gary Crow, Crow & Mike West, Fisher & West, and later, the Marty Riemer & Jodi Brothers morning show, until they were dismissed in September 2009, and were replaced by Sean Demery (formerly of 99X in Atlanta), until he was released in early 2011. In January 2011, Marty Reimer returned to the station to host afternoon drive.
In late 2011, DJ Shawn Stewart left the station, and the station would shift to a more classic rock format, but still retained AAA artists. Stewart is now the host of "It's Raining Cats & Dogs" on Bonneville-owned KIRO-FM. This was in response to low ratings.
In the Fall of 2012, KMTT shifted its format to "A Mountain of Classics," featuring adult rock hits from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, in hopes to better compete against classic rock-formatted KZOK. Reimer would leave the station again on December 20, 2012. Ultimately, this failed, and in its last book with this format (August 2013), KMTT held a 2.5 share of the market.
On August 30, 2013, at 1:50 p.m., after playing If You Leave by OMD, KMTT began stunting with a loop of It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M. until 3:00 p.m., when the station flipped to Rhythmic AC, branded as "Hot 103.7". The first song on "Hot" was Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. The Mountain and 103.7-HD2 were merged into one on the HD2 station, retaining the latter's AAA format. On September 11, 2013, KMTT changed its call letters to KHTP. Concurrently, the KMTT calls were moved to sister station KKSN in Portland. The station experienced immediate ratings success with this format; in its first full book with the format in October, the station jumped to a 4.8 share. Currently (January 2014), the station ranks at #16 (3.1 share), and 8th place in terms of total market cume (564,300).
On December 4, 2013, Entercom announced that "Candy & Potter", former morning show hosts at KBKS (then at WWQM-FM in Madison), will join the station for mornings beginning January 22, 2014 (they would be released in March 2015). Kristin the Island Girl, former midday personality on KBKS, began hosting middays at KHTP on that day as well. The station has since added Deanna Cruz for mornings, Tanch for afternoon drive and Suga Rae for evenings.
HD radio
KMTT launched HD Radio operations in 2006. 103.7-HD2 carried a blues format. In March 2012, 103.7-2 flipped to a format focusing on Mountain Music Discovery. This features music from Adult Album Alternative artists new and old, and plays exclusive live songs from The Mountain's Archives. The blues format moved to sister station 100.7-HD2.
In February 2013, the HD2 moniker was branded "The Original Mountain." As of August 30, 2013, with the change in format at the parent broadcast station, the HD2 channel was renamed "103.7 HD2 The Mountain Seattle," as the two formats from analog/HD1 and HD2 merged.
Live from the Mountain Music Lounge
As part of its "Mountain" format, the former KMTT hosted live musical performances in the Mountain Music Lounge, a small, intimate stage setting sponsored by the Carter Subaru car dealerships in the Shoreline and Ballard neighborhoods of Seattle. Artists typically played small sets of songs, all of which are recorded by the station. In 1995, KMTT published On the Mountain: Collector's Edition of Live Performances, a compilation of live tracks from artists including BoDeans, Shawn Colvin, and Big Head Todd and the Monsters that sold through local Seattle retailers. With the success of the first album, the station carried on an annual release of collections, eventually renaming the series Live from the Mountain Music Lounge with the ninth volume. Portions of the proceeds from sales of the various albums have been donated in support of The Wilderness Society.
KHTP-HD2 frequently plays recorded performances from The Mountain Archives, both those issued on the CDs and other songs from various sets, on its rebranded HD2 station, "The Mountain Seattle."