City Everett, Washington Translator(s) 95.3 K237GN (Everett) | Branding Fox Sports Radio 1380 First air date August 17, 1922 | |
Broadcast area Seattle metropolitan area Frequency 1380 kHz (also on HD Radio) | ||
KRKO (1380 AM, "Fox Sports Radio 1380") is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Everett, Washington. The station broadcasts an All Sports format to the Seattle metropolitan area. The station, established in 1922, is currently operated by S-R Broadcasting Co., Inc., a locally owned company. KRKO operates on a Regional broadcast frequency.
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History
KRKO was the fifth radio station in Washington to receive a license from the Department of Commerce. The original license hangs on the wall in the station and is dated August 17, 1922. The Department of Commerce issued call sign KFBL to the radio station at the time. The license makes KRKO one of the oldest licensed radio stations in America. Otto and Robert Leese started the radio station in the second floor of their auto repair shop on 28th and Rucker in downtown Everett.
The station has been locally operated since it was licensed in 1922. The Leese brothers transferred control of the station to their engineer, Lee Mudgett, in the 1930s, and Mudgett later transferred control to the Taft family in the late 1930s, whereupon the station remained under Taft family ownership until the late 1970s. The Taft's Washington, D.C. attorney, John Marple, operated KRKO with some investors for a few years, then in the early 1980s, an Everett area investment group led by local beer distributor, Niles Fowler, acquired control of the station. Control of KRKO was transferred back to a member of the Taft family following a sale of the station in the mid-1980s, but in 1987, new local investors Art Skotdal and Roy Robinson purchased the KRKO assets and the Skotdal family continues to operate KRKO today.
On September 4, 2009, two of the station's four radio towers were toppled by vandals. A sign left at the scene said the eco-terrorist group Earth Liberation Front was responsible. The station transferred its radio transmission to a backup site and remained on the air at reduced power. KRKO operated from the damaged site at full daytime power and reduced nighttime power until both of the destroyed towers were fully replaced on August 16, 2010.
On October 4 and 5, 2014, KRKO was the only radio station in North America broadcasting a 100% digital signal during historic tests for NAB Labs, a division of the National Association of Broadcasters. KRKO suspended analog transmissions for eight hours on Saturday and four hours on Sunday for daytime and nighttime tests, respectively. KRKO was the fourth commercial AM station in North America to test all-digital daytime transmissions. KRKO currently broadcasts using HD Radio technology alongside its analog signal.
KRKO began its current sports talk format in 2000.
Format
KRKO is an affiliate of the Fox Sports Radio Network and broadcasts a sports-talk format. Live play-by-play affiliations include NASCAR (MRN Radio and PRN Radio), NHL Vancouver Canucks, Everett AquaSox baseball (Seattle Mariners affiliate), and Everett Silvertips hockey. Hosts include Andy Furman, Artrell Hawkins, Dan Patrick, Rich Eisen, Jay Mohr, JT The Brick, Tomm Looney, Jeff Aaron, and Ben Maller.