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KPTK is a liberal-oriented radio station based in Seattle, Washington, broadcasting at 1090 kHz. Billing itself "Seattle's Progressive Talk," KPTK is an affiliate of the Air America Radio network, and also broadcasts syndicated progressive/liberal talk programs hosted by personalities such as Ed Schultz, Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes and Stephanie Miller. The station is owned by CBS Radio. It began broadcasting as KPTK, and as an Air America Radio affiliate, on October 28, 2004.[1]
Since spring 2005, when KPTK received a 1.4 market share on the Arbitron scale, its ratings have doubled to 2.8 in winter 2006 in the Seattle-Tacoma market.[2]
[edit] History
For several decades the 1090 kHz frequency in Seattle was home to KING-AM, founded in the late 1940s by broadcasting pioneer Dorothy Stimson Bullitt, which itself focused on left-leaning political talk during the final years as KING. During the 1970s, the station was known as 11/KING and was in a heated Top-40 music battle with KJR. When KJR unveiled its "Sunshine" window sticker, KING followed with its own red "Sunburst" sticker. The line-up at included such Seattle radio personalities as Gary Lockwood (who later defected to KJR) and Bruce Murdock, with the "Murdock in the Morning" show. As AM music radio lost young listeners to FM, KING eventually gave up on Top-40 (around 1980) and moved to a softer Adult Contemporary approach, described in its slogan as "Soft Rock and More." This format was parodied on one April Fool's Day by rock station KISW.
On October 4, 1982 [3] KING adopted a talk format, primarily with local personalities, including Jim Altoff, Mike Siegel and Pat Cashman. Following a complicated series of transactions between 1994 and 1996 that involved several Seattle-area radio stations changing owners, formats, call letters, and even frequencies, the 1090 frequency was acquired by Infinity Broadcasting (later called CBS Radio), which used it to simulcast several different Infinity-owned FM stations at different times before changing the station's call letters to KPTK and returning liberal talk radio to the Puget Sound airwaves in 2004.
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