KALE

KALE (960 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a sports radio format. Licensed to Richland, Washington, USA, the station serves the Tri-Cities, Washington area. The station is currently owned by New Northwest Broadcasters, LLC and features programing from CBS Radio, Jones Radio Network and Fox Sports Radio.^[1]

KALE began broadcasting in 1950 on AM 900 kHz and was initially owned by Yakima Broadcasting Corp. KALE had a Top-40 radio format until the early 80s when it switched to a more Adult Contemporary format. The station's first Program Director was Dave Dorris. He was also their first Chief Engineer. Disc Jockeys who worked at KALE include Chris Michaels, Chuck Bryson, Chris Bartells, Ric Hubbard, Bruce Butterfield, Gary Danielson, Tom Lacko, Dan Brown, Jim O'Brien, Tom Mann, Steve Lander, Ziggy Friedman, Dean LeMaster, Barry Michaels, Bob Taylor, Dave Conrad, Jonathan Walker, Sam Cassell, Dave Victor, Tim Edwards, Damon Lord, Mark West and Steve Thomas. News reporters include Mike Conklin, Kirk Williamson and Peter Nugent. Dave Dorris, Bill Glenn and Chuck Bryson were among the engineers employed at the station over the years.

In the 70s the station was owned by Sterling Recreation Organization (SRO) and later was owned by Revitalization Partners, LLC, before New Northwest Broadcasters purchased the station. In the first week of December, 2010, Townsquare Media announced it was acquiring 12 stations owned by New Northwest Broadcasters. Since they already owners of 11 stations in the Yakima and Tri-city areas they planned to spin off 11 stations once the sale closed. Townsquare was planning to move some formats to new frequencies and some call signs were expected to change as well but in July, 2011, the FCC stopped Townsquare Media's plan to buy 12 Tri-City and Yakima radio outlets from New Northwest Broadcasters. According to the July 30, 2011, Tri-City Herald, "An eight-page letter from the FCC to Townsquare released on the agency's website Friday said that proposed use of a divestiture trust was a substantial departure from the kinds of uses previously approved by the commission and dismissed five sets of applications that would have reassigned the radio station licenses." Refer to the complete atricle at www.tri-cityherald.com for additional information.

Undated information on the sale of KALE and it's sister stations: On November 6, 2011, the Tri-city Herald reported that a Fargo, N.D., radio owner is paying more than $6 million to purchase 12 stations in the Tri-Cities and Yakima currently owned by New Northwest Broadcasters. Ingstad Radio Washington agreed to purchase — at a discount — more than $16 million in debt owed by Seattle-based New Northwest Broadcasters from a creditor, CIT Group. The Tri-Cities stations included in the sale are: KUJ-FM, a Top-40 hits station; KIOK-FM, a country station; KEGX-FM, a classic rock station; KTCR-AM, talk radio; KKSR-FM, a variety hits station; and KALE-AM, a FOX Sports affiliate. The Yakima stations are: KXDD-FM, a country station; KRSE-FM, a variety hits station; KJOX-AM, an ESPN affiliate; KARY-FM, an oldies station; KBBO-AM, a news radio station and KHHK-FM, a contemporary hit music station. The discounted price for Ingstad is about $6.7 million for all 12 stations. More information on the sale can be found at the Tri-city Herald online at http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/11/05/1706589/new-owner-12-radio-stations-in.html

KALE's broadcast studios were initially at the transmitter site at Road 68 in Pasco, WA. The studios then moved to 218 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick, WA. In 1978 the studios moved again to 310 W. Kennewick Ave. when KALE's FM station, KIOK, FM 95.9, was licensed and began broadcasting. The site at 310 W. Kennewick Ave. was the former site of the historic Benton Theatre which, at the time of the move, was also owned by Sterling Recreation Organization. The station currently broadcasts from North Columbia Center Blvd. in Kennewick, WA.

Previous Logo

(KALE's logo under previous ESPN Radio affiliation)

References

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for KALE
• Radio-Locator Information on KALE
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for KALE