| City of license | Vancouver, Washington |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Portland, Oregon |
| Branding | 91-derful Kisn |
| Frequency | 910 kHz |
| First air date | 1939[1][2] |
| Format | Top 40 |
| Power | 5 kW |
| Callsign meaning | Kissin' |
| Former callsigns | KVAN (1939–1959) |
| Former frequencies | 880 kHz (1939-1941) |
| Owner | Don W. Burden (Star Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | KOIL, Omaha, WIFE, Indianapolis |
KISN was an AM radio station licensed for Vancouver, Washington but based in Portland, Oregon,[1] broadcasting on 910 kHz and licensed for 5,000 directional watts. During the 1960s and early 1970s, KISN was not only the number one rated rock station in the market (the station followed a Top 50 playlist),[3] but at times also rated as Portland's most popular radio station. Originally KVAN, it flipped format to Top 40 and became KISN from 1959 until 1976, when the FCC forced it to shut down.[4]
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KVAN came on the air in 1939 on 880 kHz and moved to 910 kHz in 1941, owned by Sheldon F. Sackett; by 1958 it was licensed for 1,000 watts[1][2] and was co-owned with KVAN-TV, a TV station under construction for channel 21.[5]
When KVAN was a country and western station in the early 1950s, Willie Nelson was one of the DJs. He financed his own first single, "No Place For Me"; the record was backed with "Lumberjack" written by Leon Payne, who was also a DJ. KVAN was sold by Sheldon F. Sackett to Don W. Burden, and control transferred to Burden's company, Star Broadcasting, Inc.[1]
KISN started broadcasting at 6 a.m. on May 1, 1959.[1] In the previous 24 hours before its incarnation, the station continuously played "Teenage Bill of Rights" by Robby John and the Seven-Teens, which featured the words "Should we start a revolution? (Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!)". The new station continued broadcasting from above a furniture store in Vancouver until its Kisn Corner studio at West Burnside and 10th Streets in Portland started service at 6 a.m. on November 28, 1959. Though the FCC continued to recognize the station as being located in Vancouver,[1][4] the original transmitter was actually located in North Portland at Smith Lake. It was later relocated to 4615 NE 158th Avenue east of the Portland Airport with wattage expanded to 5,000 directional watts.
Within one year after beginning operations, KISN was Portland's top rated station. During one rating book in 1963, the station held a whopping 86% of the audience.[4] Their promotions included a billboard at the airport exit proclaiming "While you've been away, we've been KISN your wife!"[6] Among the many station jingles used was "Yours truly KISN radio." Later jingles included "The Mighty 91", "Good Guy Territory", and the short-lived "Have a happy day!"[1]
KISN also offered Portland the unique KISN Carol Tree, whose red, blue, and green bulbs flashed to the music being played, and the KISN Aerocar, a unique combination car and plane used for traffic reports.
The station had numerous problems with the Federal Communications Commission over the years, including problems with city of license identification and the studio location, which was mostly caused by Burden's trying to associate KISN as more of a station connected to Portland rather than the city's neighbor across the Columbia River.[1] Kisn Corner was considered a remote studio. Overnight and weekend programming, plus some weekday newscasts, usually took place at the transmitter.[1]
In 1970, following a complaint from disgruntled former disc jockey Paul Oscar Anderson, the FCC refused to renew Star Broadcasting's broadcast licenses, citing political partisanship in the U.S. Senate campaign of Mark Hatfield on KISN. After deciding to issue the licenses again in 1973, the FCC refused renewal again in 1975.[1][4] The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case in May 1976, the FCC denied KISN's request to stay on the air, and the FCC was on hand to insure that KISN was taken off the air at the end of September 2, 1976, going so far as to require that the station broadcast their final program directly from the transmitter site.[1] Star stations in Omaha and Indianapolis also went off the air.
After evening air personality Dave "Records" Stone said "Good night from the KISN Good Guys", the station was not even allowed to complete its last song, the Supremes "Someday We'll Be Together", going silent at 12:01 AM PDT.[7]
Several well-known radio personalities passed through the KISN studios[1][8][9] including "The Real" Don Steele, who in 1964 ran a presidential campaign from Portland's Steel Bridge wearing an Uncle Sam costume, Tiger Tom Murphy, later known as The World Famous Tom Murphy, who usually handled evenings, Mike Phillips, who later programmed stations in Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, Ken Chase, who owned a nightclub called The Chase and was also the manager of its house band, The Kingsmen, Roger Hart, who managed Paul Revere and the Raiders, Australian-born Rod "Kangaroo" Muir, who did mornings and would later go on to help launch Australia's Triple M Network, Tom Michaels, long-time spokesman for Fred Meyer stores (son Jeff Michaels was also a disc jockey, who went on to anchor network news at ABC-TV in New York), Roger W. Morgan, Buddy Scott, newsman Whitey Coker, Bob Noonan, Uncle Don Wright, Dave "Records" Stone, a local boy influenced by Steele, and Pat Pattie, who save for a brief period in the early 70s was the all-night personality from 1962 to the end. All of his shows were broadcast from the transmitter.
In the Spring of 2009, surviving staff members celebrated 50 years since KISN first went on the air. Stone (AKA Dave Rogaway) continues to keep KISN and Portland history alive with his popular daily internet production called "The Stumptown Blogger. KISN is scheduled to return as an online radio station featuring an Oldies format on [[February 1, 2012].
The 910 kHz frequency at Vancouver, Washington was reused by another station (KKSN)[7] starting around August 1980; , identifying itself as KISN and playing an oldies format. That station has had various call signs, briefly regaining the KKSN moniker in 2005 before it became KTRO in 2007.
1550 kHz, also at Vancouver, Washington, carried the KVAN callsigns at least twice, from 1981 to 1989 and 1991 to 2003, and is now KKOV. 106.5 KLMI at Rock River, Wyoming was KVAN (FM) for a few months in 2005. Since 2006, KVAN has been 1560 kHz at Burbank, Washington. KVAN-FM has been using its callsign since 2007 for 92.1 MHz at Pilot Rock, Oregon.[10]
In 1988, KKSN-FM, 97.1 MHz at Portland, Oregon, started broadcasting golden oldies with the same "kissin'" pronunciation of the station name. Dave "Records" Stone, the last of the original KISN disc jockeys, broadcast a Saturday specialty oldies program that included air checks from the original station plus unlimited presentations of "forgotten 45s" by his friend and assistant, Dirty Dave the Record Slave. The FM station (now KYCH-FM) changed to an adult hits format in 2005. The oldies format would return to KKSN-AM until its final demise in 2007. The last moments of Stone's original 1976 farewell - "Good Night, from the KISN Good Guys!" - was used to close this station.[4]
The call letters KISN were later issued to two different stations (now known as KZHT and KNRS) in Salt Lake City, Utah, and then to the current KISN (FM) at Belgrade, Montana.[11][12][13]
--John Ross Hart 00:22, 29 December 2011 (UTC)
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