KKOL

Infobox Radio Station
name = KKOL


city = Seattle, Washington
area = Seattle metropolitan area
branding = "News Talk 1300 KOL"
slogan = "Seattle's New Choice for News and Talk"
airdate = 1922
frequency = 1300 (kHz)
format = News/Talk
power = 50,000 Watts (day)
47,000 Watts (night)
erp = | class = B
owner = Salem Communications
licensee = Inspiration Media, Inc.
website = [http://www.1300kol.com 1300kol.com]
callsign_meaning =
sister_stations = KDOW, KGNW, KLFE

KKOL AM 1300 is a commercial radio station located in Seattle, Washington. KKOL airs news/talk programming branded as "News Talk 1300 KOL".

History

The original call letters were KOL (which were the letters used during its days as a top 40 station), which changed to KMPS (for "Kountry Music Puget Sound", featuring a country/western format), then later to KKOL. In the early 1960s KOL was owned by television producers and game show moguls Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. In the 60s and early 70s, KOL battled KJR as the Number 1 top 40 station in Seattle. Also, during its days as KMPS, it simulcasted KMPS 94.1 FM.

In 2002, due to losing its broadcast location, KOL installed a temporary 1000-watt transmitter on a moored boat and began to broadcast from a 175-foot/61-meter ship in one of the waterways in Seattle. This was the only floating radio station in the US. In 2007 the station has a new broadcast facility with a 50,000-watt transmitter and is dedicated to news/talk. [As found at the KKOL Website http://www.1300kol.com/1300kolhistory.html]

There has been a complaint from a nearby U.S. Oil petroleum facility about the station's new location however. It has determined, based on industry-published safety recommendations, that the station's signal strength exceeds safe limits at the loading docks, creating a potential source of ignition for the combustibles handled there. A spark caused by the flow of RF energy (a high-frequency alternating current) from the cranes (which act as antennas, exactly like the station's mast radiator) to other objects could trigger an explosion.

The U.S. Coast Guard has said that materials may not be handled with a signal strength of greater than 0.7 volts per square meter (700mV/m²), while the industry recommendation is 0.5V/m². U.S. Oil's request is for the station to introduce a null in the direction of the facility, however this is also the direction of downtown Seattle. For this, the station needs a waiver of the regulation which requires it to cover its city of license with a grade A "city-grade" signal.

The case is a rarity and is nearly unprecedented in broadcast engineering, though a similar situation regarding fuel occurred at KIQI AM. It is currently (as of November 2007) before the FCC. [ [http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0044/t.9542.html Big Oil: Primary Issue Is Public Safety, by Jim Dalke ] ]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.1300kol.com/ KKOL official website]
*AMQ|KKOL
*AML|KKOL