KLCK-FM

KLCK-FM

City of license	Seattle, Washington
Broadcast area	Seattle metropolitan area
Branding	Click 98.9
Slogan	"Modern Music"
Frequency	98.9 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date	1948
Format	Modern rock/Hot AC
ERP	63,900 watts
HAAT	698 meters
Class	C
Facility ID	57843
Callsign meaning	CLiCK
Former callsigns	KMCS (1958-1960s) KBBX (1960s-1972) KEZX (1972-1995) KWJZ (1995-2011)
Owner	Sandusky Radio
Sister stations	KQMV, KRWM, KIXI, KKNW
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	click989.com

KLCK-FM (98.9 FM), known by the on-air moniker Click 98.9, is a modern rock/Hot AC radio station based in Seattle, Washington. The Sandusky outlet broadcasts at 98.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 63.9 kW. Its transmitter is located near Issaquah, Washington on Tiger Mountain.

History

KLCK-FM first went on the air in 1958 as KMCS. It was then locally owned by former Crown (later to be known as King Broadcasting Company) executives. Like most FM stations at the time, the format was "beautiful music/easy listening", which lasted until about 1980. Up until 1972, the station played LP's.

KMCS switched calls to KBBX in the 1960s. Then, with a major promotional thrust and with the TM syndicated "Music Only For A Woman" format in 1972, the call letters were changed to KEZX and 'Oceans of Beautiful Music'. Also from the late 1960s into the late 1980s, the sub-carrier 67 kHz SCA transmitted music and point of sale commercials to many of the retail outlets in the Puget Sound area.

The marketcasting portion was the reason that Roy Park, owner of Park Broadcasting purchased the station in late 1975.^{[citation needed]} Park at the time was one of the largest broadcast firms in the US. At first the station was locally programmed, but later changed to a syndicated service, only to revert to being locally programmed in 1980, when it flipped to a mix of AC, "West Coast" singer-songwriter pop music, AOR, and jazz music. This is considered to be an early version of what was to be known as adult album alternative. The station increased its power in the spring of 1977 from 35,000 watts to 100,000 watts. It remained as a AAA station until 1991, when it reverted to beautiful music, but flipped again in August 1993 to Smooth Jazz, which was starting to gain ground in many major US cities.

In 1995, they took the KWJZ calls to compliment its smooth jazz format, which had become a favorite among listeners.

With the celebration of the 15th anniversary of KWJZ's format in 2008, the station dropped the "Smooth Jazz" part of its branding and became known simply as 98.9 KWJZ. While smooth jazz still made up the majority of its programming, KWJZ incorporated some chill out music, such as that featured on the syndicated program Chill with Mindi Abair (which aired on Sunday nights on KWJZ), as part of a more broadly-defined "smooth music" format.

On December 27, 2010, at 3 PM, KWJZ changed their format to adult album alternative/modern AC as "Click 98.9". Click's first song was Animal by Neon Trees. Click's playlist consists of modern and classic alternative rock tracks, as well as indie rock, and select mainstream pop tracks. Click also airs "backsells" at the end of certain songs identifying the song title and artist. On March 15, 2011, KWJZ changed call letters to KLCK-FM to better reflect its brand name.

Following Mediabase's addition of the station on the alternative rock panel, the station switched to alternative rock in November 2011, though it still leans toward AAA. Unlike other alternative stations, Click also airs some dance music, such as Martin Solveig's "Hello" and Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger." In December, the station began to include some Hot AC material, such as Kelly Clarkson and Daughtry, but still retains its modern rock direction.

HD Radio

KLCK-FM HD1 carries the analog format ("Click 98.9") from the standard 98.9 FM frequency. 98.9 HD2 is currently silent, while 98.9 HD3 carries a simulcast of KKNW.

Trivia

Rumor had it that the station at one time was KOMO-FM, but actually the original KOMO-FM never went on the air - the Chief Engineer at KOMO was of the opinion that FM would never amount to much. It was KRSC-FM that went to the University of Washington and is now KUOW. That happened as a result of the purchase of KRSC-TV by KING Broadcasting Company about 1949. FCC regulations prevented KING Broadcasting Company from owning two stations in the same market (King Broadcasting already owned KING-FM), and so the license and equipment for KRSC-FM was donated to the University of Washington.

External links

• Click 98.9
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KLCK
• Radio-Locator information on KLCK
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for KLCK