KKOL (AM)

[5] At this time there was only a single wavelength, 360 meters (833 kHz) available for "entertainment" broadcasts, so KDZE was required to make a time-sharing agreement with the other stations already in operation.

On June 23, Seattle stations were scheduled to operate from noon to 10:30 pm, with KDZE assigned the 3:30 to 4:15 p.m time period.

[6] In May 1923, the U.S. Commerce Department, which regulated radio at this time, made a range of frequencies available to "Class B" stations that had higher powers and better programming.

[9] At this time the department store was issued a license to operate a second radio station, with 100 watts on 1110 kHz, which inherited the original KDZE call letters.

[13] The next month the station was sold to the Seattle Broadcasting Company, headed by Archie Taft, with the call letters changing to KOL.

[16] In 1934 the station abandoned the T-wire antenna on the Rhodes Department Store building's roof, moving to a new transmitter site on Harbor Island, which featured a 490-foot (150 m) self-supporting tower, which at the time was the tallest of its type in the United States.

[19] In 1962, the Taft interests sold KOL to television producers and game show moguls Mark Goodson and Bill Todman.

[25] From 1965 to 1975, KOL, favoring more progressive rock programming, battled KJR as the number-one popular music station in Seattle.

There was concern that its proximity to the refinery produced electrical fields that exceeded safe limits at the loading docks, creating a potential source of ignition for the combustibles handled there.

In particular, there was concern that a spark caused by the flow of radio frequency (RF) energy (a high-frequency alternating current) within cranes, acting as receiving antennas, could trigger an explosion.

)[36] U.S. Coast Guard standards specified 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.

However this was in the direction of downtown Seattle, which would necessitate a waiver of the regulation which requires radio stations to cover their community of license with a grade A "city-grade" signal.