KVI

KVI

Seattle, Washington
Broadcast area	Seattle-Tacoma Metropolitan Area
Frequency	570 kHz
Branding	Talk Radio 570 KVI
Programming
Format	Conservative talk radio
Affiliations	24/7 News Compass Media Networks Radio America Westwood One
Ownership
Owner	Lotus Communications (Lotus Seattle Corp.)
Sister stations	KNWN, KNWN-FM, KPLZ-FM
History
First air date	February 13, 1927; 98 years ago (1927-02-13)
Former frequencies	875 kHz (1927) 870 kHz (1927) 1280 kHz (1927) 1060 kHz (1928) 760 kHz (1929–1932)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	35853
Class	B
Power	5,000 watts unlimited
Transmitter coordinates	47°25′19″N 122°25′44″W / 47.42194°N 122.42889°W / 47.42194; -122.42889
Repeater	101.5 KPLZ-FM-HD3 (Seattle)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live
Website	kvi.com

KVI (570 AM) is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington, known as "News Talk 570 KVI". Owned by Lotus Communications, it airs a conservative talk radio format. The studios and offices are located with former sister station KOMO-TV at KOMO Plaza (formerly Fisher Plaza) in Seattle. KVI transmits a power of 5,000 watts, using a non-directional antenna, giving it a signal that extends from the U.S.-Canada border to Olympia. Its transmitter site is on Vashon Island, located roughly halfway between Seattle and Tacoma.^[2]

Most hours begin with an update from iHeartMedia's 24/7 News. On weekdays, KVI airs both local and nationally syndicated shows. Local hosts include John Carlson (Commute with Carlson) and Ari Hoffman. National programs include Markley, VanCamp and Robbins (whose show is syndicated from WMBD in Peoria), The Dana Loesch Show and Red Eye Radio. Two versions of "The Lars Larson Show" are heard, one for the Northwest at noon and a national show at 2 a.m. Weekends feature shows on money, health and cars, some of which are paid brokered programming. Syndicated weekend shows include Sunday Night Live with Bill Cunningham and Somewhere in Time with Art Bell.

KVI was first licensed on November 24, 1926, to the Puget Sound Radio Broadcasting Company, located in Tacoma. It made its debut broadcast from the First Presbyterian Church on the evening of February 13, 1927. The station began operating during a period when the U.S. had temporarily lost the ability to assign frequencies and powers, and it was initially reported to be transmitting on a wavelength of 342.5 meters (875 kHz).^[3]

After the formation of the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) in March 1927, the station was assigned to 870 kHz, which was soon changed to 1280 kHz, with a later shift to 1060 kHz. With the November 11, 1928 implementation of the FRC's General Order 40, the station was initially assigned to 1340 kHz, which was changed to limited hours on 760 kHz, with the restriction that it was not allowed to broadcast during nighttime hours when co-channel WJZ in New York City was on the air. By September 1932, it was moved to its current assignment of 570 kHz.^[4] It transmitted with 1,000 watts. During the "Golden Age of Radio", KVI was a network affiliate of CBS, carrying its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, game shows, soap operas and big band broadcasts. It also carried programs from the Don Lee Network.

In 1949, KVI relocated its main studio into the Camlin Hotel in Downtown Seattle. KVI got a boost to 5,000 watts, transmitting from a single tower on Vashon Island.^[6] After its move to Seattle, it shifted its network affiliatiom to the Mutual Broadcasting System, because KIRO was already Seattle's CBS affiliate.^[7]

In 1959, Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters added KVI to its portfolio.^[8] KVI switched to an adult contemporary format in 1964. By 1973, KVI had evolved into a full service, middle of the road (MOR) direction. It was during this period that it became established as a dominant player in the market. KVI was the flagship station for the ill-fated Seattle Pilots baseball team in their only season of play in 1969. It later became the radio home for the successful Seattle Mariners, from their inaugural season of 1977 until 1984. KVI was also the original home of the Seattle Sounders (NASL) from their inaugural season in 1974 until 1976, and was the westside flagship station of the Washington State University Cougars from 1972 until 1979 and again from 1983 until 1987.^[9]

In 1976, KVI acquired an FM radio station, KETO on 101.5 MHz.^[10] Under Golden West, the new KVI-FM became a successful Adult Top 40 station, now known as KPLZ-FM. With the beginning of the 1980s, music listening on AM radio was shifting to FM and KVI added several talk shows.^[11]

On July 23, 1984, KVI switched to oldies.^[12][13] That direction would last less than a decade, and by 1992, KVI had a fulltime talk radio format. At first, the station used the slogan "the balanced alternative" with a line up alternating liberal and conservative talk hosts, but by 1993, KVI dropped all its liberal hosts except Mike Siegel. Siegel, formerly a liberal, swung right in his views during this period and remained on the station. The other slots were filled by a line up of both local and nationally syndicated conservatives. By May 1994, the year KVI and KPLZ were sold to Fisher Communications, KVI had an almost entirely conservative-talk format.^[14]

KVI returned to a full service format at 4 p.m. on November 7, 2010, with a mix of oldies and recent hits, news and traffic updates.^[15][16][17]

Due to the failure of the format, which only garnered an average of a 0.5 share of the market, KVI began stunting with Christmas music on Thanksgiving Day, 2011. On January 3, 2012, the station flipped back to talk, this time as "Smart Talk," with an emphasis on entertainment reports, lifestyle and health info, and local news. Programs included "Sunrise Seattle", a Good Morning America-type program hosted by Mark Christopher and Elisa Jaffe, Don Imus, Clark Howard, Phil Hendrie, "The Buzz" with Scott Carty, the "Daily Wrap from the Wall Street Journal" with Michael Castner, ConsumerMan with Herb Weisbaum, as well as paid brokered programming on weekends.^[18][19] After only nine months, the "Smart Talk" format was dropped on September 4, 2012 in favor of a return to conservative talk.^[20][21]

On April 11, 2013, Fisher announced that it would sell its properties, including KVI and KOMO-TV, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.^[22] The price for all the stations was $373.3 million.^[23] Although nearly all of Sinclair's broadcast properties are television stations, the company initially retained KVI, KPLZ-FM, KOMO and KOMO-FM.^[24] The deal was completed on August 8, 2013.^[25]

On June 3, 2021, Sinclair announced they would sell KVI, KPLZ and KOMO-AM-FM to Lotus Communications for $18 million. Sinclair retained KOMO-TV.^[26] The sale was completed on September 28, 2021.^[27]

• FCC History Cards for KVI (covering 1927-1980)
• Official website
• Facility details for Facility ID 35853 (KVI) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• KVI in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• "The History of KVI, Tacoma/Seattle" by John F. Schneider, 2023