KKOR

From November 14, 2011 to July 1, 2016, the station broadcast a classic country music format branded as "KVAS 1230, The Spirit of the West". The station dropped its KKEE call sign to return to its original KVAS call sign on April 3, 2012.{{cite web |publisher=Arbitron |title=Station Information Profile |url=http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/station_information.htm |access-date=November 14, 2011}}

This station began broadcasting in 1950 as a daytime-only facility with 250 watts of power on a frequency of 1050 kHz as KVAS.{{cite book |year=1951 |title=Broadcasting-Telecasting 1951 Yearbook |chapter=Directory of AM, FM, and TV Stations of the United States |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc |location=Washington, DC |page=255}} The station's original license holder, Clatsop Video Broadcasters, was owned in partnership by Leroy E. "Ed" Parsons, E.W. Littlehales, and J.W. Spencer. A year earlier, Parsons had created the first cable television system in the United States and he is acknowledged as the "father of community antenna television".{{cite web |publisher=The Cable Center |title=Leroy E. "Ed" Parsons Collection |url=http://www.cablecenter.org/education/library/collectionDetail.cfm?id=91&type=media |access-date=April 28, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413105549/http://www.cablecenter.org/education/library/collectionDetail.cfm?id=91&type=media |archive-date=April 13, 2008 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |first=Bob |last=Sullivan |publisher=NBC News |title=Cable TV: King of misleading come-ons |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22399227 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128071233/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22399227 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 28, 2014 |date=January 28, 2008 |quote=Cable’s unceremonious invention is often credited to engineer Ed Parsons, who in 1948 rigged up a crafty community antenna and married it with long cables to bring television to his home in remote Astoria, Ore.}}

KVAS moved to the current 1230 kHz frequency in February 1952 and the shift permitted them to begin 24-hour operation at the 250 watt power level.{{cite book |title=1952 Broadcasting Yearbook |year=1952 |page=238 |chapter=Directory of the AM and FM stations of the United States |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc |location=Washington, DC}} The partners had the broadcast license transferred to a new company, KVAS, Inc., but it was unable to overcome the financial difficulties it faced.{{cite book |year=1953 |title=1953 Broadcasting Yearbook |chapter=Directory of the AM and FM stations of the United States |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc |location=Washington, DC |page=244}} The station was transferred to William Ohlmann acting as receiver for KVAS, Inc., and in January 1954, he sold it to owners on more solid financial footing.{{cite book |year=1954 |title=1954 Broadcasting Yearbook |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc |page=264 |chapter=Directory of the AM and FM stations of the United States |location=Washington, DC}}

Lower Columbia Broadcasting Company, Inc., took control of KVAS in January 1954.{{cite book |title=Broadcasting-Telecasting 1955 Yearbook-Marketbook Issue |chapter=Directory of AM and FM stations and Market Data of the United States |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc |location=Washington, DC |year=1955 |page=254}} The station began broadcasting a country & western music format. In 1963, the station was granted authorization to increase its daytime broadcast power to 1,000 watts while maintaining its 250 watt nighttime signal.{{cite book |title=1963 Broadcasting Yearbook |year=1963 |page=B-148 |chapter=Directory of AM and FM Radio stations in the U.S. |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc |location=Washington, DC}}

The company itself was purchased in a deal consummated in March 1974 with the presidency passing from William Tracy Moore to Charles A. Farmer.{{cite book |title=Broadcasting Yearbook 1974 |year=1974 |chapter=Directory of AM and FM Radio Stations in the United States and Canada |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc |location=Washington, DC |page=B-171}} Under Farmer's leadership, KVAS continued to play a mix of country & western and Top 40 music.{{cite book |title=Broadcasting Yearbook 1979 |year=1979 |page=C-179 |chapter=Directory of Radio Stations in the United States and Canada |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc |location=Washington, DC}}

In April 1981, the Lower Columbia Broadcasting Company, Inc., announced their intention to sell KVAS to Kay Broadcasting, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on June 29, 1981.{{cite web |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=29664 |publisher=FCC Media Bureau |title=Application Search Details (BAL-19810406GW) |date=June 29, 1981}} Nine years later, in April 1990, Kay Broadcasting, Inc., reached an agreement to sell KVAS back to Lower Columbia Broadcasting Company, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on June 11, 1990, and the transaction was consummated on July 1, 1990.{{cite web |publisher=FCC Media Bureau |title=Application Search Details (BAL-19900406EE) |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=147242 |date=July 1, 1990}}

Lower Columbia Broadcasting Company, Inc., announced in August 1997 that it had agreed to sell KVAS to Dolphin Radio, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on September 23, 1997, and the transaction was consummated on October 17, 1997.{{cite web |publisher=FCC Media Bureau |title=Application Search Details (BAL-19970808ED) |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=251925 |date=October 17, 1997}} Less than two years later, in June 1999, Dolphin Radio, Inc., notified the FCC that it had contracted to sell this station to New Northwest Broadcasters subsidiary New Northwest Broadcasters II, Inc., as part of a four-station deal valued at $1.5 million.{{cite news |first=Kristina |last=Brenneman |work=Portland Business Journal |title=1999: a year of musical chairs in broadcasting |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-27428189_ITM |date=January 7, 2000}} The deal was approved by the FCC on August 24, 1999, and the transaction was consummated on October 28, 1999.{{cite web |publisher=FCC Media Bureau |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=286391 |title=Application Search Details (BAL-19990621GG) |date=October 28, 1999}}

File:KKEE-AM logo.png

The station was assigned the KKEE call sign by the Federal Communications Commission on January 11, 2001.{{cite web |title=Call Sign History |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=38907&Callsign=KKEE |work=FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database |access-date=April 28, 2009}} This call sign had most recently resided on an FM sister station now known as KLMY (99.7 FM).{{cite news |first=Scott |last=Fybush |work=Tower Site of the Week |title=The Big Trip 2006, Part IV: The Northern Oregon Coast |url=http://www.fybush.com/sites/2007/site-070302.html |date=March 2, 2007}}

File:KKEE-AM sports radio logo.png

KKEE adopted a 24-hour sports talk radio format starting on Monday, May 23, 2004.{{cite news |first=Gary |last=Henley |work=The Daily Astorian |title=KKEE offers a radio fix for the sports fanatic |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ASOR&p_multi=ASDB&p_theme=asor&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=116211D8818DC038&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |date=April 29, 2004}} This change ended the decades-long run of the locally produced "Sunday Scandinavian Hour".{{cite news |first=Leanne |last=Josephson |work=The Daily Astorian |title=A change in the wind blows Scandinavian Hour off the air |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ASOR&p_multi=ASDB&p_theme=asor&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1162120BCFE9EDC8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |date=May 25, 2004}}

The station flipped from sports talk as an ESPN Radio affiliate to a liberal talk radio format, originally including select shows from Air America Radio, in October 2007.{{cite news |first=Joanne |last=Rideout |work=Coast River Business Journal |title=New Northwest Broadcasters adds liberal talk radio |url=http://www.crbizjournal.com/default.asp?com=pubsection&articleid=1020 |date=November 1, 2007}}{{cite web |work=Talking Radio |title=A Bad News Week for Lib Talk Ends with Some Good News |url=http://talkingradio.blogspot.com/2007/10/bad-news-week-for-lib-talk-ends-with.html |date=October 25, 2007}} After Air America folded, syndicated weekday talk programming included The Stephanie Miller Show, The Ed Schultz Show and The Thom Hartmann Program from Dial Global, The Dr. Dean Edell Radio Program and Coast to Coast AM from Premiere Radio Networks, plus The Alan Colmes Show from Fox News Radio.

In addition to its regularly scheduled news and talk programming, KKEE also aired local high school sports, Oregon State University Beavers football,{{cite web |publisher=BeaverFootball.com |title=2008 Oregon State Football Radio Network |url=http://oregonstate.scout.com/3/radio.html |access-date=April 28, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116142459/http://oregonstate.scout.com/3/radio.html |archive-date=January 16, 2009 |url-status=dead }} and National Basketball Association games as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers radio network.{{cite web |publisher=BLAZERS: The Official Site of the Portland Trail Blazers |title=List of Stations |url=http://www.nba.com/blazers/fans/list_of_stations.html |access-date=April 28, 2009}} In 2009, the station transitioned to a sports radio format.

On November 14, 2011, KKEE changed its format from sports to classic country music and announced that it would be changing the station's call sign back to KVAS.{{cite news |publisher=All Access Music Group |url=http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/98899/kkee-a-to-flip-to-classic-country-on-monday-and-sw |title=KKEE-A To Flip To Classic Country On Monday, And Switch Calls To KVAS|date=November 11, 2011 |access-date=2021-11-08}} KKEE changed its call sign back to KVAS on April 3, 2012.

On July 1, 2016, KVAS changed its call sign to KKOR and changed its format from classic country to classic hits, branded as "106.3 The Beach" (the FM frequency in the branding is for translator K292GZ 106.3 FM Astoria, Oregon).

On August 1, 2023, KKOR changed its format from classic hits to sports, branded as "ESPN 106.3" with programming from ESPN Radio.[https://radioinsight.com/headlines/256585/espn-106-3-arrives-in-astoria/ ESPN 106.3 Arrives in Astoria] Radioinsight - August 2, 2023

File:KVAS-AM 1230 2012 radio logo.jpg

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://ohanamediagroup.com/astoria.html Ohana Media Group - Astoria, Oregon]

{{AM station data|38907|KKOR}}

• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|139112|K292GZ}}
• {{FXL|K292GZ}}

{{Sports Radio Stations in Oregon}}

{{ESPN Oregon}}

KOR

Category:Radio stations established in 1950

Category:Sports radio stations in the United States

Category:Astoria, Oregon

Category:1950 establishments in Oregon

Category:ESPN Radio stations