KVAN KVAN signed on in November 1939. It operated on 880 kHz and was built by
Sheldon F. Sackett, who promptly sold a majority share in the new outlet to its first manager, Walter L. Read. The station initially broadcast with 250 watts during the day only; it changed frequencies to 910 kHz in 1941 when
NARBA took effect. Read retired in 1940, and Sackett bought back the shares; the next year, KVAN was authorized for a power increase to 500 watts. Two years later, Sackett filed to move KVAN to 930 kHz and broadcast at night for the first time, but this was denied by the FCC. Instead, three years later, the commission allowed the station to broadcast with 1,000 watts day and night. The station stayed on the air during the 1948 flood of the
Columbia River by hoisting its transmitter to the ceiling. While KVAN's studios were in Vancouver, the transmitter had been moved to the Oregon side of the state line after going to 1,000 watts in 1947. For the station, that posed a regulatory problem. Despite being a Washington company running a station licensed to Washington, when the station took advertising from a Washington brewery, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission claimed jurisdiction over the station because the transmitter was in Oregon. At the time, state law did not allow liquor advertising before 10 p.m., and that prompted the station to lose the advertiser. By the early 1950s, KVAN aired a
country and western format;
Willie Nelson was one of the DJs. He financed his own first single, "
No Place for Me"; the record was backed with "Lumberjack" written by Leon Payne, who was also a DJ at the station. KVAN planned for a venture into television in the early 1950s. In 1952, it filed an application for the channel 21 allocation to Portland opposite the one made by Mt. Scott Telecasters, owners of
KGON (1520 AM). KVAN prevailed, and though Sackett predicted that KVAN-TV would go on the air January 15, 1954, it did not. In 1955, Sackett announced he would open a new tabloid newspaper in Portland to complement KVAN-AM-TV; by this point, the station was allowed to originate 51 percent of its programming from its Portland transmitter. The tabloid did not materialize, either; by late 1956, KVAN was engaged in a fight to move the channel 2 allocation from Portland across the Columbia River in an attempt to move from UHF to VHF.
Sale to Star Stations In 1959, Sackett sold KVAN to the
Star Stations, which was headed by Don W. Burden and owned stations in
Omaha,
Denver and
Pocatello, Idaho, for $580,000. For Sackett, the sale of KVAN was about focusing on the newspaper business; at the same time, he sold another holding,
KROW in
Oakland, California, to
Gordon McLendon. Burden wasted no time changing everything at KVAN. After stunting with a 24-hour loop of "Teenage Bill of Rights" by Robby John and the Seven-Teens, which listed as "terrible music", and asked listeners in the listening area, "Do you want a revolution?", KVAN became a "new" Top 40 station, with its call-letters changed to KISN on May 1, 1959, with a $40,000 promotion blitz and plans to move the entire studio setup to Portland. Later during that year, the "KISN Corner" opened at 10th and West Burnside streets, featuring a street-level studio where passersby could look in. KISN was Portland's first Top 40 station, and it was an immediate success, finishing first in the ratings in 1960. During one rating book in 1963, the station held 86 percent of the audience. Three years later, the commission ordered the station to cease and desist from linking itself to Portland on its air and fined the station $20,000. In January 1966, KISN was allowed to increase power to 5,000 watts and relocate its transmitter site to 4615 NE 158th Avenue, east of the
Portland International Airport with power increased to 5,000 directional watts. Star also filed that year for an FM station on 103.3 FM in Portland. Several stars passed through KISN in its Top 40 years, including "The Real"
Don Steele, who came to KISN from KOIL.
Renewal fight and closure While KISN had problems with its station identification, they were of lesser magnitude than the problems that had led to WIFE in Indianapolis being granted a series of short-term renewals, the last being a six-month probationary renewal in 1969. On December 2, 1970, after a nine-month internal review, the FCC put all five Star Stations' license renewals up for hearing in a consolidated proceeding with an application to start a new station on WIFE's frequency. The commission would cover 22 issues in the hearing, including charges of illegal gifts of air time and coverage to Senator
Vance Hartke of Indiana during his 1964 reelection campaign and a contribution to Senator
Mark Hatfield of Oregon in 1966 and directed the Star stations in those markets to promote those candidates. One issue struck at the heart of political corruption: according to the order, on the day in 1966 that county commissioners in
Multnomah County, Oregon, overrode the planning commission to approve a new KISN transmitter site, Burden asked an employee to send him $10,000, in $100 bills, for the purpose of contributing to the commissioners that had supported the measure. Rounding out the order were additional questions over harassment of former employees, supervision of on-air contests, and lack of candor with the FCC. After multiple years of conflicting rulings, on January 31, 1975, the FCC voted 5–1 against the Star Stations on all counts, denying all five license renewals. Burden's appeals to federal court were rejected, and the FCC ordered all Star Stations to cease broadcasting on September 2. After evening air personality Dave "Records" Stone said "Good night from the KISN Good Guys", the station was not even allowed to complete its last song, The
Supremes' "
Someday We'll Be Together", ending up going silent at 12:01 a.m. KISN was the primary station of the
Emergency Broadcast System in Southwest Washington. ==910 kHz after KISN==