KJAQ (96.5 FM) is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington. KJAQ airs an adult hits music format branded as "Jack FM". It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are in the Belltown neighborhood northwest of Downtown Seattle. The station's transmitter is on Tiger Mountain in Issaquah. KJAQ broadcasts in the HD Radio format. The HD-2 subchannel carries an alternative rock format and HD-3 simulcasts conservative talk KPTR, also owned by iHeart.
History
Classical (1959-1973) The station signed on the air in 1959 as KLSN. It was a classical music station broadcasting from the University Village Shopping Center, owned by a company called "Sight and Sound."
R&B (1973-1977) In 1973, the station was acquired by Carl-Del, Inc., which also owned KYAC (1460 AM, now KARR), with the FM flipping to a simulcast of the AM station's R&B format, and changed call letters to KYAC-FM. The stations used the slogan "The Soul of the Sound," referring to Puget Sound.
Top 40 (1977-1982) In February 1977, after O'Day Broadcasting bought the station, the call letters switched to KYYX. It carried a Top 40 format.
New wave (1982-1984) In late 1982, the station shifted to New Wave music. The station was called "96.5 The Wave" and featured radio personalities Mike "Beaver" Bell, Damien, Stephen Rabow, John Langan, and Van Johnson. The station's moniker was "The Rock of The 80s."
In December 1983, Madison Park Broadcasting acquired KYYX.
Soft adult contemporary (1984-1985) On March 26, 1984, Madison Park announced that the station would change formats within a few months because of poor ratings and revenue. On May 13, after playing "Radio, Radio" by Elvis Costello, the station began stunting with station identifications and two customized songs based on "KYYX" for 5 minutes; the station would then flip to soft adult contemporary as KKMI.
Adult alternative (1985-1987) In December 1985, Madison Park sold the station to Behan, who shifted the format to "Quality Rock KQ-96", KQKT, in May 1986. Shamrock Broadcasting bought the station in the Fall of 1986.
Album Rock (1987-1994) On January 5, 1987, 96.5 flipped to KXRX, a personality-driven album rock station featuring Robin & Maynard in mornings, Larry Snyder middays, Crow & West afternoons, Beau Roberts evenings, and Scott Vanderpool overnights.
On April 8, 1994, the station was the first to report that a body had been found in the home of Kurt Cobain. The body would turn out to be Cobain's. An electrician working at the home found the body and called the station with the tip, hoping to win Pink Floyd concert tickets in exchange for the information.
Alliance Broadcasting bought the station from Shamrock in May 1994.
Country (1994-1999) On June 25, KXRX began stunting with comedy routines. On June 29, at 5:30 p.m., the station began a robotic countdown that started at 40,000 and ended at 1. However, instead of ending the countdown at 1, it counted up to 40,000, then back to 1. On July 1, at 3 p.m., Alliance flipped the station to a country music format as "Young Country 96.5" with the call letters KYCW-FM. It was the third FM country station in the Seattle radio market, competing against KMPS-FM and KCIN.
Alliance merged with Infinity Broadcasting in September 1995. Shortly afterwards, Infinity sold KYCW to EZ Communications in February 1996, with KYCW joining KMPS and KCIN under common ownership. That prompted EZ to flip KCIN to Rhythmic AC the following month. EZ Communications was bought out by American Radio Systems in July 1997. Westinghouse/CBS bought American Radio Systems' stations (including KYCW) on September 19, 1997. In June 1998, CBS split off the radio division under the revived Infinity name, which would be renamed CBS Radio in December 2005.
'80s hits (1999-2003) On December 17, 1999, Infinity flipped KYCW-FM to all-80s hits, branded as "96-5 The Point", and changed call letters to KYPT. “The Point” saw some initial success, but then declined in the ratings. In 2001, much of the on-air staff was fired, leading to rumors of a format change to adult contemporary. However, the station continued with its all-80's format and brought in a new air staff. Despite the changes, ratings continued to slip.