Seattle Radio

Seattle’s first radio broadcast aired in 1919, and over the next 90 years, the city drew national attention for its collection of flamboyant and sometimes quirky broadcast impresarios and performers. The parade of people that passed in front of and behind the Puget Sound microphones included a big-time bootlegger and his wife, two embezzling bank managers, a political campaign manager, and a lumber mill baron’s daughter. Two local radio men started with practically nothing and built their own successful Northwest station groups. An underpaid novice Seattle radio announcer went on to become the dean of the country’s television newscasters. A 1950s disc jockey used acrobatic publicity stunts to draw an audience for his station. A guitar-strumming radio singer capitalized on his fame to build a chain of restaurants. And the founder of a Seattle free form FM radio station went on to build a network of community FM stations around the country, making him The Johnny Appleseed of Community Radio.