KJET 1600 AM Seattle

On Memorial Day 1982, Seattle woke up to a pretty AWESOME new radio station. At Midnight, May 30, 1982, KZOK-AM, a ’70s pop station called “Solid Gold 16” dropped its tired format and became KJET 1600. They signed on the air for the very first time with “I Love Rock N’ Roll” Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. And yes, this was on the AM radio band. The one your wingnut, Thanksgiving-wrecking uncle gets off on these days.

Actually, the correct frequency of KJET was 1590 kHz on the AM band and not 1600, but this was back in the days when digital tuning radios were brand new, very rare and VERY expensive. So most radio stations at that time identified with the next closest number on the analog dial—preferably one that was actually visible on an analog tuning radio dial, such as 1600 in KJET’s case. For example, a station on 106.9 MHz would call its frequency “FM 107” or a station on 92.5, just “92”, “92 FM”, etc… read more >