On January 18, 1950, KISW first signed on the air. The station's founder and first owner was Ellwood W. Lippincott, who programmed a classical music format. At first, the station was powered at 2,100 watts, a fraction of its current output. From 1954 to 1956, the station was managed by Harvey Manning. Owner Ellwood Lippencott, a resident of Centralia, Washington, worked as an electrical engineer for Weyerhaeuser. During the week, Lippincott's job required him to travel around the Pacific Northwest maintaining the company's radio equipment. Lippincott would spend his weekends managing the station. Under Lippincott's ownership, KISW operated out of a small studio on the northwest corner of NE 92nd Street and Roosevelt Way NE in North Seattle. The building was demolished and replaced with townhouses in 2007. In 1969, the station was purchased by Kaye-Smith, a partnership of famed entertainer Danny Kaye and businessman Lester Smith; at that time, Kaye-Smith were also the owners of the leading Top 40 station in Seattle, KJR, and also owned Kaye-Smith Studios in Seattle, where records by Heart, Steve Miller and Bachman–Turner Overdrive were recorded. With Pat O'Day, the firm owned Concerts West, a booking and promotion company that handled Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, The Eagles, Paul McCartney and others, and were original owners of the Seattle Mariners baseball team. With the purchase of KISW, Kaye-Smith decided to switch the station to a format more compatible with KJR. In 1971, KISW became a progressive rock station, similar to the sound pioneered by Tom Donahue at KMPX and KSAN in San Francisco. KOL-FM was also experimenting with free form rock at night. Over time, KISW moved to a more formatted album oriented rock sound, by playing the best selling albumsfrom the top rock acts. In 1982, Danny Kaye sold his interest in the company and the new corporation was called Alexander Broadcasting. In 1987, Nationwide Communications, a subsidiary of Nationwide Insurance, acquired KISW. In 1991, as an April Fool's Day prank, the radio station changed its format to soft rock for a day. The station was bought by Entercom Communications in 1996. In August 2000, the popular "Twisted Radio" morning show led by Bob Rivers left KISW after 11 years to join rival KZOK-FM. KISW began airing Howard Stern's nationally syndicated show in March 2001 as a replacement. At the end of 2005, Stern moved to Sirius Satellite Radio. On January 3, 2006, The BJ Shea Morning Experience replaced Howard Stern. Over the years the station has employed other popular personalities, including Gary Crow, Steve West, Robin and Maynard and Steve Slaton.
Programming
KISW personalities BJ Shea and Steve Migs host the morning drive show, The BJ Shea Morning Experience; local personalities Ryan Castle, Taryn Daly and Matt Koch host the midday, evening and overnight shifts, respectively. KISW is the originating station for The Mens Room in afternoon drive; hosted by Miles Montgomery, Steve Hill, Ted Smith, Mike Hawk and Robin Fox, the show entered syndication on June 5, 2017, and is distributed by Westwood One. The HD2 digital subchannel broadcasts an active rock format under the brand "The Metal Militia".
Awards
In 2007, the station was nominated for the Radio & Records magazineActive Rock station of the year award in a top 25 market; other nominees included WIYY in Baltimore, WAAF in Boston, KBPI in Denver, WRIF in Detroit, and WMMR in Philadelphia. KISW was also nominated for a RadioContraband Rock Radio Award for "Major Market Radio Station of the Year" in 2012. KISW was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in the "Heritage Rock Radio Stations-Still Rocking" in 2014. KISW won KING-TV's 2019 Best of Western Washington viewers choice poll in the Best Radio Station category.
