In December 1964, the stationsigned on as KTW-FM. It was owned by David Segal, who called his format "The Wonderful Sound of Seattle." At first, it mostly simulcast co-owned AM 1250 KTW. The station's formats in its early years included Top 40 for nine months, then a country music format called "The Nashville Sound." KTW-FM, along with KTW, was acquired by Norwood and Dawn Patterson of Central California. Nordawn, Inc. switched the stations to a "paid religion" format. In 1970, the stations were put into court-ordered receivership, administered by attorney Walter Webster, Jr. Norwood J. Patterson was sentenced to two years in federal prison for failure to pay the government employee withholding taxes. He also sabotaged both AM and FM transmitters the afternoon that the stations were placed in receivership by driving to the West Seattle transmitter site and pulling the "finals." He failed to check the engineering locker where spares were located. In 1974, KTW-FM stopped simulcasting the AM station and changed to progressive rock, while also changing call letters to KZOK-FM. The FM station was sold to the Sterling Recreation Organization with AM 1250 sold off to Don Dudley, owner of KYAC. SRO would then pair KZOK with AM 1590KUUU, which aired an oldies format. In August 1975, KZOK moved from its free-form progressive sound to a more mass-appeal and better-researched AOR format. With the success of KZOK's rock sound on FM, in 1982, the AM station switched to a different rock format, modern rock, allowing KZOK's advertisers to have two choices for their commercials aimed at Seattle's rock audience. The AM station was renamed KJET.
Move to Classic Rock
In 1985, KZOK tried moving to a more adult soft rock/adult album alternative sound, but with a dip in the ratings, the station shifted to classic rock in October of the following year. Adams Communications bought the stations in 1989. Adams would rename the AM station KZOK, subscribing to the satellite-delivered syndicated "Z Rock Network." In November 1992, Adams Communications filed for bankruptcy, selling KZOK-AM-FM to CLG Media, a subsidiary of the Chrysler Capital Corporation. In July 1994, CLG Media sold KZOK-FM to EZ Communications, while KZOK-AM was sold to Salem Communications to carry its religious programming as KPOZ. In July 1997, EZ was bought out by American Radio Systems. ARS merged with Infinity Broadcasting in September of that year. Infinity would be renamed CBS Radio in December 2005. In 2011, KZOK-FM hired actor and radio personality Danny Bonaduce to host its morning show. Bonaduce had been a child actor, seen in the classic TV sitcomThe Partridge Family in the 1970s.
Sale to iHeartMedia
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom. On October 10, CBS announced that as part of the process of obtaining regulatory approval of the merger, KZOK would be one of sixteen stations that would be divested by Entercom, along with sister stationsKJAQ and KFNQ. On November 1, 2017, iHeartMedia announced that it will acquire KZOK-FM, KJAQ and KFNQ. To meet ownership limits set by the FCC, KFNY and KTDD were divested to the Ocean Stations Trust in order to be sold to a different owner. Until the completion of the divestment of KFNY and KTDD to the trust, CBS placed KZOK, KJAQ and KFNQ into the Entercom Divestiture Trust. The merger of CBS and Entercom was approved on November 9, and was consummated on November 17. The sale of KZOK to iHeart was completed on December 19, 2017.
