Radio Station KFZ in Downtown Spokane


In early 1923, The Doerr Mitchell Electric Company and the Pacific Telegraph Institute jointly applied for a license to operate KFZ on 1060 kHz. The Department of Commerce (DOC) granted them a license on 18 May 1923 and a license renewal on 30 Aug 1923. According to the license, they moved the station from the South Hill to Spokane's Downtown at 119 North Post Street sometime before 18 May 1923. This location was on the opposite side of the block from Doerr-Electric at 118 North Lincoln Street. The DOC deleted the station's license on 8 September 1923. The applicant was R. T. Carr. (For more information about the South Hill site, click here.)

The station's transmitter was said to be composite vacuum tube radiotelephone set. The antenna was an inverted "L" type and consisted of six 120-foot long strands of #14 copper wire stretched between two "iron" masts. The antenna was described as 100 feet above the ground. The lead-in was 40 feet long. The counterpoise was made of six wires of unspecified length.

There is no collaborating evidence of KFZ broadcasting from this site.

The Pacific Telegraph Institute was a local school that taught telegraphy and sold radio parts. According to Roger V. Williams of Worley, Idaho on 10 March 1980, they were a prime source of radio parts, so it is interesting that they would jointly operate a station with Doerr-Mitchell, which also sold radio parts, to operate a station.

Click here for historical accounts of KFZ.


compiled and written by Bill Harms - updated 25 July 2007


SOURCES:

  1. KFZ Applicant's Description of Apparatus. Department of Commerce application filled out by R. T. Carr, Spokane, Washington, about May 1923. Reproduced at National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  2. KFZ Applicant's Description of Apparatus. Department of Commerce application filled out by R. T. Carr, Spokane, Washington, about August 1923. Reproduced at National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  3. KFZ License for Land Station. Radio Service, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Washington, DC. 18 May 1923. Reproduced at National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  4. KFZ License for Land Station. Radio Service, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Washington, DC. 30 August 1923. Reproduced at National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  5. KFZ Schedule of Station and Apparatus. Radio Service, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Washington, DC. 18 May 1923. Reproduced at National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  6. KFZ Schedule of Station and Apparatus. Radio Service, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Washington, DC. 30 August 1923. Reproduced at National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  7. Williams, Roger V. Worley, Idaho. Letter to Thorwald Jorgensen dated 10 March 1980. For the Early Days of Spokane Radio.

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