SUMMARY

The Spokane Chronicle applied for a license to operate a broadcast station in early 1922 and on 12 April 1922, the Department of Commerce issued one. The operator named in the license records was R. T. Carr. It is interesting to note that R. T. Carr was the applicant of record when KFZ moved to downtown Spokane in May 1923.

(NOTE: The Spokane Daily Chronicle and the Spokesman-Review newspapers were owned by the Cowles family and before 1921 both operated out of the same building, known as the Review Building. In 1921, the Chronicle moved to its own building just to the south in the same block as the Review Building. That is how the Chronicle had access to the Review Building Tower, an obvious place for its antenna and transmitter.)

The station was given permission to operate on 833 kHz to broadcast "entertainment and like matter." KOE's second license was deleted on 7 October 1922. The licenses state that the station was located at Riverside and Monroe, which is where the Review Building is located.

According to KOE's Applicant's Description of Apparatus and the Schedule of Station and Apparatus dated 12 April 1922, KOE's transmitter was a 10-watt composite vacuum tube transmitter. The antenna was an inverted "L." For the aerial, four 125-foot long strands of #14 solid wire spaced 3.5 feet apart were to be stretched between two masts. One "mast" was decribed as a tower. Although it can not be confirmed, it is assumed that this "mast" was the tower on the Review building. The other mast was said to be made of "iron pipe. A 75-foot long lead-in was to be employed making the total length of the antenna measured from the transmitter 200 feet. In the first license, the counterpoise was said to be a direct connection to the city water mains. In the second license, the counterpoise was described as four wires directly under the aerial.


Compiled and Edited by Bill Harms - updated on 30 June 2009


SOURCES:

  1. Applicant's Description of Apparatus and the Schedule of Station and Apparatus for KOE. Radio Service, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Washington, DC. 12 April 1922. Copied at the National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  2. Applicant's Description of Apparatus and the Schedule of Station and Apparatus for KOE. Radio Service, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Washington, DC. 7 July 1922. Copied at the National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  3. License for Land Radio Station for KOE. Radio Service, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Washington, DC. 12 April 1922. Copied at the National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  4. License for Land Radio Station for KOE. Radio Service, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Washington, DC. 7 July 1922. Copied at the National Archives. College Park, Maryland.
  5. Commercial and Government Radio Stations, 30 June 1922, Pages 73-78 Department of Commerce, Washington, DC
  6. Radio Service Bulletin, 1 May 1922, #61, Pages 19-22 Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.

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