Early permit history
In 1981, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated four applications for comparative hearing, all seeking the channel 16 allocation at Everett, submitted by Oak Television of Everett; Unity Broadcasting Company of Washington State; Greater Everett Telecasters; and Channel 16, Inc.[1] The designation followed a year of applications. At one point, FNI Communications—a subsidiary of First Northwest Industries, owner of the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team—applied.[2] Channel 16, Inc., was part-owned by Jon Marple, owner of Everett radio station KRKO.[3][4] Unity, a group led by San Francisco oil marketer Carl Washington[5] and featuring almost entirely minority stockholders, was selected by administrative law judge Joseph Chachkin in November 1982 on account of its lack of other broadcast ownership and strongest integration of ownership and management.[6] As part of a settlement, Sam Schulman, by this time the former owner of the SuperSonics, owned shares in Unity.
Unity selected KONG as its proposed call sign. This triggered opposition from Seattle's KING-TV and its owner, King Broadcasting, which believed that the two stations could cause confusion; KONG hoped that the original 1933 film King Kong could be its first program[7] and planned to operate as an independent station with sports, movies, and reruns, from a main studio near Paine Field. Instead, KONG found itself delayed by a tower siting controversy. It applied to the FCC to build a 300 ft tower on Cougar Mountain, near Issaquah. The mast would be used by KRAB, which owned the land, and two other FM radio stations. Residents near the mountain protested, fearing that electromagnetic radiation could affect their health.[8][9] King County initially required a more in-depth environmental review[10] before the new tower received approval in April 1985.[11]
The originally planned KONG never materialized. Mike Henderson, a columnist for The Herald in Everett, attempted to reach the station in August 1988 and found its Seattle telephone number had been disconnected and its principals had vanished.[16] Carl Gipson, who had been involved with Unity, noted that the company had simply been overwhelmed by the cost of endless problems and court actions over the tower siting dispute; The Herald Allan May declared KONG "pretty well dead".[17] In 1989, a public auction was held for station equipment and supplies, which included a satellite dish and receiving equipment.[18] The permit was sold to Zeus Corporation of Washington, owned by Walter Ulloa and Paul Zevnik, for $300,000 (equivalent to $ in ).[19]
Absorption by KING-TV
In August 1996, KING reached an agreement to program KONG under a local marketing agreement, with an option to buy if the FCC permitted duopoly ownership.[20] It began broadcasting on July 7, 1997.[21] KONG's programming relied heavily on classic TV series of the 1950s through 1980s with a "campy", irreverent approach to presentation and imaging; a large KONG Gong was taken around the area as a promotional device, and people were encouraged to ring it on camera. Also present on the original schedule were programs from two cable services owned, like KING-TV, by the Belo Corporation: Northwest Cable News and Food Network.[22] Nancy Guppy, a cast member on KING-TV's comedy show Almost Live!, doubled as a host appearing between shows.[23] When the FCC permitted duopolies in November 1999, Belo bought KONG from Zeus.[24]
