View source for KBUP

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name             = KBUP
| logo             =
| city             = [[Olympia, Washington]]
| area             = 
| branding         = ''Sacred Heart Radio''
| frequency        = 1240 [[kilohertz|kHz]]
| translator       = 104.7 K284CG (Olympia)
| repeater         = 
| airdate          = 1922 (as KGY)
| format           = [[Catholic]] [[Religious broadcasting|Religious]]
| power            = 1,000 [[watt]]s (unlimited)
| class            = C
| facility_id      = 34486
| coordinates      = {{coord|47|03|31|N|122|54|09|W}}
| callsign_meaning = 
| former_callsigns = KGY (1922–2014)
| affiliations     = 
| owner            = Sacred Heart Radio, Inc.
| licensee         = 
| sister_stations  = [[KBLE]]
| webcast          = 
| website          = [http://www.sacredheartradio.org sacredheartradio.org] 
| licensing_authority= [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
}}

'''KBUP''' (1240 [[AM broadcasting|AM]]) is a radio station [[city of license|licensed]] to [[Olympia, Washington]]. Owned and operated by Sacred Heart Radio, Inc., it relays the Catholic religious programming originating at [[KBLE]] 1050 AM Seattle.

KBUP is one of the oldest radio stations in the United States,<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510008420257&view=1up&seq=356https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510008420257&view=1up&seq=356 "List of stations broadcasting market or weather reports (485 meters) and music, concerts, lectures, etc. (360 meters)"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', April 1, 1922, pages 24-25.</ref> and received its first broadcasting license, as KGY in Lacey, Washington, on March 30, [[1922 in radio|1922]].<ref>[https://www.kgyfm.com/about-kgy/kgy-history1/ "KGY History"] (kgyfm.com)</ref> In addition, the station traces its origin to earlier activities conducted by Father Sebastian Ruth at [[Saint Martin's University|Saint Martin's College]] in Lacey.

==History==
===7YS===
In early 1916, Saint Martin's College was issued a "Technical and Training School" radio license, with the call sign 7YS, for a station established by Benedictine monk Father Sebastian Ruth, O.S.B.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3221816&view=1up&seq=212 "New Stations: Special Land Stations"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', May 1916, page 4.  The "7" in 7YS's call sign indicated that the station was located in the 7th Radio Inspection district, and the "Y" signified that it was operating under a "Technical and Training School" license.</ref> After the entrance of the United States into [[World War I]] in April 1917, all civilian licenses were suspended, but following the war, 7YS was relicensed in late 1919.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435066705641&view=1up&seq=114 "New Stations: Special Land Stations"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', November 1, 1919, page 4.</ref> Initially this station was not used for broadcasting, although Ruth was very active within the [[American Radio Relay League]] (ARRL), handling relay traffic with other amateur stations, and in 1921 he was appointed an ARRL director representing the northwestern United States.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510008571517&view=1up&seq=137 "Our First National Convention: The Ball Game"] ''QST'' magazine, October 1921, page 15.</ref>

In the fall of 1920, it was reported that Ruth was broadcasting weather reports, using [[Morse code]], every evening at 9:00.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/PacificRadioNews/page/n34/mode/1up "7YS: The well known amateur radio station of Rev. S. Ruth, St. Martins College Lacey, Washington"], ''Pacific Radio News'', September 1920, page 26. (archive.org)</ref> In July 1921, Ruth upgraded the station to use a small [[vacuum tube]] transmitter, which provided the ability to make audio transmissions, and he began a schedule of twice-weekly one hour programs transmitting phonograph records.<ref name="own">St. Martin's College", ''Education's Own Stations'' by S. E. Frost, Jr., 1937, pages 381-383.</ref>

===KGY===
The Department of Commerce regulated radio stations in the United States from 1912 until the 1927 formation of the [[Federal Radio Commission]] (FRC). Originally there were no restrictions on which radio stations could make broadcasts intended for the general public. However, effective December 1, 1921, a regulation was adopted limiting broadcasting to stations operating under a Limited Commercial license. In keeping with the new standards, a broadcasting station license was issued in the name of "Saint Martin's College (Rev. S. Ruth)" on March 30, 1922, with the randomly assigned call letters of KGY, operating on the wavelength of 360 meters (833&nbsp;kHz).<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3221816&view=1up&seq=633 "New Stations: Commercial Land Stations"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', April 1, 1922, page 3. Initial Limited Commercial license, serial #585, issued on March 30, 1922, for a three-month period.</ref>

[[File:KGY Radio Studio.jpg|thumb|right|325px|KGY studios that were built over [[Budd Inlet]] in Olympia in 1960.]]
During the time it was operated by the college KGY had a very low power and a limited schedule, and its hours of operation were just 8:30 to 9:30&nbsp;p.m. on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Following a series of frequency reassignments, on November 11, 1928, under the provisions of the FRC's [[General Order 40]], the station was assigned to a "local" frequency of 1200&nbsp;kHz, operating with just 10 watts of power, which was unusually small even for this time period.<ref name="own"/> (Most "local" stations operated with 100 watts). KGY's original campus studio was in a shack, although there was a later move into a log cabin, with the resulting slogan "the log cabin station where the cedars meet the sea".

In 1932, the college decided it could no longer afford the expense of running a radio station, so KGY was sold to Archie Taft, who moved the station to Olympia, changed its frequency to 1210&nbsp;kHz, and increased the transmitting power to 100 watts. In 1939, KGY was sold to journalist Tom Olsen,<ref>''Seattle Radio'' by John F. Schneider, 2013, pages 123-125.</ref> and the station would remain under family ownership for another seventy-five years.<ref>[https://www.thurstontalk.com/2012/10/07/kgy-radio-is-up-for-the-challenge-of-change/ "KGY Radio Is Up For The Challenge Of Change"] by Natasha Ashenhurst, October 7, 2012 (thurstontalk.com)</ref>

In March 1941, under the provisions of the [[North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement]], stations on 1210&nbsp;kHz were moved to 1240, which has been the dial position of KGY and its successors ever since. KGY maintained a timesharing agreement with [[KKDZ|KTW]], 1250 AM in Seattle, which required KGY to sign off at 7:30&nbsp;p.m. on Thursdays, and all day Sundays, during the time periods when KTW was broadcasting. In 1960, station operations moved into a unique two-story building constructed on pilings over [[Puget Sound]].<ref>[https://www.fybush.com/site-of-the-week-121611-kgy-olympia-washington/ "Site of the Week 12/16/11: KGY, Olympia, Washington"] by Scott Fybush, December 16, 2011 (fybush.com)</ref> At the time, the station ran a longtime [[Top 40]] format. The station would later flip its format to [[middle of the road (music)|MOR]] in the late-1970s, and later into [[full-service radio|full-service]] [[adult contemporary]] in the mid-1980s.  The building has been listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

In 2014, KGY added a simulcast signal over a 220-watt translator station, [[K237FR]] located in Tumwater, Washington, broadcasting at 95.3 FM. (Technically this was a two-step process: the translator rebroadcast the HD2 digital sub-channel of [[KYYO]] in McCleary, Washington, while in turn, KYYO's HD2 signal was a rebroadcast of KGY's programming.)

===KBUP===
On October 14, 2014, KGY was sold for $250,000 by KGY Inc. to Sacred Heart Radio, Inc., which changed its longtime full-service AC music format to Catholic religious, simulcasting KBLE 1050 AM Seattle.<ref>[https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article26071987.html "KGY AM 1240 sold to Catholic broadcasting company"] by Rolf Boone, ''The Olympian'', June 30, 2014.</ref>

On November 6, 2014, KGY's call letters were changed to KBUP. Currently, there are no radio stations officially assigned the KGY call sign. However, KYYO's HD2 digital sub-channel continued with the classic hits format previously provided by KGY, which is rebroadcast by translator [[K237FR]] in Tumwater, Washington using the slogan "Olympia's 95.3 KGY".<ref>[https://www.kgyfm.com "Olympia's KGY 95.3"] (kgyfm.com)</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of initial AM-band station grants in the United States]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.sacredheartradio.org/ KBUP official website]
{{AM station data|34486|KBUP}}
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|146604|K284CG}}
*{{FXL|K284CG}}
*[https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=38517 FCC History Cards for KBUP] (covering 1927-1981 as KGY)

{{Olympia-Centralia Radio}}
{{Religious Radio Stations in Washington}}

[[Category:Christian radio stations in Washington (state)|BUP]]
[[Category:Catholic radio stations]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1922]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Olympia, Washington|BUP]]
[[Category:1922 establishments in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Thurston County, Washington]]<!--for KGY building-->