PORT ANGELES, Wash. – KONP Radio is celebrating 80 years on the air, marking its long history of providing local news, sports, and community programming to the North Olympic Peninsula.
The station began broadcasting on Feb. 3, 1945, after an eight-year effort by the Port Angeles Evening News to bring AM radio to the city. Wartime restrictions delayed Federal Communications Commission approval, pushing its launch to after World War II.
Originally a Top 40 music station, KONP shifted to a news and talk format in the mid-1990s as “Newsradio 1450 KONP.” It now airs local and national news, high school sports, weather, and community updates. As an ABC affiliate, the station also broadcasts regional and world news, along with Seattle Mariners, Seahawks, UW Huskies, and Kraken games.
KONP has remained locally owned since its founding. It is currently owned by Brown Maloney.
