Seattle gets two new country music stations on the same day!!! (No joke.)

[MWmetalhead]

Failed AAA 98.9 KPNW returned to its prior Bull branding and current intensive country music earlier today. It also brought back very well known Seattle country radio personality, Fitz, for morning drive. The first iteration of the Bull did well until he and Hubbard had a falling out of sorts at the end of 2020. The first iteration of the Bull at 98.9 was flipped to AAA in February 2023.

50 minutes ago, sorta Hot AC, Star 101.5, ditched its long struggling format for a mostly 90s & early 00s country format as Hank 101.5. The station sounds similar to Lansing's Duke FM (both stations use the same third party programming consultant), except KPLZ plays fewer 80s cuts. It might even play a current or recurrent once in a while. Star 101.5 was a brand with three decades' worth of heritage behind it!

Both stations will look to do major damage to Audacy's 100.7 The Wolf.

[ChrisWL1980]

Counting previous iterations, such as K-Plus, Z101.5, and KVI-FM, 101.5 had featured some kind of pop music or Top 40/CHR format since 1976! And curiously, the format right before KVI-FM had been... Country, as KETO-FM. (Which, per Wiki, launched 50 years ago this month.)

[TC Talks]

Seattle is changing rapidly. Amazon has been hiring so many people so fast, I bet much of the country listenership has been there less than years.

[ftballfan]

98.9 was under a 1 share in Seattle (not good for a full Class C signal) and was getting beat by noncom AAA stations with weaker signals.