KLEF's transmitter is atop the Frontier Building in Anchorage
Northern Way Broadcasting wanted to build a new radio station in Anchorage. It was granted a construction permit for 98.1 MHz on December 15, 1986, after settling with two other applicants for the frequency.[3] However, before construction, Northern Way sold the permit in 1987 to Chinook Concert Broadcasters. Chinook Concert was owned by Rick Goodfellow along with seven California families and one in Sitka, Alaska. The station was consulted by Ed Davis, one of the founders and owners of one-time classical station KDFC in San Francisco. Davis, intrigued by the idea of a classical music station in Alaska, contributed technical expertise and also recruited most of the investors.
KLEF signed on the air on September 16, 1988; 36 years ago (September 16, 1988). Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Variations on the Alaska Flag Song by local composer Paul Rosenthal were the first selections played.[4]
Call letters
The launch of a new commercial classical music station was unusual in an era when classical stations in other cities were falling by the wayside or switching to non-commercial, listener-supported operations. The KLEF call letters were illustrative of this. They had last been used at two such stations: 94.5 FM in Houston, which had been KLEF from 1964 to 1986 before being sold, and 92.1 FM in nearby Seabrook, Texas, which used the designation when it picked up the format only to decide on new call letters upon a sale a year later.[5][6]
The new Alaska station was also a success with listeners, denting the ratings of public radio station 91.1 KSKA.[7] By 1994, KLEF was tied for eighth in total audience in a 20-station market, but it was second in the affluent 35–64 demographic.[8]
Former logo
1080 AM
In 1998, Chinook Concert Broadcasters acquired 1080 KASH, an AM station spun off as a result of commercial station consolidation. It primarily broadcast business talk shows and the BBC World Service.[9] The AM station under this format was not successful. It changed to a progressive talk format under the call sign KUDO but also failed to attract an audience. It was sold in 2005 to a local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.[10] It has since changed hands again and airs conservative talk programs.
In 2008, Goodfellow attributed KLEF's success to the unavailability of satellite radio – which serves many classical music listeners in the Lower 48 but cannot be received in Alaska. Anchorage also lacks an easy listening station, making classical music attractive to those unserved listeners.[11] On KLEF's 25th anniversary in 2013, Goodfellow calculated that there were 55 commercial classical stations in the United States when the station signed on in 1988 but just three a quarter-century later: KLEF in Anchorage, WFMT in Chicago, and WRR in Dallas.[12] WRR has since switched to a non-commercial, listener-supported operation.
