# KBUP

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Radio station in Olympia, Washington, United States

KBUP KGY studios that were built over Budd Inlet in Olympia in 1960 Olympia, Washington United States Frequency 1240 kHz Branding Sacred Heart Radio Programming Format Catholic Religious Ownership Owner Sacred Heart Radio, Inc. Sister stations KBLE History First air date April 18, 1922 (1922-04-18) Former call signs KGY (1922–2014) Technical information[1] Licensing authority FCC Facility ID 34486 Class C Power 1,000 watts (unlimited) Transmitter coordinates 47°03′31″N 122°54′09″W / 47.05861°N 122.90250°W / 47.05861; -122.90250 Translator 104.7 K284CG (Olympia) Links Public license information Public file LMS Website sacredheartradio.org

**KBUP** (1240 [AM](/source/AM_broadcasting)) is a radio station [licensed](/source/City_of_license) to [Olympia, Washington](/source/Olympia%2C_Washington). Owned and operated by Sacred Heart Radio, Inc., it relays the Catholic religious programming originating at [KBLE](/source/KBLE) 1050 AM Seattle.

KBUP is one of the oldest radio stations in the United States,[2] and received its first broadcasting license, as KGY in Lacey, Washington, on March 30, [1922](/source/1922_in_radio).[3] In addition, the station traces its origin to earlier activities conducted by Father Sebastian Ruth at [Saint Martin's College](/source/Saint_Martin's_University) 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.[4] After the entrance of the United States into [World War I](/source/World_War_I) in April 1917, all civilian licenses were suspended, but following the war, 7YS was relicensed in late 1919.[5] Initially this station was not used for broadcasting, although Ruth was very active within the [American Radio Relay League](/source/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.[6]

In the fall of 1920, it was reported that Ruth was broadcasting weather reports, using [Morse code](/source/Morse_code), every evening at 9:00.[7] In July 1921, Ruth upgraded the station to use a small [vacuum tube](/source/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.[8]

### KGY

The Department of Commerce regulated radio stations in the United States from 1912 until the 1927 formation of the [Federal Radio Commission](/source/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 kHz).[9] The station signed on the air on April 18, 1922.[10]

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 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](/source/General_Order_40), the station was assigned to a "local" frequency of 1200 kHz, operating with just 10 watts of power, which was unusually small even for this time period.[8] (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 kHz, and increased the transmitting power to 100 watts. In 1939, KGY was sold to journalist Tom Olsen,[11] and the station would remain under family ownership for another seventy-five years.[12]

In March 1941, under the provisions of the [North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement](/source/North_American_Regional_Broadcasting_Agreement), stations on 1210 kHz were moved to 1240, which has been the dial position of KGY and its successors ever since. KGY maintained a timesharing agreement with [KTW](/source/KKDZ), 1250 AM in Seattle, which required KGY to sign off at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, and all day Sundays, during the time periods when KTW was broadcasting.

In 1960, KGY increased its power to 1,000 watts.[13]

In 1960, the station increased its power to 1,000 watts, and moved into a unique two-story building constructed on pilings over [Puget Sound](/source/Puget_Sound).[14][15] At the time, the station ran a longtime [Top 40](/source/Top_40) format. The station would later flip its format to [MOR](/source/Middle_of_the_road_(music)) in the late-1970s, and later into [full-service](/source/Full-service_radio) [adult contemporary](/source/Adult_contemporary) in the mid-1980s. The building has been listed on the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places).

In 2014, KGY added a simulcast signal over a 220-watt translator station, [K237FR](/source/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](/source/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.[16]

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](/source/K237FR) in Tumwater, Washington using the slogan "Olympia's 95.3 KGY".[17]

## See also

- [List of initial AM-band station grants in the United States](/source/List_of_initial_AM-band_station_grants_in_the_United_States)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FCC-LMS-34486_1-0)** ["Facility Technical Data for KBUP"](https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityTechDetails.html?facilityId=34486). *Licensing and Management System*. [Federal Communications Commission](/source/Federal_Communications_Commission).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["List of stations broadcasting market or weather reports (485 meters) and music, concerts, lectures, etc. (360 meters)"](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), *Radio Service Bulletin*, April 1, 1922, pages 24-25.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["KGY History"](https://www.kgyfm.com/about-kgy/kgy-history1/) (kgyfm.com)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["New Stations: Special Land Stations"](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3221816&view=1up&seq=212), *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.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["New Stations: Special Land Stations"](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435066705641&view=1up&seq=114), *Radio Service Bulletin*, November 1, 1919, page 4.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Our First National Convention: The Ball Game"](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510008571517&view=1up&seq=137) *QST* magazine, October 1921, page 15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["7YS: The well known amateur radio station of Rev. S. Ruth, St. Martins College Lacey, Washington"](https://archive.org/details/PacificRadioNews/page/n34/mode/1up), *Pacific Radio News*, September 1920, page 26. (archive.org)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-own_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-own_8-1) St. Martin's College", *Education's Own Stations* by S. E. Frost, Jr., 1937, pages 381-383.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["New Stations: Commercial Land Stations"](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3221816&view=1up&seq=633), *Radio Service Bulletin*, April 1, 1922, page 3. Initial Limited Commercial license, serial #585, issued on March 30, 1922, for a three-month period.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Lacey Station KGY, Broadcasts Today"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tacoma-daily-ledger-lacey-station-kg/186814180/). *The Tacoma Daily Ledger*. Tacoma, Washington. April 18, 1922. p. 2. Retrieved December 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** *Seattle Radio* by John F. Schneider, 2013, pages 123-125.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["KGY Radio Is Up For The Challenge Of Change"](https://www.thurstontalk.com/2012/10/07/kgy-radio-is-up-for-the-challenge-of-change/) by Natasha Ashenhurst, October 7, 2012 (thurstontalk.com)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** KGY (advertisement), *The Olympian*, September 2, 1960, page 10.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["KGY by-the-sea"](https://archive.org/details/broadcastingtele58unse_0/page/n583/mode/1up), *Broadcasting*, May 2, 1960, page 52.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["Site of the Week 12/16/11: KGY, Olympia, Washington"](https://www.fybush.com/site-of-the-week-121611-kgy-olympia-washington/) by Scott Fybush, December 16, 2011 (fybush.com)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["KGY AM 1240 sold to Catholic broadcasting company"](https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article26071987.html) by Rolf Boone, *The Olympian*, June 30, 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ["Olympia's KGY 95.3"](https://www.kgyfm.com) (kgyfm.com)

## External links

- [KBUP official website](http://www.sacredheartradio.org/)

- [Facility details for Facility ID 34486 (KBUP)](https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityDetails.html?facilityId=34486) in the [FCC](/source/Federal_Communications_Commission) Licensing and Management System

- [KBUP](https://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=SP26&band=am&callLetter=KBUP) in [Nielsen Audio](/source/Nielsen_Audio)'s AM station database

- [Facility details for Facility ID 146604 (K284CG)](https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityDetails.html?facilityId=146604) in the [FCC](/source/Federal_Communications_Commission) Licensing and Management System

- [K284CG](https://fccdata.org/?facid=&call=K284CG&ccode=1&city=&state=&country=US&zip=&arn=&party=&lmspf=&lmspl=&party_type=LICEN&latd=&lond=&lang=en) at FCCdata.org

- [FCC History Cards for KBUP](https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=38517) (covering 1927-1981 as KGY)

v t e City of Olympia, Washington Economy Batdorf & Bronson Capital Mall Fish Brewing Company ImageSource Mud Bay Pet Store Port of Olympia Olympic Arms Olympia Brewing Company Washington State Employees Credit Union Education Capital High School First schoolhouse in Olympia, Washington Olympia High School Olympia School District South Puget Sound Community College Evergreen State College (outside city limits) Events and festivals Capital City Pride Capitol Lakefair Procession of the Species Geography Bigelow Neighborhood Budd Inlet Capitol Lake Chambers Lake Deschutes River Indian Creek Percival Creek Setchfield Lake Simmons Creek Simmons Lake Ward Lake History History of Olympia, Washington List of mayors of Olympia, Washington Mud Bay Logging Company Infrastructure Capitol Land Trust Intercity Transit Olympia Regional Airport Providence St. Peter Hospital Washington Public Ports Association Landmarks American Legion Hall Capitol Theater Daniel R. Bigelow House Cloverfields Elks Building Funk House Captain Calvin and Pamela Hale House Insurance Building Mottman Building Natural Resources Building Old Capitol Building Olympia Brewery Olympia Downtown Historic District Olympia National Bank Joel M. Pritchard Building Sand Man Temple of Justice Thurston County Courthouse Washington Governor's Mansion Washington State Capitol Woman's Club of Olympia Media and entertainment The Journal of Olympia, Lacey & Tumwater K Records KAOS KBUP and KGY radio stations Kill Rock Stars Music of Olympia, Washington Olympia Film Society The Olympian Museums and tourism Hands On Children's Museum Olympia Arts & Heritage Alliance Museum Olympic Flight Museum Parks and recreation Artesian Commons Chehalis Western Trail Burfoot Park Grass Lake Nature Park Heritage Park Karen Fraser Woodland Trail Percival Landing Park Squaxin Park Sylvester Park Watershed Park Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area Woodruff Park Yashiro Japanese Garden Yauger Park Public art and memorials Du Pen Fountain Korean War Memorial Law Enforcement Memorial POW–MIA Memorial The Shaman Territorial Sundial Tivoli Fountain Untitled (Lee Kelly) Water Garden Winged Victory Woman Dancing World War II Memorial People Daniel Bigelow George Bush Rebecca G. Howard Levi Lathrop Smith Edmund Sylvester Sports FC Olympia Oly Rollers

v t e Radio stations in the Olympia–Centralia, Washington region By AM frequency 680 920 1030 1240 1280 1340 1420 By FM frequency 88.1 89.3 90.1 92.9 93.7 94.5 95.1 96.1 96.9 97.7 98.5 99.3 102.9 105.7 LPFM 106.7 Translators 88.9 89.7 90.1 90.1 91.5 91.9 92.1 92.9 95.3 99.7 100.3 100.5 101.1 101.7 101.9 102.3 103.3 104.1 104.7 106.3 107.3 Digital radio by frequency & subchannel 90.1-1 90.1-2 94.5-1 94.5-2 94.5-3 96.9-1 96.9-2 102.9-1 By call sign K205GL K209FQ K211AP K211FH K218CU K220HE K221DV K225DC K237FR K259BG K262CY K263BS K266BM K269FS K270CJ K272EP K277CZ K281AD K284CG K292HN K297BK KAOS KBRD KBUP KDDS-FM KITI KITI-FM KJET KLDY KLSY KNBQ KNWN-FM KMAS KPLI KRXY KTYG-LP KUOW KUTI KVNW KWAO KXXO KYYO HD2 KZTM Defunct KOLP-LP (100.3 FM) KOWA-LP (106.5 FM) Nearby regions Aberdeen Longview-Kelso Northwest Washington Portland Seattle Yakima See also List of radio stations in Washington

v t e Religious radio stations in the state of Washington Stations KACS - Chehalis KACW - South Bend KAKP - Pasco KALE - Richland KARI – Blaine KAYB – Sunnyside KBKW - Aberdeen KBLD – Kennewick KBLE – Seattle KBUP – Olympia KCIS – Edmonds KCMS - Edmunds KCSH – Ellensburg KDMB - Moses Lake KEEH – Spokane KEIT-LP – Colville KETL-LP – Republic KGCF - Aberdeen KGDN – Ephrata KGNW – Burien-Seattle KGTC-LP – Oroville KGTS - College Place KHOD - Hoodsport KJCF - Asotin KJVH – Longview KJYR - Newport KKRS – Davenport KLGW - Grand Coulee KLOY - Ocean Park KLSN - Dishman KLSW – Covington KLUW - East Wenatchee KLWA - Westport KLWO - Longview KMBI-FM – Spokane KMLW – Moses Lake KNBQ - Central Park KNTS - Seattle KOLU – Pasco KOLX – Warden KPLW - Wenatchee KQBC - Benton City KRKL - Walla Walla KRLF - Pullman KROH - Port Townsend KSOH – Wapato KSPO – Dishman KTBI – Ephrata KTDD - Eatonville KTJC – Kelso KTRW - Opportunity KTSL – Medical Lake KTTO – Spokane KUCC – Clarkston KWAO - Vashon KWFJ – Roy KWJD-LP – Onalaska KWPZ – Lynden KXAA - Cle Elum KXML - Moses Lake KYAK – Yakima KYFQ – Tacoma KYKV - Selah KYOZ – Spokane KYPL - Yakima KYYR-LP - Yakima Defunct KGRU-LP – Ellensburg KZLF-LP – Pullman See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Washington See also Classical Jazz Religious Spanish Smooth Jazz Other

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [KBUP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBUP) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBUP?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.