KORE

Original KORE

The original KORE was first licensed on February 15, 1927, as KLIT, to Lewis Irvine Thompson at 475 Twenty-first Street in Portland.^[5] Its debut broadcast, with just 2+1⁄2 watts, took place at 8 p.m. on February 24, and included an address by Mayor George L. Baker.^[6] In early 1928, the station was sold to the Eugene Broadcast Station, which moved the station to Eugene, and changed the call letters to KORE, reflecting the first three letters of Oregon.^[7]

The long-running religious program, The World Tomorrow, originated on KORE in 1933. For most of its history, KORE was a full-service radio station, airing popular adult music, news and sports. In March 1941, with the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, the original KORE moved to 1450 kHz.^[8]

1966 call letter swap of KORE and KEED

In November 1966, the call signs of KORE and KEED were swapped, with AM 1050 changed to KORE from KEED, and AM 1450 changed from KORE to KEED.^[9]

KORE flipped to country music in 1970 and became a network affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System. But as fans of country music switched to the FM dial, KORE decided to appeal to a different audience. It adopted a Christian talk and teaching format in 1973, changing its network to USA Radio News.

For most of its history, operation on 1050 AM was as a daytimer station, required to stop broadcasting at sunset to avoid interfering with XEG in Monterrey, Mexico, the dominant Class A station on 1050 AM. But by the 1980s, restrictions on clear channel frequencies had been relaxed. KORE was able to apply to the FCC for full time operation, running 5,000 watts by day and reduced power at night.^[10]

On June 15, 2016, KORE went silent. On November 23, 2016, it resumed broadcasting as a sports radio station with programming from Fox Sports Radio.