Thanks for stopping by. Please take a minute to add
any memories you have about KJET or the tribute station at Live365. And
feel free to followup on previous entries. If your entry doesn't appear after you
enter it, try refreshing this page. Unfortunately, the guestbook will be offline for a while until I can figure out how to handle all of the spam it was getting.
sorry left out the address in the previous posthttp://pnwbands.com
michael adams <sauron49@hotmail.com>
USA - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 at 12:03:50 (MDT)
some of the local bands listed on the playlist may be found here, very cool site btw, thx!
michael adams <sauron49@hotmail.com>
seattle, wa USA - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 at 12:02:41 (MDT)
KJET shaped my entire life. As a freshman at Everett high School in 1983, I hadn’t really found a type of music that really interested me. Then came Christmas night 1983, my parents bought me a small boom box. After tuning to all the FM stations I decided to try AM, there it was, the Holy Grail of music, KJET.All of my friends, hangouts, music purchases were based on KJET. Then came Sept 1985, my parents decided that there were more opportunities in California, so we went. For the next four years, the only radio I listened too was the recordings of KJET I had made.In 1989 I decided to move back to Everett, and to celebrate my return I put all my KJET tapes into an envelope and left them sitting on a table in the local mall. I included a letter explaining that these tapes helped me through one of the worst periods in my life, and that I no longer needed them; because where I was going I could listen to my favorite station live with all my old friends. When I finally got back, almost all of my friends had moved away or moved on, and so had my favorite radio station.In 1992 I got my first job in radio. My boss asked me what inspired me to get into radio, I told him KJET. He then proceeded to tell me that he was the program director for the radio station that took over KJET’s frequency, and that he enjoyed throwing out all the crappy music that was left behind. The only radio I listen to now is NPR. I collect 80’s vinyl, and currently I’m in the process of creating a collection of every record played on KJET’s play list.The most interesting and life changing stories about KJET’s influence on my life will have to wait until another time. I’m a recovered nostalgia addict.
Lee Valentine <arcadianoir@spymac.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Wednesday, July 07, 2004 at 21:06:11 (MDT)
The Internet is awesome. Feeling nostalgic, type in KJET and look what you get.I have great memories of listening to this station in high school. I had a casette tape recording of KJET air time that I listened to for years until it disapeered. It seems no one would take a risk creating a radio station like this today. Too bad.
Chris ALton <chrisa@uptimetech.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Wednesday, June 09, 2004 at 16:37:37 (MDT)
I really miss KJET - I used to have a big old 66 fury that I drove around Edmonds that had a big kjet sticker on each door. Thx Brent - I have had the song "Shelly's Boy Friend" in my head for months but couldn't remember who did it.
brian smith <korbsmith@comcast.net>
Edmonds, WA USA - Saturday, April 24, 2004 at 20:22:00 (MDT)
Oh the memories...glad I stumbled upon this site. My old KJET sticker is still stuck to the door of my old bedroom at my parents house. YEAH KJET!!
Leni Rodoni <mlrodoni@speakeasy.net>
Seattle, WA USA - Monday, April 12, 2004 at 17:54:58 (MDT)
I remember listening to KJET before going to skootchies and dancing all night. Also, remember when you first heard Boy by Golden Palaminos, blood and roses, mars needs guitars, paul young, and what made the music even better is that it had that am mono/fuzz sound to it
Scott Anderson <scott316@sbcglobal.net>
dallas, tx USA - Friday, March 19, 2004 at 22:21:45 (MST)
My sister and I "grew up" on KJET. This radio station is responsible for my current great taste in music (albeit retro, now!). Echo, Scritti, Smiths, etc. How weird and cool to find a website dedicated to it's memory...I guess that's the power of music.
Tracy <tracespacecamp68@aol.com>
Philadelphia, PA USA - Thursday, February 05, 2004 at 07:22:04 (MST)
KJET's Jim Keller returns to 107.7 The End in Seattle on Sunday. By popular demand, "Resurrection Flashback Sunday" is back from 8 a.m. to noon, four hours of New Wave, punk, and post-punk.
Michael Sutton <knowitallmedia@yahoo.com>
Wa USA - Wednesday, January 14, 2004 at 11:45:51 (MST)
I can't believe I just heard Echo & the Bunnymen's "Lips Like Sugar" back-to-back with the Postal Service's synth-pop revival "Such Great Heights" on 107.7 The End in Seattle. Looks like the KJET sound has made a comeback. 107.7 The End is really good right now, folks. Gotta go...the Smiths are playing on KNDD...
Michael Sutton <knowitallmedia@yahoo.com>
Wa USA - Wednesday, January 14, 2004 at 11:43:36 (MST)
Just got back from our second home in Ocean Park, WA...out visiting for the holidays. Did everyone know the KJET call sign is now owned by an FM station in Aberdeen? Plays mostly top 40/pop stuff, but is one of the "better" stations on the WA coast if you have nothing else to listen to.I spent many a day at the UW Waterfront Activities Center working on the club's sail boats and listening to KJET on our old radio. Anybody out there a Club KCMU member? Now I am dating myself!Cheers!
Steve Marschman <marschman@comcast.net>
Kingston, TN USA - Tuesday, December 30, 2003 at 09:27:08 (MST)
I hauled amp for the Frazz, Rockin 88's, Pudz and Pamona Boners. My wife took over YEAH!!! From founder Wendy Dunlap. The JET made many nights at work shorter and was always tuned in on the way to Snhomish Publishing to print that mag(Yeah you Mr Rimple contributor). How many of you were at Squierrels xxxmas show at Tractor?
Joe Davenport <dportjoe@hotmail.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Monday, December 22, 2003 at 11:46:12 (MST)
Wow! What a find! I won a KJET radio promotion in 1988 and was an on-air guest News Goddess one morning with Bill Reid and Thad Wilson. I have photos (Bill with long hair!). I think I still have the air-check cassette floating around here somewhere. Something's brewing on 96.5 FM -- the 80s pop station where Bill landed -- and they are becoming K-ROCK. Ahhh! Alt music for adults and not the teen-dude music that the End became. Take a listen.
Sherry <slreichert@comcast.net>
Seattle, WA USA - Saturday, December 20, 2003 at 18:18:34 (MST)
Oh, here's the site - http://members.shaw.ca/ecorpse
Bleek Swinney <speckfanzine@yahoo.com>
Vancouver, BC Canada - Thursday, November 27, 2003 at 18:45:57 (MST)
This Guestbook sure has filled up! How cool is that!?Yeah man. This is Bleek Swinney of KJET Black Box sayin' thanks for the good thoughts and memories. I'm hoping many of the people in this guestbook have tuned in to my version of KJET also. Thanks for those who have sent old tapes. Still hoping to trade for others anytime. I've had the good fortune of being a DJ at a College radio station in Vancouver BC where some of the more obscure KJET tracks have been found. Hope you like them. I wanted to say that I've changed webservers and there should be no damn pop-ups and better creative prospects.That's about it except that I wish Mike Fuller would put that KJET site back up (sigh).
Bleek Swinney <speckfanzine.0catch.com>
Vancouver, BC Canada - Thursday, November 27, 2003 at 18:43:37 (MST)
OK! This is a little bit freaky! I used to intern at KJET, 1988 till it went off the air, Strange!!! Good luck!
Rachel
USA - Tuesday, November 04, 2003 at 23:12:18 (MST)
Bill Reid and Jim Keller left KNDD 107.7 FM in the spring of 2003 and I'm curious if anyone knows where they ended up? I've got some on-air recordings of Bill that I'd like to send to him, and a question for Jim.Or perhaps someone here can answer the question, which is about an obscure song that Jim played on KJET. It was about working out in a gym and the people you can meet there. The lyrics included "Old sweaty Betty, she's winking at me, she says she wants to go steady 'til a quarter to three" and the chorus was "Yeah, we're getting in shape, can't afford to hesitate, oh honey, you'll feel great, come on and celebrate". The song ended with a bit of the Village People's "YMCA" and a kazoo duet. No, I'm not joking, and I would love to find this on any format.
Chris Rimple <chrisrimple@yahoo.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Friday, August 22, 2003 at 22:20:48 (CDT)
It's so sad what people accept in todays radio. Stupid alternative stations playing basically jock-rock to all the over pierced goons. Happily, there was a time when radio fans could be part of a little club dedicated to great music and genuine djs. Debbie Paine, Jim Keller, Marsh Gooch, Marty Reamer (and we all know how painful that can be!), Bill Reid and more.KJET was there for those of us fortunate enough to find it. There were not many of us out there in the early eighties, but we could easily spot each other. Window stickers (I still have some!), good clothes, old cars and Vespas, cool hair. We were the ones shopping for obscure 45s at Mount Olympus, Celophane square, Rubato, Easy Street, and so on. Friends and I used to drive late into the night listening to Devo, Thomas Dolby, Wet Picnic, Dave Edmonds, Bonnie Hayes and the Wild Combo, Translator, Style Council, Adam Ant, B52s, XTC, Q-Feel, Human League, Heaven 17, PIL, Bow Wow Wow, The Morrells, The Young Fresh Fellows, Fastbacks, The Heats, The Pudz, Woodentops, the Smiths, Gruppo Sportivo, the Jam, Housemartins, Madness, the Specials, Duran Duran, Thomson Twins, Culture Club,the Waitresses, the Gogos, X, the Dickies,Roman Holiday, the Polecats, and countless more.Weird - many of these bands sound so dated today. However, this was modern and super fresh in the early eighties. I'll go as far to say the stuff was downright dangerous.KJET added a rich texture to my perspective on life, and showed good taste right up to the end. Like a big baby, I shed a few tears the day it went off the air in favor of (I seem to remember) a country format.Luckily, I taped those final momemnts when the station break was Devo singing "Through being cool." So appropriate.
Steve <heap33721@aol.com>
seattle, wa USA - Thursday, August 21, 2003 at 18:02:58 (CDT)
Praise the lord! My 10-year search is over... I have found the Holy Grail. Where should I start? Well, I started listening to alternative music in the late 70's when KZAM AM 1540 first started playing it. Once while I was trying to tune in KZAM I went a little too far and found a new station... KJET AM 1600 (which was actually 1590, funny nobody has mentioned that). KJET was alternative from the beginning... the music... the DJs... the whole format. I loved listening to Norman B. and the funny clips he would play like the "Fast Food" skit by Stevens and Grdnic. "A double cheeseburger, onion rings, and a large orange drink." I would laugh my butt off. After a few years KYYX jumped on the alternative bandwagon but KJET was still better because they were alternative before it became fashionable.The music was great and I wanted to get a lot of the stuff I heard on the station but I was dirt poor/homeless (Reagen years Ugh!). I ended up leaving the area in the mid 80's to find work so I never got to hear the infamous "tape machine problems". It seems the only thing we had in the 80's was the alternative scene, punk music and alternative TV like Night Flight and Bombshelter Videos (remember Bill Bored?) Anyway, since I couldn't buy the music I wanted, I kept a list of songs figuring that I'd be able to remember the bands that played them. WRONG! When the economy finally started growing, I was able to get some money so I bought all the stuff on my list. It's funny because some of the songs sound different on a CD. AM radio cuts out a lot of the high stuff I guess? Dancing In Heaven a.k.a. Orbital Be-Bop really sounds different. So with a lot of searching I was able to get everything on my list except one song called "Cocktail Sky". I searched everywhere... used record stores, in those big books of every song ever published (it's not in there) and everywhere on the internet. Well I finally found it here and its actually called Cocktailed Sky by Wet Picnic. Thanks to "a fond fan" for posting that. This is the ONLY place on the internet that mentions that song. Not only did I find my mystery song but I was also rewarded with the KJET playlist, which is like gold in my opinion. So now my search is over. Actually, now that I think about it, I going to have to start a new search to find all the stuff on the playlist that I don't have. One last thing, I want to give a big thanks to Mike Fuller for compiling the KJET playlist and really BIG THANKS to Brent Aliverti for converting the list and making available to fans and especially for putting up this site. I enjoyed it immensely and consider it a great resource. It brought back some great memories. So now I'm off to search the used record stores for Wet Picnic.
Johnny
USA - Wednesday, August 13, 2003 at 19:20:33 (CDT)
I would just like to give a shout out to all my bros at TBQ as well as the dudes at KJET. Craig Linder and the Weatherheads. I also believe that people posting links to porn sites should be banned from here 4 life. Bunch of stupid idiots.
Josh Harris <jharris@kdtii.org>
Salem, OR USA - Monday, August 11, 2003 at 15:09:36 (CDT)
Hey Keith Meicho, are you the same person who plays on the Div. 2 Wolves over in Kent??? Sorry your team got eliminated yesterday. Hopefully you and all the members on your team will return for the Fall/Winter season :) !! Peace.PfD2IH
Person from Division 2 Ice Hockey
Seattle, WA USA - Thursday, August 07, 2003 at 12:19:14 (CDT)
Hey...just wanted to say it's very cool to see that so many former listeners have posted here. Makes me realize I'm not the only one looking back on 80's radio with rose-colored glasses. And makes me happy I decided to create this page in the first place. I still hope to do the t-shirts and bumper stickers sometime. I guess my window of opportunity is closing for the summer t-shirt season, but hopefully I can make them some time soon anyway. Cheers!
Brent
Seattle, WA USA - Thursday, July 24, 2003 at 16:49:35 (CDT)
I remember listening to the station in HS and it was great!Long before "alternative" music was called that it really was. I only listened for a short time before it went off the air and I remember it fondly. It was nothing like the comercial radio of today.It was cool the way each DJ would be identified by the roar of a jet then the voiceover would say "In the captain's chair" followed by the name of the DJ. I hope I'll hear comercial radio like it again sometime!
Puget Sounder
USA - Saturday, July 19, 2003 at 20:58:46 (CDT)
Wow, stumbled on your site while looking for some old play lists. I can't remember when I started listening to the JET, I think it was "81" when I was still in high school. Reading the comments on here reminded me of an old memory from then. I had an old Chevy Malibu with an AM radio. Whenever we would go to the beach my best friend would bring a radio with one big speaker (no boom box). So we would turn them both on and call it AM Stereo. I’ve tried to tell a lot of people about Radio Free Comedy, but only a few people (mostly ones I knew back then) ever heard it. The spoof on the Navy recruiting spot was great. I remember Barney on American Gun Nut too, and the weird Nixon spot with the Dukes of Hazard “two of our favorite things drinking and driving”, Bowling for fissionable material “too bad Muammar”. I wish those programs were still available. But the heart of the station was the music. With KJET and KYYX Seattle had it pretty good. Now at 40 I find I still have different taste in music than most of my friends. It was funny even back then I had two sets of close friends the ones that listened to Post Punk/New Wave, slam danced at the Old Eagles Hippodrome what a great run that place had, and the AOR folks. I could go on forever, oh well that’s enough navel gazing for one day. Great site, put me down for a t-shirt, bumper sticker etc.
a listner
Seattle, WA USA - Wednesday, July 09, 2003 at 17:35:06 (CDT)
Really like your station and the songs you play which I never hear any more. I like the "oh yea!" feelingthat happens when you hear a song long forgotten. Thanks for the work you did putting it together.
Rowdy
USA - Monday, July 07, 2003 at 19:55:39 (CDT)
I was one of those "precocious" pre-teens who discovered the joys of KJET very early on (I was twelve, and Oh. So. Into The Clash, the P. Furs and Talking Heads...the list goes on). I used to watch Rock Entertainment Video (REV) on Channel 5 religiously, and then could go hear those local bands (Mondo Vita!) on the radio. I think KJET and KYYX saved my angst-ridden, suburban, middle and high school life out in the wilds of Des Moines. I'm in for a T-shirt!
Turi
Calgary, AB CANADA - Monday, July 07, 2003 at 09:53:26 (CDT)
Oh man, I don't know where to start. I'm so, so happy this site exists. And that there are others who share such fond memories of KJET. I have more memories of my KJET years than I do of last week - I listened from '8o or '81 (When did you guys start?) to '84, when I moved away. KJET saved me, probably quite literally, and also opened my mind up to so many possibilities... The first time i heard KJET, I was driving on those windy roads near Dash Point, messing around with the dial, and this song about "More Bulk" came on. It was the beginning of a mad love affair. My favorite DJ was Earnie Gilbert, with his Wednesday night show, I do believe. I first heard Thomas Dolby's "one of our Submarines" on that show. I still remember word for word those little inter-song spots ("We're the jets! We're the greatest!"), and those fabulous promotions: I remember REM and Dream Syndicate were coming to town, and the promo was something like writing an essay to get an hour in a sensory deprivation tank. Other memories: Waiting for my sister at night in a parking lot, and "Into you like a train" on the car radio; Going to sleep to Yaz's "Situation"; Standing in my open doorway in the springtime with "Reap the Wild Wind" on; Hearing "Sex Dwarf" for the first time on someone's sunday night show; Local band Red Dress's "Bob Was a Robot" (And seeing them at bumpershoot); Hearing Wet Picnic's "Cocktail Skies" as I was driving on those ramps into the city; hearing the horns of the boats in the sound and how they seemed to match exactly the first chords of the 'Femmes' "I hear the rain"; Making salad to XTC's "Great Fire", and thinking how it somehow captured an image of British imperial India; The sunny summer of Aztec Camera and B-52's Mesopotamia...Oh lordy, I could go on all night. So mix these memories with the trips to Value Village and Goodwill for all the clothing needs (back then you could still find beautiful cocktail dresses for NOTHING because no one else would've been caught dead in them)and it only begins to fill in a picture of the time. I felt, and still feel, like all the KJET people were a wierd kind of kin. All I gotta say is, KJET, YOU WERE INCOMPARABLE!!!! I'LL NEVER, EVER FORGET YOU!!!!
a fond fan
Tucson, USA - Friday, June 27, 2003 at 20:30:25 (CDT)
I still have a mint condition antenna ball! Thanks to KJET I bought Thomas Dolby's first album & King Crimson 3 of a Perfect Pair when they came out. They really supported local bands as well for a change. Thanks Jim Keller for letting my friend Jim and I hang out w/ Mark Seymour of Hunters & Collectors in the KJET studio (6/87).
Linda Chaponot <sfencer@hotmail.com>
Bend, OR USA - Tuesday, June 10, 2003 at 01:17:52 (CDT)
Before a Lacrosse game at UW...listening to the Fastbacks at full volume...wondering if this rain will ever stop...
Bill Bouvier <wpbouvier@yahoo.com>
irish town, Jamaica - Friday, June 06, 2003 at 16:38:00 (CDT)
Thanks to the years adding misty goggles to my face, I just HAD to compile an extensive "playlist" cd collection for me and my buddies...1982,83 and 84 are done, just a couple to go!...SNORK! SNORK and cabbage.
Flossy Gomez <steveed@seanet.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Friday, May 02, 2003 at 20:39:06 (CDT)
Wow! I was listening to a dusty old KJET Alternative CD Sampler from 1988. I loved those summer concerts that KJET had. I met the first love of my life at one of those things (of course, I have no idea where she is, and I don't want to google her, that's just a little creepy). As awful as the sound quality was listening to the music in AM, it just made the records I bought so much more enjoyable when I got to listen to it in stereo. Thanks for making this site!
KL <hidetheball@hotmail.com>
Boston, MA USA - Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 14:32:20 (CDT)
Brent, Thanks for this great site. First of all I don't know what made me think to do a search for KJET, but I did. I never thought I'd find something this great. When I win the lotto I'll buy my own station in Seattle and bring back KJET, but for now I this is great! J
J Herb <otto_matik@yahoo.com>
Washington, DC USA - Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 21:12:55 (CST)
What a great site! I'll never forget spending a whole summer listening to KJET when it first came on the air, and putting a KJET sticker on my school notebook. I totally miss that station, but seeing this web site has brought back a lot of fond memories!
M
Seattle, USA - Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 20:28:03 (CST)
Jeez, I loved that station. I remember the ashy feeling in the pit of my stomach the day I raced home to tape a couple hours of the last day's programming, only to find that the station had already been 86d from the air. Thanks to everyone connected with the station and with this site.
M.Campos <mhcampos@capitolhill.net>
Seattle, WA USA - Wednesday, March 12, 2003 at 16:00:06 (CST)
Still miss KJET...fools...
Thom Burns <clarknt1@attbi.com>
Seattle, Wa USA - Sunday, March 09, 2003 at 14:47:21 (CST)
Holy F'n S!! You think something has died and gone to radio heaven, and then...Just for kicks I decided to get ripped and look up a radio station rather than an ex-GF, and here was this site.I left a tiny town in Oregon to live in Mall-Central (Lynnwood) for a bit, and there was KJET. I could finally put away my cassettes and listen to aradio station for once. I listened to the community station in Seattle on and off, but KJET was the shit.Damn...this brings back smells...like ripping my cousin off for dope when they were out of town and I was left as the boarder in their house....thanks for the site.
Kurt Loyd <kurt@818digitalmedia.com>
Corvallis, OR USA - Tuesday, February 25, 2003 at 22:36:52 (CST)
I was just going thru some old cassettes trying to look up some lyrics for songs I taped from KJET when I was in high school. I loved hearing a depeche mode song every morning, and I learned of a lot of bands I like to this day on there, thanks for this website
Ali M.
- Wednesday, February 05, 2003 at 12:05:32 (CST)
See former Mondo Vita band members in the Weatherheads at club Fado. 1st and Columbia. Feb. 7th
Keith Meicho (Mondo Vita) <kmondo@foxinternet.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 02:21:55 (CST)
i am currently in Sydney, australia, temporarily. i remember playing at a club in Seattle in 1983, in the Catholic Girls. A band called Mondo Vita "opened" for us. I corresponded with the lead guitarist called Derek??? He was very funny on stage? I would like to drop him a line. Does anyone know how to contact him?? my email addresses are not stable, can you also reply to bayay2002@yahoo.com. thankyou very much
Billie Taylor <katyc@waverley.nsw.gov.au,pennyduxbury@lycos.co.uk>
sf, ca USA - Saturday, January 25, 2003 at 23:25:19 (CST)
Brent, you are now and are sure to remain, my personal hero. Your site and station are the best of unintended presents a post-waver of the first order ever could have hoped for. Just a couple of weeks ago I was reminiscing to a friend, and if you’ll excuse the length of this post, the e-mail I sent him just before finding your site seems so appropo:
Debra <ephemeralarts2@yahoo.com>
USA - Monday, January 20, 2003 at 23:43:22 (CST)
My most favorite memories of KJET was listening to the "Dr. Demento" show that aired on Sunday nights if I recall correctly. It was one of the highlights of the week for me, along with listening to another station in the Seattle area that carried "Music with Moskowitz (sp?)", as the two shows would play some very different kinds of music, etc., on the shows. Although I don't remember any of the DJ's from KJET, I will always remember KJET for the above mentioned show.
Fenton Hubbart <socks0001@yahoo.com>
Portland, OR USA - Sunday, January 05, 2003 at 19:18:10 (CST)
Wow, what an amazing trip down memory lane! Some web searches for Seattle-area bands of the 80's brought me to sites for Popllama, Green Monkey, and Sub Pop records, and I eventually found my way here. Thanks for keeping the Jet alive! I've spent a couple hours now flipping between the Early and Later Years streaming audio stations, and I have to say I'm very impressed by both. The musical selections are quite diverse and representative of the KJET I remember. I began listening in 1982 at age 16 after my father discovered the station while rotating the AM dial in the family car. He fell for The Clash's "Rock The Casbah" and introduced me to KJET the next day. Through it, I discovered euro synth pop, alternative rock, ska, reggae, and a variety of other styles that have remained staples of my CD collection. Adam Ant, The Jam, Depeche Mode, Spoons, The Cure, The Specials, Joe Jackson, The Smiths, Souixsie, XTC, They Might Be Giants, and so many others. One of the things I truly appreciated about the station was their support of Northwest bands; how else could I have learned about The Visible Targets, The Allies, Mondo Vita, Grapes of Wrath, and Rough Trade? Whatever happened to Ern(ie) "Dog" Gilbert, who was doing the evening show in 1982? Somewhere, I've got an audio cassette with a few portions of Bill Reid's morning program, shortly before he left the station for the first time. Who could forget the classic Three Stooges lullaby that he used to sign off his show with the words "Good night", or the calls he took from listeners who had fantasies about John, the traffic guy? Bill and Jim Keller moved on to KNDD 107.7 FM when it came on the air in 1991 and both are still there. Jim's doing a Sunday morning 4-hour flashback program that provides a taste of what could be found on KJET, but without the local content. I've happily kept the official KJET CD Sampler #1 that I won in November 1987, as well as my red antenna ball. I was a regular user of the KJET computer bulletin board, having gone online in the same year I started listening. I have vivid memories of Bill Fitzhugh's comedy show, particularly a skit in which he or Matt is talking to world leaders (including former President Nixon) on the telephone; if he ever makes Radio Free Comedy available for purchase or download, I'll be first in line. T-shirts? Absolutely, I'll take a couple. Keep it simple: use the "wings" logo and the tag line "Tomorrow's Hits...Today". Or perhaps "Gone...But Not Forgotten." Some time ago, I created a streaming radio station of 2nd Wave Ska classics, many of which were played on KJET when they were new. It's a premium station on Live365, so I think only registered/paying users can listen, but you're welcome to try if you wish. It can be found at http://www.live365.com/stations/247784. Thanks for a wonderful site!
Chris Rimple <chrisrimple@yahoo.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Saturday, January 04, 2003 at 08:47:48 (CST)
It's 1987. Lunch time. I'm out sitting on a rack of sheet alluminum in one of the Kenworth Truck Co. warehouses on East Marginal. Me, my radio and Bill Reid having lunch. Nobody else wants to join me because I listen to that "wierd" radio station. KJET was my indoctrination to alternative rock back when alternative truly was just that. Much to the chagrin of my hard rock buddies (KISW & KXRX listeners), the changes in my musical preferences were swift and sure. No one where else back then (or still) did such great tunes populate the spinlist. No other station has had as much effect on my record collection. And the local Seattle music scene was delivered to me via AM 1600 during the week thanks to Bill's championing of local bands. I suppose he and the Jet are at least partially to blame for many late and hazy weekend nights at the Central. Thanks for the time warp Brent. Long live the Jet!
Rick <stoffer@earthlink.net>
Puyallup, WA USA - Sunday, December 01, 2002 at 17:00:05 (CST)
Just dropping by to let all of you know that there's a radio station in Salt Lake City in the KJET spirit. Check it out: http://www.kjq.com It's an actual New Wave radio station in the 21st century with a little modern Britpop. Yes, a real commercial station you can listen to over the Net as well. Highly recommended.
Michael Sutton <knowitallmedia@yahoo.com>
USA - Friday, November 29, 2002 at 23:48:56 (CST)
Apologies for my KJET site being off-line! When Yahoo! bought GeoCities, they froze most of the sites, so I couldn't update it anymore. Apparently, they finally took it down altogether. One of my 2003 New Year's resolutions is to finish it, but in the meantime, I will try to get it back on the Web. I donated a bunch of stuff (master tapes of shows, my staff sweatshirt, a complete set of playlists, an antenna ball, etc.) to EMP before they opened. Still see a few of my fellow DJs around town (Thad a couple of weeks ago, owe Debbie Paine a return call). Some of my favorite memories are the birthday party at Belle-Lanes, with the Young Fresh Fellows, Green Pajamas and free bowling; poking fun at our sister station, KZOK, and getting away with it; doing a drive-by of the UW's Greek Row with Bill Reid (we threw antenna balls at unsuspecting residents); the KJET Computer Bulletin Board (we were on-line before anyone knew how to pronounce "modem")--wonder what happened to that TRS-80? and getting to hang out with cool folks such as Robyn Hitchcock, Hoodoo Gurus, the Pandoras, Camper Van Beethoven and Mojo Nixon. Thanks for helping keep the memory alive!
Mike Fuller, your pal (who used to be) on the radio <mikefuller@brandx.net>
Seattle, WA USA - Tuesday, November 26, 2002 at 17:13:55 (CST)
I've really been listening a lot to KEXP lately. They've really been playing a pretty consistent mix of (for lack of a better word) alternative music. And not the metal-rap stuff that passes for alternative on The End, but stuff like Interpol with a sound that really harkens back to the alternative post-wave 80's.
Brent
Seattle, WA USA - Monday, September 23, 2002 at 14:14:36 (CDT)
We were breaking the rules, we were gonna change the world, men wore makeup, and just two or three earrings were good enough. I listen to the thriving ghosts of KJET and compare it to the depressed life of KNND, what a contrast. I can't wait for my kid to grow up and hit the Neo-Romantic revival I just know is coming.
Glenn Barfield <glebar@microsoft.com>
Duvall, WA USA - Wednesday, September 11, 2002 at 13:32:15 (CDT)
Boy this brings back memories. I moved to Seattle in 1986 to be with my girlfriend. Our radios never left KJET. So many great bands got played there and nowhere else. I remember listening the last day when things got a little out of hand. I seem to recall the station changed to "cool" something. They kept playing "We're through being cool". And CVB singing, "Let's get high with the radio on". Sign me up for T-shirts, bumper stickers, whatever!
BoB
Seattle, WA USA - Tuesday, August 27, 2002 at 11:05:15 (CDT)
Bumperstickers would be pretty easy. I'm looking into printing up some t-shirts. I'll get a quote on bumperstickers at the same time. Send me mail if you want to be on a list to hear about t-shirts when they are available and possibly have a chance to vote on t-shirt designs.
Brent Aliverti
USA - Tuesday, July 16, 2002 at 14:30:47 (CDT)
Hey,Lets print up some KJET bumper stickers!
CJ
Seattle, WA USA - Tuesday, July 16, 2002 at 13:01:28 (CDT)
Wow! This is an awesome idea. Thanks so much for letting us relive our memories...I was a devoted fan of the irreplacable KYYX, and their going off the air devastated me. However, that is when I discovered KJET and its Flight Crew. I was so excited to find more great music, music that was different from anything played on the radio. I felt like I was privileged to be part of something so great! In 1985, my family moved to Alaska, right during my Senior Yr. in high school--and imagine my surprise when I could (barely) get KJET on the AM dial !! It was faint, fuzzy, mangled, but totally worth it. You can't imagine how much better it made me feel, because of course Alaska had NOTHING like it. Peace & Cheers!
angie wanke
albuquerque, nm USA - Friday, July 12, 2002 at 16:23:39 (CDT)
My two earliest memories of KJET as a saleperson were the ferris wheel like automation system and all the junior high girls who waited outside the building to meet the Cure. I also remember a couple advertisers I got to sign up with the Jet: John Fluvog Shoes and Free Mars Cafe. I was mainly employed by sister station KZOK, but I preferred KJET's music by far. Many of us believed that they should have swapped frequencies, putting the Jet on 102.5 and banishing KZOK to AM hell. I still believe it could have worked. Both stations were owned by the SRO theater chain, one of the most innept an shortsighted broadcast owners in Seattle radio history. I went on to sell for KISW and hook up with old pals Bill Reid and Damon. Then KXRX and WPLY in Philadelphia, a decent modern alternative station.
Bob Weiss <BobEarlW@msn.com>
Agoura Hills, CA USA - Monday, July 01, 2002 at 15:07:02 (CDT)
I recall going to LA for the Rose Bowl in what I guess was '80 and listening to KROQ down there and thinking, "Why doesn't Seattle have a station playing this kind of music?" We came back and discovered KJET, and lived happily ever after. Thanks for the tribute site.
Tom Wilson <dardardeluxe@hotmail.com>
New York, NY USA - Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 07:57:35 (CDT)
My KJET/KYYX days were truly great memories for me. I was attending Bible college up by Pine Lake in Issaquah and was one of the few rebels to listened to popular music. Wouldn't have missed it for the world.Thanks for keeping these memories alive, Brent!!
C. Douglas Tobola <cloy@tobola.com>
Fargo, ND USA - Friday, June 21, 2002 at 02:28:52 (CDT)
Yes, KJET definitely shaped my tastes in music as well (with a little help from the old KCMU). When I was learning how to drive back in 1985, my dad and I got into his classic Mercedes Benz and started to head down to the store (much emphasis on the word down). Well, a few blocks down the road, I turned on "The Jet," which was quickly silenced by my dad in fear of having the radio promote an accident. I was pissed! So, I accelerated the car down a two block, very steep hill. It was the ride of rides for both of us! Needless to say, I walked home from the store. It is too bad that The Jet is gone. What is even more of a tragedy is that there are no other stations around that play true alternative music; both The End and KCMU (now KEXP) have dropped the ball.
Buzz <e@witchcraft.zzn.com>
Mercer Island, WA USA - Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 13:47:26 (CDT)
Gahd, this site brings back memories! I got hooked on KJET when I heard Alternating Boxes cover of "Dog Town" way back in 1984. My love affair with the station contined until that last week in August of '88 when they played "Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head".KJET shaped my musical tastes and I am so grateful to all the DJ's who put in so much time and effort.Thank you.
stacey lester <s3ad@attbi.com>
seattle, wa USA - Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 00:45:57 (CDT)
I was a total New Wave junkie in the early 80's. I went from listening to soft rock on KJR to listening to all the New Wave stuff on KYYX. I remember I went on vaction for 2 weeks and was absolutely MORTIFIED to find that KYYX was off the air when I came home. I wandered in radio wasteland until...glory of glories...I came upon 1600 KJET. Finally...I could listen to music that I loved again. KJET got me through highschool. I can remember singing "This is not a love song" and my friends would look at me like I was out of my mind. They didn't play that stuff on KISW!! KJET will always be a fond part of my growing up. Bless all of the flight crew wherever they are, and Thanks for maitaining this website. It's really great.
Laura K.
Portland, OR USA - Tuesday, April 16, 2002 at 15:37:04 (CDT)
Just wanted to say hi and thanks to all the listeners out there for checking out the stations and posting the guestbook. It's fun to read everyone's KJET memories. Regards, Brent
Brent Aliverti
Seattle, WA USA - Thursday, April 11, 2002 at 14:31:48 (CDT)
Thank you so much for creating a tribute site! KJET was my favorite radio station when I was in high school - it introduced me to some wonderful music I wouldn't have been able to hear elsewhere. I can't even count the number of times I stayed awake late at night trying to twist and turn my radio *just so* to get the best reception possible. (Daytime reception was nearly impossible except while out driving.) I recorded a number of tapes mostly of songs but I managed to snag some promos and humor bits as well. Again, thanks so much for this site! It feels like KJET isn't lost forever anymore!
Kylenn Imri <kylenn@earthlink.net>
Seattle, WA USA - Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at 01:31:38 (CST)
I loved KJET. I had a '63 Rambler with an AM radio. I never wanted or needed FM because I had KJET. I remember the Monday night concerts. I won a Jimmy Silva album by catching a wiffle ball that was hit out into the audience by Joey Kline. I later became friends with Jimmy Silva. I miss him too.
Bill Metteer <wilmet@safeco.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Saturday, March 09, 2002 at 12:20:10 (CST)
My name is Dave. I live in Erie, PA and here in Erie we had a station, WJET AM 1400. It was a top 40 station that helped shape my young adult years. Much like KJET, WJET was a great station. Now, the powers that be have made it a talk station. I guess the misconception that "music belongs on FM and talk belongs on AM" is alive and well much to my dismay.
David Berchtold <berch@erie.net>
Erie, PA USA - Thursday, February 28, 2002 at 23:26:23 (CST)
I am so glad I found this site! I dont know why but on a whim I typed in KJET and found your page. I live in Vancouver and could only listen to KJET after midnight.I would have to wrap my extension cord around the antenna to get better reception or lean it against something metallic.I really missed listening to a station like this. I had considered taping the shows but sound really was too poor to bother. Thank you so much for providing this.
Shirley <flowernrg@yahoo.com>
Vancouver, BC Canada - Thursday, February 07, 2002 at 13:57:41 (CST)
I remember KJET being the only cool station to play the new music after KYYX sold out and went AOR. The reception wasn't all that great out in Renton but I strained my ears and listened. When I joined the Army in '87 that was the last I would hear from the Rock of the '80's, but it was a great time.
JP Lowe <jpl0205@aol.com>
Ft. Lewis, WA USA - Tuesday, February 05, 2002 at 18:34:06 (CST)
My writing partner, Matt Hansen, and I wrote, produced, and voiced a show called Radio Free Comedy that ran on KJET in 1983. Steve Larson was the PD at the time and put the show on the air. It ran for about 6 months, three days a week with an hour special at the end of the run. We also placed it on a couple of other stations around the country (including the first all-comedy radio station, WJOK in Gathersburg, MD (Washington, DC market) and later KLAF around Salt Lake (I think).There is some history of the show on the following page of my website:http://www.billfitzhugh.com/radiofree.html
Bill Fitzhugh <bfitzhugh@earthlink.net>
Los Angeles, CA USA - Tuesday, January 22, 2002 at 23:28:18 (CST)
Whoah, Mike Fuller's Website seems to be toast? Anyone happen to archive it or anything?
Shay Bockmann
Seattle, WA USA - Monday, January 21, 2002 at 02:14:55 (CST)
Awesome website! I have been trying to retrieve the KJET music memories I enjoyed from '82 to '85 before graduating from UW and heading off to the Air Force. I was just hoping to find a KJET playlist when I searched Google and ended up hitting the jackpot: your site. Like other listeners, KJET shaped my musical tastes for years. Just today I heard a song on your station that I'd been humming for years, never knowing the title or artist (XTC's "Wonderland"). Thanks for bringing this about. It's like finding a long, lost friend.
John <jtburt62@attbi.com>
Kirkland, WA USA - Sunday, January 20, 2002 at 00:41:29 (CST)
I had the pleasure of listening to KJET's last year when I returned to Washington State from the Philippines. We had three New Wave stations in the Philippines, in stereo and on the FM dial, that were even more adventurous than KJET. However, KJET will always occupy a special place in my heart, and I'm desperately searching for more KJET broadcasts on tape. Pls let me know if you're searching for KJET songs, and I might be able to help in exchange for KJET tapes. Check out the link below to KJET-like broadcasts: http://www.neographix.com/xb102/sounds/xbtest_1.htm
Sincerely,Michael Sutton
Michael Sutton <XB_102FM@yahoo.com>
Tacoma, Wa USA - Tuesday, January 01, 2002 at 18:28:38 (CST)
I can't believe I found this site. I lived in Seattle for a year as a high school freshman in 1985. It took me a while but after our family discovered KJET we finally found our kind of radio station (Imagine listening to KUBE or KISW all day...)A lot of the music I still hear today was discovered on KJET and I really miss that true "alternative" feel, before R.E.M. became big and Depeche Mode became cool. My favorite KJET story is that after falling in love with "Working on my Love" by Polyrock that we heard on a KJET tape we had mailed to us in Israel, we sent a letter to the station inquiring about the song(how did we ever live without Internet?) and expressing my father's undying love for Debbie Payne, and amazingly received by mail about a month later a kind reply attached to the Polyrock EP (on Vinyl ofcourse). We still listen to a few of those tapes - we have about 4 hours worth.
chen duksin <chenduksin@hotmail.com>
Israel, Tel Aviv - Friday, December 14, 2001 at 10:35:58 (CST)
This is a wonderful site! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who still misses a radio station that's been gone for nearly 15 years. No radio station since has held my loyalty enough to not touch that dial.About 8 months after KJET went off the air, I found myself with a cat whom I named Kjet in tribute.
sonja jo k-b
seattle, wa USA - Wednesday, November 28, 2001 at 15:47:04 (CST)
I was a huge, faithful fan of KJET in the 80's and was extremely sad when it went off the air. I was attending U.W. in 1987 and bought all of my records at the used record stores along the "Ave", based on what I listened to (and fell in love with) on KJET. I still have all of those records, of course. In addition to the amazingly great music, I also got a kick out of the little "ditties" they would play between songs (i.e., excerpts from old movies, or musicals, like "Westside Story" -- "...the jets!"). (Consequently, I would also buy old movie, musical, or t.v. show records, too! I have a funky Star Trek record of sound-alike actors recreating a t.v. show episode.) Sometime around 1990 I made a tape "in honor" of KJET (so that I could listen to it whenever I wanted to remember) including songs from XTC/Dukes of Stratosphere, Aztec Camera, the Church, Kissing the Pink, Chameleons UK, and obscure "one hit wonders" like "Postcards From Paradise". I was just listening to that tape last week, feeling a bit nostalgic. Running across your website today (11/27/01) was a fantastic thing! You are extraordinarily cool for putting up this site. Thank you.... a thousand times, thank you. --Heather Hull (Seattle musician, and ex-violinist for Young Composers Collective, local group now called DAE)
Heather Hull <hlhull@nwlink.com>
- Tuesday, November 27, 2001 at 15:12:02 (CST)
People always wonder why I am not familiar with the butt rock of the 80's. The truth is because I had the priviledge of listening to KJET. I was young, so I have to admit that I LIKED liking "different" music. As a musician now, I am so glad I was exposed to more than Def Leppard and Winger as influences.Bring it back!
Lisa <lisa@cyclonekillers.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Monday, November 05, 2001 at 15:50:38 (CST)
Hello from a former member of the KJET Flight Crew, Thaddeus the NewsGod. KJET was the very best job I've ever had, in or out of broadcasting. After it went down, I eventually quit broadcasting altogether. Until July of 2001, I was the Editorial Producer of AtomFilms, and have recently gone back to college to get a degree in Technical Writing...and to re-discover my ability to rock...and to see if I can get through it without going to class stoned once. Thanks, y'all.
Thaddeus Gunn <audie_murphy70@hotmail.com>
Seattle, WA USA - Saturday, September 29, 2001 at 11:35:48 (CDT)
Glad to see even more KJET stuff than the last time I stopped by here like a year ago. I've got quite a bit of glorious Mono KJET tapes I've been meaning to convert to some sort of digital mono goodness. (Or at least all the bumpers, IDs, and DJ stuff)-Shay
Shay Bockmann <charron@eudoramail>
Seattle, WA USA - Friday, September 21, 2001 at 23:13:26 (CDT)
Okay, I'll give $5 to anyone with early KJET tapes. Contact me and we'll sort it out. I desperatly want to hear anything from 82 to 86. Was anyone else recording out there?
Bleek Swinney <speckfanzine@yahoo.com>
Vancouver, BC Canada - Tuesday, September 04, 2001 at 15:19:32 (CDT)
Greetings from a former member of the flight crew. My time spent at KJET is one of my fondest broadcast memories. (Except for having to come down on Sunday to try to fix the automation because I lived the closest to the station)
Mike Bell <mikebell@clearchannel.com>
Bakersfield, Ca USA - Monday, August 06, 2001 at 18:31:22 (CDT)
i never could pick up KJET where i lived (packwood, wa.) but i did listen when our grade school kids would go to ft. flaggler (i was the councellor), and i had the radio on KJET, since KYYX at that time was already off the air, well, it became KKMI
timothy <mattbwo@hotmail.com>
centralia, wa USA - Wednesday, August 01, 2001 at 01:49:49 (CDT)
KJET is still the greatest station I have ever listened to. Growing up in Seattle, I had graduated high school in ’82. That summer, my friends and I spent our days at the beach and evenings partying. I guess you could say that KJET provided the music score for an unforgettable summer and the year and a half that followed before I joined the Navy. I returned to the Northwest in the fall of ’88 to start college and, of course, listened to KJET. However, it was only several weeks later that I sat in my car in total disbelief while I listened to the DJ sign the station off the air. Like any great tragedy in one’s life, I’ll always remember exactly where I was. The station introduced me to a genre of music that has since been the center of my music collection. “Black coffee in Bed” is just one of dozens of songs to which I remember my friends, the good times and KJET. Also, I often recall the humor of the DJ’s and the between-songs sound clips. Now, whenever the subject of radio stations come up in conversation I never missed an opportunity to brag about this “choice” station and the great music they played. When I stumbled upon Brent’s tribute site nearly a year ago I was astounded to see that there are other people who have fond memories and a great appreciation for KJET. Thanks Brent for this tribute (and also to those with the other KJET sites).
Brian <bsbaber@home.com>
Spokane, WA USA - Monday, July 23, 2001 at 03:36:43 (CDT)
I used to live in Vancouver in the mid 80's and remember listening to KJET every night, as it was a welcome change from lg 73 and AM 106. When we left the northwest I was sad to not be able to hear the jet. When we moved back to western Canada, this time to Calgary in 1988, we were able to get the jet at night actually a lot better than we could in Seattle. Thanks for bringing back the memories by this tribute site. Radio hasn't been the same since the jet last took off. Mimo
mimo <jnmimo@hotmail.com>
fairfield, ia USA - Tuesday, July 10, 2001 at 21:31:29 (CDT)
Great site! When I was 13, I remember first listening to KJET in the evenings when I was living in Republic, Washington. An almost isolated place in the eastern half of the state. The evenings and early mornings were the only time I could pick up KJET and first heard bands like Echo and the Bunnymen, Wire Train, The Ramones, B52's, etc. It gave me a good musical education despite living (not by choice!) in the sticks! I listened from 1981 to 1984 when I finally left Eastern Washington to live in San Francisco. So thank you KJET for saving my sanity! John
John Phillips <neo2000@earthlink.net>
Tacoma, WA USA - Sunday, July 08, 2001 at 16:15:51 (CDT)
I remember tuning into KJET in 1982 and being drawn back into modern music. I'd given up on the rock thing years ago. It was all too bloated and disgusting and said "nothing to me about my life". I went to broadcasting school the next year. KJET was with me everywhere I went. I modelled my radio show at KUPS Tacoma around the KJET sound. A misguided and directionless youth, I wound up in the Air Force and found myself in places like N. Dakota and Korea. Needless to say, I was starved for the 'JET. I would go home on leave now and then and make many KJET tapes for my time away. These tapes have been lovingly kept for all these years and now some of the station IDs and whatnot can be found on my KJET tribute site (KJET Black Box - The First 3 Years)on Live365. Thanks to Brent for making me see that there just might be a few listeners if I built my own station of KJET's highlites! I still do some radio on CiTR 101.9 in Vancouver though the music is certainly more updated. Change is good too.I'd be very interested in trading KJET tapes with anyone who may have some!!
Bleek <speckfanzine@yahoo.com>
Vancouver, BC Canada - Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 19:00:08 (CDT)
Welcome to the KJET guestbook! Please add any memories or comments you have regarding the station. Thanks! Regards, Brent
Brent Aliverti
Seattle, WA USA - Friday, June 29, 2001 at 04:14:49 (CDT)
Back to the KJET Tribute page
Guestbook Script created by Matt Wright and can be found at
Matt's Script Archive