Several stars passed through KISN in its Top 40 years, including 'The Real' Don Steele, who came to KISN from KOIL. Star also filed that year for an FM station on 103.3 FM in Portland. In January 1966, KISN was allowed to increase power to 5,000 watts and relocate its transmitter site to 4615 NE 158th Avenue, east of the Portland International Airport with power increased to 5,000 directional watts. Three years later, the commission ordered the station to cease and desist from linking itself to Portland on its air and fined the station $20,000. However, it was still licensed to Vancouver, and its attempts to identify as a Portland station resulted in an FCC fine of $2,000 in 1962. During one rating book in 1963, the station held 86 percent of the audience. KISN was Portland's first Top 40 station, and it was an immediate success, finishing first in the ratings in 1960. Later during that year, the 'KISN Corner' opened at 10th and West Burnside streets, featuring a street-level studio where passersby could look in. After stunting with a 24-hour loop of 'Teenage Bill of Rights' by Robby John and the Seven-Teens, which listed as 'terrible music', and asked listeners in the listening area, 'Do you want a revolution?', KVAN became a 'new' Top 40 station, with its call-letters changed to KISN on May 1, 1959, with a $40,000 promotion blitz and plans to move the entire studio setup to Portland. Burden wasted no time changing everything at KVAN. For Sackett, the sale of KVAN was about focusing on the newspaper business at the same time, he sold another holding, KROW in Oakland, California, to Gordon McLendon. Burden and owned stations in Omaha, Denver and Pocatello, Idaho, for $580,000. In 1959, Sackett sold KVAN to the Star Stations, which was headed by Don W. The tabloid did not materialize, either by late 1956, KVAN was engaged in a fight to move the channel 2 allocation from Portland across the Columbia River in an attempt to move from UHF to VHF. In 1955, Sackett announced he would open a new tabloid newspaper in Portland to complement KVAN-AM-TV by this point, the station was allowed to originate 51 percent of its programming from its Portland transmitter. KVAN prevailed, and though Sackett predicted that KVAN-TV would go on the air January 15, 1954, it did not. Scott Telecasters, owners of KGON (1520 AM). In 1952, it filed an application for the channel 21 allocation to Portland opposite the one made by Mt. KVAN planned for a venture into television in the early 1950s. He financed his own first single, ' No Place for Me' the record was backed with 'Lumberjack' written by Leon Payne, who was also a DJ at the station. īy the early 1950s, KVAN aired a country and western format Willie Nelson was one of the DJs. At the time, state law did not allow liquor advertising before 10 p.m., and that prompted the station to lose the advertiser. Despite being a Washington company running a station licensed to Washington, when the station took advertising from a Washington brewery, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission claimed jurisdiction over the station because the transmitter was in Oregon. For the station, that posed a regulatory problem.

While KVAN's studios were in Vancouver, the transmitter had been moved to the Oregon side of the state line after going to 1,000 watts in 1947.

The station stayed on the air during the 1948 flood of the Columbia River by hoisting its transmitter to the ceiling. Instead, three years later, the commission allowed the station to broadcast with 1,000 watts day and night. Two years later, Sackett filed to move KVAN to 930 kHz and broadcast at night for the first time, but this was denied by the FCC. Read retired in 1940, and Sackett bought back the shares the next year, KVAN was authorized for a power increase to 500 watts. The station initially broadcast with 250 watts during the day only it changed frequencies to 910 kHz in 1941 when NARBA took effect. Sackett, who promptly sold a majority share in the new outlet to its first manager, Walter L. It operated on 880 kHz and was built by Sheldon F.

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