KONG (TV)

KONG

ATSC 3.0 station
Everett–Seattle–Tacoma, Washington United States
City	Everett, Washington
Channels	Digital: 31 (UHF) Virtual: 16
Branding	KONG
Programming
Affiliations	16.1: Independent for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Tegna Inc. (KONG-TV, Inc.)
Sister stations	KING-TV
History
First air date	July 7, 1997 (27 years ago) (1997-07-07)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 16 (UHF, 1997–2009)
Call sign meaning	Counterpart of KING, as in King Kong; call sign chosen in 1984, years before KING programmed the station
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	35396
ERP	715 kW
HAAT	232 m (761 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	47°37′54″N 122°21′3″W / 47.63167°N 122.35083°W / 47.63167; -122.35083
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.king5.com

KONG (channel 16) is an independent television station licensed to Everett, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate KING-TV (channel 5). The two stations share studios at the Home Plate Center in the SoDo district of Seattle; KONG's transmitter is located in the city's Queen Anne neighborhood.

Plans for KONG dated as far back as the early 1980s, when a San Francisco–based investor group obtained the construction permit for a new station in Everett. The group secured the call sign KONG—over threats by KING-TV to sue—and set up a studio, but the station never launched. A dispute over the tower site on Cougar Mountain and difficulty securing financing scuttled the project. The permit was sold to Zeus Corporation of Washington and lay dormant until KING-TV agreed to program the new station in 1996. KONG went on the air in 1997, relying heavily on classic TV series for its programming. It has become a secondary conduit for local news and sports programming from KING-TV; the first newscast on KONG debuted in 1999, and over the years, teams including the Seattle Sonics, Seattle Storm, and Seattle Sounders FC aired their games on KONG. Presently, the station is the broadcast home for Seattle Reign FC and the Seattle Kraken. It is one of two ATSC 3.0 stations in the Seattle market.