In December 1979, Radio KDNA, based in the Yakima Valley in Granger, Washington, goes on the air. Radio KDNA is the first radio station to dedicate its entire programming to the Spanish-speaking popul...
On December 15, 1979, a total of 103,152 Boeing employees and their families attend a company Christmas party in Seattle's Kingdome. The party is so large it is split into two events to accommodate th...
The Census Bureau continues to refine its methodology in the 1980 census, with nearly 95 percent of the U.S. population now counted using only a "mail-out/mail-back" questionnaire. Another major chang...
In 1980, the U.S. Coast Guard opens its National Motor Lifeboat School at Ilwaco. This builds on a history of wreck and rescue at the mouth of the Columbia River, often dubbed the Graveyard of the Pac...
In April 1980, Tim Patterson of Seattle Computer Products in Tukwila, writes QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) for the Intel 8086 microprocesser (or chip), at the time the most advanced chip for...
On April 2, 1980, House of Representatives co-Speaker John Bagnariol (ca. 1932-2009) and Senate Majority Leader Gordon L. Walgren are named in a federal racketeering indictment that charges they consp...
On April 30, 1980, bus driver Harlan Rosford (1917-1995) makes his last run, after 26 years of service between Vashon Island and Seattle. Rosford was well-loved by generations of passengers, and was k...
On May 10, 1980, the three Columbia Basin Irrigation Districts, the Quincy, East, and South Districts, enter into an agreement whereby they will construct, operate, and maintain powerplants at several...
On May 18, 1980 at 8:32 a.m., the earth rumbles underneath Mount St. Helens, a peak in Skamania County in southwestern Washington. Moments later an explosion blasts away a side of the mountain in a ma...
At 8:32 a.m. Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in Southwest Washington ends months of geologic suspense and erupts, blasting tons of Burlington Northern Railroad property into the air and...
On May 19, 1980, Peter P. Bement, a longtime supporter of restoring aviation to the former Naval Air Station in Magnuson Park at Sand Point in Seattle, loses an appeal to set aside the defeat of an in...
On May 20, 1980, two days after the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, some 2,500 motorists -- more than Ritzville's own population -- are stuck in Ritzville. They are jammed into school gyms, ho...