KVAN and Willie Nelson

This two story brick building at the northeast corner of Main Street and 7th Street in downtown Vancouver, Washington currently serves as office space and has had various tenants throughout its life. As can be seen in the historical photo below from the 1940s, the top floor tenant was KVAN, one of the city's earliest radio stations. In its original incarnation, KVAN operated from 1939 to 1959, before relocating to Portland and rebranding as Top 40 station KISN. The KVAN call letters currently belong to a Spanish station in the Tri-Cities area.

Photo credit: Vanishing Vancouver by Pat Jollota

The station had a country and western format in the 1950s, and one of its DJs was the soon-to-be famous Willie Nelson. He hosted a daily show on the station called "The Western Express" and often played gigs at The Wagon Wheel in Camas. Nelson did not remain in Vancouver long, but he did manage to notch some significant life and career milestones during his time here. In addition to purchasing his first house in Vancouver, he also celebrated the birth of his second daughter here and recorded his debut single "No Place for Me" in the KVAN studio. Perhaps the opening lines of the song were inspired by the mighty Columbia River and our cold winter winds:

Your love is as cold as the north wind blows
And the river that runs to the sea
How can I go on when your only love is gone
I can see this is no place for me

There are no longer any visible reminders of Nelson's time in Vancouver. The building across the street from the former KVAN studios once boasted a mural dedicated to him (pictured below), but that has since been painted over.

Photo credit: Dale Chumbley

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