I spoke this morning with Bryan Lowe, Program Director of KING-FM, who wanted me to clarify the situation in Seattle. His words:
Our layoffs are a reflection of the state of the economy. We are joining all the other stations in the market and across the country, stations that have had to make tough choices in an effort to become as efficient as they can be. This meant some very tough and painful decisions. There is no doubt we will miss these people, as they were our co-workers AND our friends. The good news is we still have a wonderful staff… all people you’ll hear on the radio and online. KING FM has been on-the-air in Seattle for more than 61 years, and we are doing all we can to continue that mission into the future. We will continue on FM radio, continue with our three HD channels, and continue our five channels online.
There was more positive thinking in the same vein. To me, the downsizing appears to be a decision driven by the KING-FM board.
Commercial classical stations are almost all gone now in this country. The best of them, like WFMT in Chicago, sound and act more like public stations. It’s a worthy model and one that I hope KING-FM will think seriously about. When you realize that 50% of the operating expenses of a public station are paid for by donations from the listeners (income not available to a commercial station), an arts savvy board would think twice about how they structure the station. And KING-FM is already owned by a non-profit Foundation. Just saying…
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I write for a local website here in Seattle and just posted a piece about the cuts at KING-FM (following a phone interview this morning with station manager Jennifer Ridewod). Here’s a link:
http://crosscut.com/blog/crosscut/19109/
thanks,
-Feliks
What Ho? WFMT like a public station. I don’t recognize that idea in sound or concept. WFMT does raise money from listeners but that’s about as far as it goes. It has real advertisements from real paying clients and tie-ins with those clients as well.
The sound of the station is refined and knowledgeable as well as classy—none of those adjectives can usually be applied to public radio.
with thanks,
Plush
I’ve been listening to WFMT for about thirty five years. It is definitely different from other classical stations, both commercial and noncommercial, though not as different as when the late Ray Nordstrand and Norman Pellegrini were in charge.
“Plush Plush” is correct that WFMT has advertising. However, except for political advertising, everything is read exclusively by WFMT program hosts. There are NO JINGLES! Because of that, some advertisers don’t want to advertise on WFMT.
Interspersed with the paid advertising are messages soliciting both additional advertising AND membership in the WFMT Fine Arts Circle, which provides approximately half of what it takes to operate the station.