Jackson Dell Weaver said:
The Whale, KWLE in Anacortes is not actively for sale, from what I've heard. But it seems to be be rather casually run - and the 15 minutes of dialog around cool '80s bands I heard the other day would indicate it's more of a personal jukebox than a serious local radio venture. The do some good local sports coverage however and thier web effort is scattered but well intentioned. Frankly, a good retirement station.
However, anything has a price - but The Whale is probably underwater at any price.
In KWLE's defense, I will say for whatever the format is today (a sort of alt-JACK-FM) it sure beats the canned satellite stuff. It can be classified better as a "alternative variety hits" station than Hot AC. And KWLE actually does have listeners (Heard them in Bellingham and in Burlington on other people's radios.) "Casually run" might even have it's benefits. Being on AM shouldn't automatically require you by default to run a tight playlist and tight sounding announcers. When you listen to AM music stations in the UK and Australia (and even Canada - the few that remain there), they sound far more like FM stations than they do in the US
But I do agree, they could probably use some better continuity than being all over the map. Northwest Washington is a real hotbed for alt-rock and KWLE does have the advantage of playing a good variety in that end, but the core classic rock material kinda blows it. Any thing that's played on KISM shouldn't be played much on KWLE. The Cars are fine, but so is MGMT. There's also a kickass local scene in Bellingham too and since KWLE comes in loud and clear there 24/7, they can use that to their advantage too. They do host "Whale Jam" on Thursdays and Bellinghamsters would love it more if their local scene was promoted better and have a better mix of local music cuts interspersed with the (and before anyone screams "IT"S AN
ANACORTES STATION YOU BONG SUCKING DIMWIT!!") let me remind everybody that KNDD is licensed as a Seattle station, yet programs towards mall rats in suburbia (Bellevue, Lynnwood, etc.) Case dismissed.
You do have to give them props for finding some lost classics and a few choice album cuts. If their resources are limited - and they probably are, they could make better use of voicetracking. I'd excuse them from that far more than I would a multi-billion dollar corporation.
There's a place for a station like KWLE today on the AM dial (we certainly don't need another damn news/talk station.) and KWLE certainly has a button on my presets. But I think the continuity and imaging can be a tad better.
The REAL problem with AM has never really been in fidelity - although KWLE's AM signal fidelity does have room for improvement, but how it's programmed.......
P.S. Some of you might also be thinking "Oh yeah....I get it...Bong up there want to bring back KJET!". Not so fast. KJET was ahead of it's time and in spite of everything it had going against it, KJET (the 1590 kHz station in Seattle. not the Aberdeen oldies station - sorry Wolf) is still remembered and regarded on the same level as KROQ in being just as influential in '80s rock. Even in these HD digital whatever days, people know a good rock station when they hear it - FM or AM. Nor am I saying bring back the KJET call letters (that would be worth the price alone for 1340 kHz in Anacortes - them's some DAMN valuable call letters!) But I think KWLE can carve it's own niche in rock radio history. Bellingham is poised to become the next Seattle in modern rock (there's already A&R guys from major labels being spotted in the area) and now's a better time than ever to be surfing that wave.......
