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KPLU Intent to sell to KUOW

fordranger797 said:
I would assume that 94.9 is a MUCH more valuable frequency than 88.5 is for a potential buyer. I could see that happening. Great point!
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94.9 is a commercial frequency so there would be a larger pool of buyers for 94.9. The 88.5 signal has better coverage, but because it is in the reserved band for educational/non profit use, there would not be as many qualified educational/non profit buyers with cash flow to purchase 88.5 with the exception of KEXP or WSU.

94.9 could be sold to KEXP, WSU, Bonneville, Entercom, Hubbard or other commercial or non profit with the funds available or as we say let the bidding war begin for a Seattle commercial FM frequency. A commercial buyer could buy 94.9, 1340 in Tumwater and the Olympia translator on 107.3 from KUOW and do whatever they wanted, like sports, as an example.

I wonder if KUOW would file for some kind of upgrade to cougar for 94.9 so that when they sell, it will have some options for the new buyer, making the 94.9 frequency more attractive since the paper work and engineering cost would be done for a move. We might be a year or two in the future on this discussion but it will be interesting to see what happens in the near future to 94.9
 
Having paid full boat to put 3 kids through UW (no gripe about anything but the $$$), as well as hearing the constant grumbling over how many slots to make available to Washington State students vs out-of-state/country (read: higher tuition)... then the attempt to get the taxpayers to foot the bill for their new stadium, I'm impressed they had an extra 8 mil laying around to buy a (2nd) radio station.

Beyond that, I'm sure there's a grand scheme to all of this. It'll be interesting to watch it all play out.
 
Interesting that KUOW will go from paying little or no rent for the main transmitter site and two translator/lpfm rented sites, to 11 rental transmitter sites. Wonder how long they will want to write all those rental checks and the personal cost to keep them going. Not including the 3 commercial translators not on the new coverage maps and the translator on 90.7 in Bellingham.
 
Well, cost notwithstanding, if they hang on to Lowell & co, they should be in good shape, technically. If they don't make a lot of initial changes and import KPLU's operating and fundraising infrastructure, it shouldn't be that much of a shock to their system.
 
My money is on UW selling of 94.9 in a couple of years and making out like bandits. The 94.9 frequency will bring in millions and will not only pay off the KPLU purchase price, but they will also have a lot of capitol to spare for other ventures. Look at what KMCQ sold for, and they're a class C3. Even with 94.9 moved to Cougar or West Tiger, they will be worth even more than 104.5 ever was.
 
xmtrland said:
Interesting that KUOW will go from paying little or no rent for the main transmitter site and two translator/lpfm rented sites, to 11 rental transmitter sites. Wonder how long they will want to write all those rental checks and the personal cost to keep them going. Not including the 3 commercial translators not on the new coverage maps and the translator on 90.7 in Bellingham.
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Can you provide a link to those new coverage maps? I seem to not be able to locate them.

Thanks.
 
KXA said:
Can you provide a link to those new coverage maps? I seem to not be able to locate them.

Thanks.
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The link is at the top of the KUOW website
Pacific Lutheran University Announces Intent To Sell KPLU 88.5 FM To UW’s KUOW Public Radio is the link scroll down to about half page. Click on them and they will enlarge.

I like the question on that web page.
"Will 88.5 still be involved in community events and activities throughout the Puget Sound region?" The first line of the response is "Absolutely." Which I'm sure 88.5 will absolutely be involved in the community long after they have sold off 94.9
 
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Does anyone know how long the IMG contract is with KOMO to carry the games? Would it expire in say a year or two? What prevents that broadcast from moving to 94.9? Think outside the box here people :)
 
There is also the not-so-hairbrained idea of UW running a commercial station and/or drafting a LMA to another commercial operator as does Haaaavaaard, Brown, Princeton, UVA, U Florida, etc.

I should point out that KOMO-FM is LMA'd still from South Sound Broadcasting to Sinclair/Fisher. They also co-own 98.5 in Olympia, and the new 103.3 in Oak Harbor/Everett. There is the option that once they get the stations going, they won't renew the LMA for 97.7, and want to try and become a player in the Seattle market.

In which case, that would leave KOMO without a FM signal. While not essential, I bet having that 97.7 simulcast helps big. Having a station like 94.9 in mono would provide a better FM signal to a lot of the immediate Seattle suburbs.

However, changing anything regarding non-profits is met with highly vocal derision and skepticism in these parts. Looking at the comments on the P-I regarding this sale; you'd think KPLU was being absorbed into an arm of Dow Chemical or Monsanto, not a "not for profit" state-supported university! (You'd also think KUOW doesn't air any local programming -- people are up in arms on the PI comment section that the lunchtime phone-in is gone!) Apparently KPLU being sold to a university with "big corporate interests" on the board = big corporate interests getting their propaganda on a jazz radio station. I'll have some of whatever these folks are smoking!

University of Washington does not need the cash that selling 94.9 would bring. They also don't need the headaches of long silver-haired Wallingford basement dwellers trying to block the control of 94.9 to a commercial entity. They are one of the largest landholders in the booming area known as downtown Seattle and also run pretty much 75% of the hospital traffic in the city. Selling KUOW to Sinclair or Hubbard would net them probably add about 50% of the rent money they receive from downtown leases in a year's time. Drop in the bucket for them...

However, something tells me 88.5 has a short lifespan as a unique jazz station. I could see the two stations swapping formats (Jazz on 94.9 and current translators, news/talk on 88.5). Eventually, they will claim the all-jazz format with local hosts is "not sustaining enough", so they will drop Seattle-only hosts and run Jazz 24 (Soon to be a UW entity as well!) non-stop. Combined with the revenue they will make off Jazz 24 affiliates, they could turn the "new" KPLU into another "self-sustaining service" (read: money-making) of the UW!

Or, they will dump jazz and run more local news/talk on 88.5. 94.9 could become the new home to a revamped KUOW2 -- with the slate of national NPR talk shows not heard in Seattle, BBC, and PRX programming. Jazz 24 will remain as a moneymaker for UW and will be on one (or both) of the HD2's.

My guess is jazz will be on the radio for the next several years, however. If nothing else as a repeater for Jazz 24 programming.

Radio-X
 
I was reading the article and quotes on the KUOW.org website from Caryn Mathes, the GM of KUOW. For those of you who aren't aware, prior to moving to KUOW, Caryn was the GM of WAMU, pretty much the NPR flagship station from American University in Washington DC. (where I currently reside) Anyway..Ms. Mathes was involved in this same sort of thing while at WAMU. During her tenure at WAMU, she was involved in not only increasing WAMU's overall media coverage footprint through acquisition of distressed stations and translators, but also development of a Bluegrass music format that originally was carried on the WAMU HD2 channel. Later the Bluegrass format was also carried on an FM translator in the DC area as well. KUOW is lucky to have her there.

Based on what I've seen Caryn do with the significant growth of WAMU over the six years I've been here, her track record of creating a dominant public media footprint in the #5 market like Washington DC, will probably carry through with the KUOW/KPLU merger. I'm still willing to bet with her track record, won't include a sale of 94.9.
 
I'd actually like for the UW to keep 94.9 and move their transmitter to the shared KPLU site to help clear up the terrain signal issues. (Granted a move would not remove all, but it would help.) Or what if the UW bought an under performing AM like they did in Tumwater and simulcasted? (KFNQ comes to mind.)
 
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xmtrland said:
The link is at the top of the KUOW website
Pacific Lutheran University Announces Intent To Sell KPLU 88.5 FM To UW’s KUOW Public Radio is the link scroll down to about half page. Click on them and they will enlarge.

I like the question on that web page.
"Will 88.5 still be involved in community events and activities throughout the Puget Sound region?" The first line of the response is "Absolutely." Which I'm sure 88.5 will absolutely be involved in the community long after they have sold off 94.9
Click to expand...

I'm running ad blocking software and the software thought the coverage map was advertising. That's why I missed it...go figure.
 
Hold it, it's far too soon to talk about the UW selling 94.9. That might happen this time next year or in 2017 or beyond, but I highly doubt we'll see that in the next year.
 
That's a very interesting article. Recent history indicates that any college radio station is ripe for sale. Colleges need money, radio stations cost money. Private colleges are not in the radio business. Especially those with religious missions.
 
KXA said:
I'd actually like for the UW to keep 94.9 and move their transmitter to the shared KPLU site to help clear up the terrain signal issues. (Granted a move would not remove all, but it would help.) Or what if the UW bought an under performing AM like they did in Tumwater and simulcasted? (KFNQ comes to mind.)
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I don't think it would be advisable to move KUOW up to Tiger. The reason is that the Tiger signals have so much multipath and a few shadows bouncing around here in Downtown Seattle and also along I-5 from Tukwila to Seattle, as well as stretches of I-405 from Newport Hills through Renton. A far better move, and one I advocated 2 years ago on this board, is for KUOW to move to Cougar Mtn. At Cougar you have direct line-of-sight into the heart of Seattle (and the Eastside). KUOW's core audience is in the Seattle-Bellevue-Mercer Island areas with the older, professional/managerial-class folks. Cougar fits the bill to get a better signal out of the frequency. Electricity costs would be much less then what they have now going from 100,000 watts down to maybe 50 Kilowatts. I probably would keel over dead after reading their current, monthly Seattle City Light bill (at their Madison site).

Yes, you can supplement your signal with low-power translators but that in of itself is not a proper solution. The reason for this is that the translators, though useful for in-car listening, probably aren't a good strategy for delivering a strong, quality signal to your bedside nightstand radio. Many people, including myself, wake up to KUOW and I doubt a low-power translator offers good penetration into homes. There are exceptions, like the 250 watt grandfathered West Seattle translator, though in that case the smart choice would be to continue rebroadcasting KPLU to catch all those living along the westerly ridge from West Seattle all through Normandy Park and onward to Federal Way and North Tacoma.

But then of course lies the dilemma. Both main-line signals, 88.5 and 94.9 do not do well on that westerly swath of land described above. This is mostly Puget Sound view property with expensive homes and a corresponding professional/managerial class of listeners.

Should KUOW desire to be serious about delivering a top-notch news product as well as gaining a larger share of the radio market, they will have to seriously consider moving their transmit site higher in HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain) to Cougar Mtn.

Before TV there was RADIO. We must never forget this fact. Even though KCTS Channel 9 owns the tower which holds KUOW, it was KUOW that had the radio service before TV was invented. TV Channel 9 was at one time licensed by the University of Washington (along with KUOW). I am absolutely positive that there is a "sweetheart" deal regarding KUOW leasing on the KCTS tower. I would venture to guess that there is no payment (or maybe just utilities and a pro-rata share of the real estate taxes) due to KCTS each month. Perhaps someone on this board knows the answer to this question.

So, though agonizing for KUOW, they must absolutely consider moving their transmit site up to Cougar. If this signal is going to be the only full-service NPR signal in the market, they must do this.
 
What confounds me is why some here would think that KUOW would want to pay expensive rent on either Cougar/Tiger Mt. locations. The University of Washington will eventually be on the hook for paying rent to Entercom for the KPLU's main and backup sites on Cougar and Tiger anyway. Why would they want to move KUOW? Makes zero sense.
 
Doesn't matter. Advisory Boards aren't the same as a Board of Regions or Board of Directors. As BigA rightfully pointed out, Pacific Lutheran University is a private college and handles their financial dealings accordingly.
 
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