Last week David Brewster, publisher of Crosscut, reported the local, online journal had hit a rough patch due to the expiration of grant funding.
“We could lose Crosscut,” the founder of the Seattle Weekly wrote, though Brewster’s main message stated they are cutting back over the summer and re-tooling for the future.
While the comparison is not apples to apples, another Northwest icon with more history, KING- FM 98.1, appears to be on a sustainable growth path one year after switching to a listener-supported business model.
The broadcasts station from the Century Building at 10 Harrison St. Launched in 1948, the classical music format was particularly dear to the heart of KING Broadcasting co-owner Dorothy Bullitt. Since 1994, Beethoven, a non-profit foundation formed through a partnership between the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera and ArtsFund, has owned the station.
The commercial pitches were dropped last year on May 2.
“We had complaints for years that the commercials didn’t fit the tone of the station,” recalled Jennifer Ridewood, KING-FM general manager “People would say, ‘Why can’t you get them to cut a nice spot?’”
Facing dwindling advertising revenues, “In 2009 the board asked us to start putting together a plan,” Ridewood said.
Trips to cities with classical music stations around the country followed, which included Los Angeles, New York City and Washington D.C. Ridewood said the message was the same: The commercial free, underwriting model, with brief, toned down sponsorship messages was the way to go.
Ridewood said KING-FM draws some 250,000 listeners in its broadcast area between Olympia and the Canadian border. The switch to commercial free radio came with a goal of bringing 10 percent of those weekly listeners on board as members. Classical music stations around the country average about $100 per member donation, she said, but her station is currently averaging $110 and is on track to reach 15,000 members by the end of this year. The station’s five-year plan, given a boost with a $250,000 gift from the Gates Foundation and $100,000 from Harriett Bullitt, among others, plus $1 million from nearly 100 “leadership donors,” means the station is well positioned to achieve its goal of 25,000 members by 2016.
Ridewood, 51, started out with KING Broadcasting in 1983 as a receptionist in accounting. “I wanted a career. I majored in history at the University of Washington. So I knew I had to work hard,” she said.
KING paid Ridewood’s way to earn her MBA. Afterwards, she worked for a KING property in San Francisco, which broadcast Oakland Athletics games and oldies.
KING Broadcasting was sold in 1992, but Priscilla Bullitt Collins and Harriett Bullitt, Dorothy Bullitt’s daughters, kept the KING-FM and AM stations for two years, and invited Ridewood back to Seattle to work as business manager.
“I have a love of the mission and of the radio station,” Ridewood said.
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