Following WQXR New York and WCRB Boston's sales to public broadcasters (WNYC and WGBH, respectively) last year, KING-FM in Seattle, which has been owned by a not-for-profit group since the AM and TV stations with the historic set of calls were sold in the 90s (the TV, NBC's Seattle affil for decades, is currently owned by Belo, the AM is owned by CBS and is now progressive talk KPTK), is intending to drop its commercial status by July 1, 2011 and become a non-commercial, listener-supported station, as the new ratings personal people meters continue to wreak havoc on niche radio formats and revenue drops:
http://crosscut.com/2010/03/23/broadcasting/19693/ The not-for-profit that runs KING-FM is connected to the family that once owned the KING stations in Seattle (and in the Pacific Northwest)--profits from KING-FM were funneled to local classical music organizations and this year for the first time since the station went NFP, there were no profits to funnel. There are only 18 commercial radio stations left programming classical music in the U.S.--going non-com may be how they survive. There's no doubt that the stations' core audience, which considers advertising evil, won't complain--except that they complain about public radio and TV underwriting announcements and station promos. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv+unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject.
