Классическая музыка Сиэтла: История радиостанции KING FM

Classical music public radio station in Seattle

KING FM (98.1 MHz; "Classical KING") is a non commercial classical music radio station in Seattle, Washington. It is owned by Classic Radio, a nonprofit organization. The studios and offices are on Mercer St in Seattle. KING FM holds periodic on air fundraisers to help support the station through listener contributions. KING FM's transmitter is located in Issaquah on Tiger Mountain. Its effective radiated power (ERP) is 66,000 watts (68,000 with beam tilt). KING FM broadcasts in the HD Radio format, using two subchannels for alternate classical programming.

The station that today is KING FM first signed on the air in December 1947, originally at 94.9 MHz. It was owned by King Broadcasting, whose co owner and president was Dorothy Bullitt. The year before, Bullitt had purchased KEVR (1090 AM) and changed it to KING (now KPTR). (Seattle is located in King County, for which its call letters were chosen.) In 1949, King Broadcasting bought 98.1 KRSC FM, which had gone on the air in February 1947 under different ownership. The three stations, KING AM FM TV, had their studios and offices at 320 Aurora Avenue North in Seattle.

At first, KING FM simulcast its AM counterpart. Over time, it began airing classical programs separate from the AM station, and by the late 1960s, it was exclusively a classical outlet, a format that has continued to be broadcast on the station since. During the late 1970s, KING FM carried syndicated concert broadcasts by the Philadelphia Orchestra, usually under direction of Eugene Ormandy, the New York Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony. Many of the syndicated concert programs featured well known instrumentalists and conductors performing works which they never recorded commercially e. g. Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in a highly memorable 1976 reading of Bruckner's Sixth Symphony in A major. In the mid 1970s, KING FM's schedule also included specialized programs showcasing Quadraphonic LP recordings and historical recordings. In 1983, KING FM was the first station in the Seattle area to utilize compact disc (CD) technology for its recordings.

In 1992, King Broadcasting was acquired by the parent company of The Providence Journal, a Rhode Island publishing and broadcasting company. While the new ownership wanted the TV station, the radio stations were sold to Classic Radio for $9.75 million. The AM station was, in turn, sold to EZ Communications. KING FM was run by a non profit partnership, consisting of the Seattle Opera, Seattle Symphony, and the Arts Fund. Although KING FM was owned by a non profit entity, the station continued to operate for a time on a commercial basis, selling advertising as before. Even after the sale, the radio station was co located with KING TV for several more years. Many radio transmitters in the Seattle Tacoma radio market were moved to surrounding mountains for better reception in Seattle's hilly topography. In 1993, KING FM relocated its transmitter from Seattle's Queen Anne Hill to Tiger Mountain in Issaquah. A backup transmitter was on nearby Cougar Mountain. This higher elevation transmitter location provided a significant improvement in KING FM's reception quality in its listener area. KING FM also began broadcasting its programming online, becoming one of the first internet radio stations, streamed by RealNetworks c. 1995.

On March 23, 2010, KING FM announced that it would transition to a non commercial, listener supported public radio station in July 2011, citing reduced advertising revenue. Several other commercial classical radio stations have made similar transitions to public radio status, including WQXR FM in New York City, WCRB in Boston and KDFC in San Francisco. Successful fundraising efforts led KING FM to announce on April 7, 2011, that the transition would instead take place on May 2, two months ahead of schedule. In 2011, KING FM made the successful transition from a commercial to a non commercial public radio station. As a listener supported station, KING FM has added new programming and added two additional channels of classical music using HD Radio technology. KING FM is one a handful of non commercial FM radio stations to broadcast outside the standard band for FM stations of its type (88 92 MHz; it is also one of two such stations in the Seattle market alongside KUOW FM). The station relocated its recording studio and offices to the Seattle Opera's Seattle Center building in 2020. In 2022, KING FM renamed itself Classical KING and changed its logo as a means of reducing perceived elitism. The following year, Classical KING redesigned its website to improve accessibility.