Bill Virgin's Radio Beat January 11, 2007

Includes archive of Bill Virgin's columns fromJ une 2006 - March 2009

Postby radiofan » Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:59 pm

Thursday, January 11, 2007

On Radio: The fat lady is singing for opera and classical station KLDY-AM

By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER


Long before anyone had thought up the Jack-FM concept of "we play what we want," Olympia businessman Skip Marrow bought himself a small AM station to play the music he liked -- specifically anything recorded before Dec. 31, 1959.

That was a dozen years ago. Eight years ago, having lost the lease on a tower and needing a new one to broadcast KBRD-AM (680), Marrow bought a second small AM station, KLDY-AM (1280). While KBRD broadcasts a mishmash of big band, country, jazz and popular music, KLDY plays classical and opera.

Marrow died in 2005, but he had set up a foundation to keep KBRD going. Listener support pays for everything but a salary, says general manager Adrian DeBee.

But the foundation has decided to sell KLDY-AM to a Colorado company that already owns two AM stations in the region.

Seattle Streaming Radio LLC will pay $300,000 for KLDY. DeBee said an agreement for Seattle Streaming to operate KLDY pending Federal Communications Commission approval of the sale is in the works.

Seattle Streaming's other holdings in this area include KBRO-AM (1490) and KNTB-AM (1480) in Lakewood. David Drucker, the majority owner of Seattle Streaming, said the plan is to convert KLDY to the same format currently heard on KBRO and KNTB -- Spanish-language religious programming.

DeBee said there wasn't enough listener support to keep KLDY on the air. "I guess classical and opera on AM doesn't quite make it in today's world," he wrote in an e-mail. The station was offered to higher-education institutions but there were no takers, he added.

Drucker said he'd be interested in other Seattle-area stations if they become available for purchase. "What I'm trying to do is create a big Seattle station with a number of smaller stations that can equal one (large station)," he said. He's interested in acquiring "AM stations that don't really have a place for themselves, and see if we can do something with them."

DeBee said the sale will free up money to accomplish one of Marrow's longtime goals: Boosting KBRD's power from the current daytime operation at 250 watts to 800, including some limited nighttime broadcasting (KLDY shares the frequency with much larger KNBR in San Francisco).

In the meantime, DeBee said he continues to add to KBRD's eclectic mix at the rate of 24 songs a week. "I've got all of Skip's 78s (rpm records)," he added.

In other radio notes:

Paul Stankavich has been named general manager of KPLU-FM (88.5), starting April 2. Stankavich, who succeeds Martin Neeb, has been president and general manager of Alaska Public Media in Anchorage, and also has worked for Northwest Public Radio and Television and at KZAZ, both in Bellingham. Kerry Swanson, who had served as interim general manager and has been with KPLU for 20 years, is leaving the station.

John Moe, who has been a host of the KUOW-FM (94.9) business and technology program "The Works," is joining the nationally syndicated show "Weekend America" as a senior reporter and backup host (he'll continue to be based in Seattle). Moe also is author of the book "Conservatize Me." The host of "Weekend America," heard on KUOW at noon Saturday, is KUOW alumnus Bill Radke.

Mitch Elliott, who had been the morning host on KLSY-FM before that station changed formats, is now afternoon co-host on KRSK-FM (105.1), "The Buzz" in Portland.

KING-FM (98.1) is devoting January to Mozart, playing all of the composer's symphonies and most of his concertos.

The Metropolitan Opera performs Tan Dun's "The First Emperor" on KING-FM at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Greg Gilmore and Steve Fisk perform on "Sonarchy" at midnight Saturday on KEXP-FM (90.3).

Lizz Sommars' guests on "Conversations" at 6 a.m. Sunday on KBSG-FM (97.3), KISW-FM (99.9) and KKWF-FM (100.7) include Peter Clark of Seattle City Light and Cleo Howell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on lessons learned from the region's recent storms.

Tami Kosch interviews Peter Brock, author of " Media Cleansing: Dirty Reporting," on "Community Matters Weekend Edition" at 7 a.m. Sunday on KPTK-AM (1090).

Jim Wilke's "Jazz Northwest" at 1 p.m. Sunday on KPLU-FM includes a recent performance by The Staaf Quartet.

The local electronic-music program "Expansions" broadcasts live from the Baltic Room on Capitol Hill at 9 p.m. Sunday on KEXP-FM.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com.

Bill Virgin's Radio Beat . Thursdays in the Seattle P-I
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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