Bill Virgin's Radio Beat December 4, 2008

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

Bill Virgin's Radio Beat December 4, 2008

Postby radiofan » Wed Dec 03, 2008 11:16 pm

On Radio: KING-FM offers more on HD radio, Internet
Additional channels planned

By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER


Are you a listener to KING-FM/98.1?

Which one?

Tune in to 98.1 on a conventional radio and you'll get Seattle's commercial classical-music station.

But listeners are also tuning in with HD radios, which give FM stations the capacity to offer multiple channels of programming on their frequency. And they've been listening online to KING-FM since 1995 (when it launched with a live Seattle Symphony concert); the Internet offers even more opportunities for additional programming streams.

KING-FM is taking advantage of both technologies.

On HD radio, it offers three channels: the regular over-the-air version, its Christmas channel of holiday-themed classical music and the Seattle arts channel featuring news, interviews and performances by, about and from the local arts scene.

Over on the Web site king.org, you'll find those offerings plus KING's opera channel.

Once the holiday season passes, program director Bryan Lowe plans to replace the Christmas channel on both HD and the Web with what's being called the Evergreen channel, a sort of refuge for at-work listeners featuring quieter, slower-tempo selections.

Nor is that all. Lowe also has plans for a channel tentatively named KING Concert Hall, featuring full-length symphonic favorites. Beyond, that, he'd love to see channels devoted to classical piano pieces, or Baroque, or chamber music, or 20th-century compositions. But, he adds, "It's not time for that yet."

That's an ambitious agenda, far more than what most stations are considering or offering. And while KING's operating heritage and structure sets it apart from others in the business, it faces the same issues of the cost of operating multiple channels (including license fees for the music).

"I don't think we dilute the brand" by offering multiple channels of content, Lowe says. "Does it rob from one channel? Yes, a bit, but not a lot."

Lowe says multiple channels allow KING listeners to move from one to another, and attract new listeners to its array of programming.

He also says KING has 600 years of music to choose from to provide content, and it has a mission from founder Dorothy Bullitt to keep classical music on the air in Seattle.

"For us to really serve that Dorothy Bullitt mission, we need a core of classical music" services, Lowe says.

For Lowe the challenge is allocating resources, like money and bandwidth, to the various niches and interest.

The opera channel, for example is on the Internet but not HD. "It's a wonderful audience but it's not big enough to put on HD," he says.

KING carries some advertising on its Internet services, and it gets listener donations.

With those revenue sources, "we're able to do some controlled growth here" in the channels and programming it offers, he says.

In other radio notes:


KPLU-FM/88.5 presents its Christmas Jam concert featuring vocalist Sara Gazarek at noon Thursday. The concert, performed at Lagerquist Hall on the Pacific Lutheran University campus, includes the University Jazz Ensemble.

The concert will be rebroadcast at noon Christmas Day.


This year's holiday radio drama, the ninth in a series produced by Feliks Banel, is a recreation of Lux Radio Theatre's "The Bishop's Wife." Cast members include Pat Cashman, Tracey Conway, Jim Dever, Steve Wilson and Lee Callahan.

The production airs at 7 p.m. Saturday from Town Hall and on KPTK-AM/1090.


Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute and author of "Population Control: Real Costs, Illusionary Benefits," is the guest on "Conversations With Father Bob" at 8 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday on KKNW-AM/1150, and 5 p.m. Tuesday on KBLE-AM/ 1050.


"Audioasis" on KEXP-FM/ 90.3 presents live performances by The Drug Purse and Razrez from The Sunset in Ballard, beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday.


Jim Wilke's "Jazz Northwest" at 1 p.m. Sunday on KPLU-FM features a recent performance by Vancouver saxophonist Cory Weed and Seattle organist Joe Doria's Trio.


Dan Hicks, who is performing at The Triple Door in Seattle, is the guest on "Lunch With Folks" at 1 p.m. Monday on KBCS-FM/91.3.


Guitarist Charlie Hunter performs in KPLU-FM's Seattle studios at 12:20 p.m. Wednesday.

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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