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KING-FM
Seattle, Washington; United States;
Broadcast area	Seattle-Tacoma; Puget Sound area;
Frequency	98.1 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	Classical KING
Programming
Format	Classical music
Subchannels	HD2: Classical Calm; HD3: Classical Christmas;
Ownership
Owner	Beethoven, a Nonprofit Corporation; (Classic Radio);
History
First air date	December 1947
Call sign meaning	King County
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	11755
Class	C
ERP	66,000 watts; 68,000 with beam tilt;
HAAT	707 meters (2,320 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	47°30′14″N 121°58′34″W / 47.504°N 121.976°W
Links
Public license information	Public file; LMS;
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	classicalking.org

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.^[2] The studios and offices are on Mercer St in Seattle.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

History

Early years

The station that today is KING-FM first signed on the air in December 1947, originally at 94.9 MHz.^[6] 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).^[7]^[8] (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.^[7] KING-FM moved from 94.9 to 98.1 MHz, replacing KRSC-FM. The 94.9 transmitter was donated to Edison Vocational School, which used it to broadcast educational programming on that frequency. In 1958, the 94.9 frequency was taken over by KUOW-FM, owned by the University of Washington, and now a public news-talk station affiliated with NPR.

Concurrent with the purchase of KRSC-FM, King Broadcasting also acquired KRSC-TV (channel 5), which had signed on the previous year. The call letters were changed to KING-TV.^[9] The three stations, KING-AM-FM-TV, had their studios and offices at 320 Aurora Avenue North in Seattle.

Switch to classical music

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.^{[citation needed]}

Sale to non-profit group

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.^[10] 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.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

Switch to public radio

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.^[14] 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.^[15]

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.^[16] In 2022, KING-FM renamed itself Classical KING and changed its logo as a means of reducing perceived elitism.^[17] The following year, Classical KING redesigned its website to improve accessibility.^[18]

References

^ "Facility Technical Data for KING-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
^ "Data". transition.fcc.gov. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
^ "Classical KING contact-us". Classical KING. ClassicalKING.org. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
^ "Radio-Locator KING-FM". Radio-locator.com. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
^ "HD Radio station guide for Seattle–Tacoma, WA". Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015. HD Radio Guide for Seattle-Tacoma
^ "Broadcasting Yearbook 1949" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1949. p. 315. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Blecha, Peter (March 6, 2010). "KRSC: Seattle's Radio and TV Pioneers". HistoryLink. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
^ Duncan, Don (August 22, 1990). "Pioneers In Broadcasting". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on April 22, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
^ "Broadcasting Yearbook 1950" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1950. p. 314. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
^ "Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1994 page B-399" (PDF). Retrieved March 14, 2021.
^ Bill Virgin (December 26, 2007). "On Radio: Keep experimenting to get better reception". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
^ Irwin, Doug (November 2013), "Build better backups", Radio, vol. 19, no. 11, pp. 14, 16–21, 24
^ Melinda Bargreen (November 30, 2003). "Behind the Scenes; KING-FM streaming audio guru / Bryan Lowe". The Seattle Times. p. K1. Retrieved September 27, 2023. KING-FM ... one of the first radio stations to broadcast live over the Internet...almost eight years ago when the station was chosen by Seattle-based RealNetworks
^ "Classic-music KING FM to rely on listeners". Puget Sound Business Journal. American City Business Journals. March 23, 2010. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2010.
^ Rolph, Amy (April 7, 2011). "KING FM will become listener-supported sooner than thought". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
^ Connelly, Joel (June 18, 2019). "Cohabitation in the arts: KING-FM will move in with Seattle Opera". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
^ "Classical-KING Rebranding". Classical KING. Archived from the original on December 23, 2022. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
^ "An Amazing Team brought you this Website". August 4, 2023. Archived from the original on August 8, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023.