Listeners raise $7M to buy public radio station KPLU

TACOMA, Wash. — The leadership of public radio station KPLU announced it has succeeded in raising the $7 million necessary to make the station community-owned.

About 17,000 people and businesses have donated to the campaign to buy the western Washington radio station from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma and keep it from being sold to the University of Washington's KUOW.

A public announcement was made from KPLU’s Seattle studio, during the afternoon broadcast of "All Things Considered." There will be new call letters for KPLU since it will no longer be affiliated with Pacific Lutheran University and listeners will be asked for suggestions.

PLU announced in November that it was selling the station to KUOW. Music fans and news listeners were concerned about what would happen to their jazz and news programming if the sale went through.

“I was directed to keep those talks confidential, and I couldn’t even tell my staff. It was a difficult time,” said Joey Cohn, general manager of KPLU.

Officials at both UW and PLU agreed in December to allow a community-based nonprofit group to make its own offer for the station's license for the same $7 million KUOW was going to pay.
On Jan. 11, a group of businesses united to offer matching funds up to $500,000.

Cohn said that upon reaching the big goal ahead of the deadline, “We’re surprised, to be frank. When we launched this campaign Jan. 11, we thought people would come and support us. But the outpouring of support has just been tremendous.”

He said the Seattle Foundation was also instrumental in making more people aware of the situation, and they raised nearly $1.5 million in the recent GiveBIG campaign.

Stuart Rolfe, president of Wright Hotels, gave a sizable amount to the cause and threw events to help.

Rolfe said he was skeptical of raising $7 million in such a short time. But he said he believed it was the right thing to step up and advocate for the programming he has loved for two decades.
Cindy McComish also threw a party at her house, which raised $5,000.

“I wanted it to stay local. I wanted it to be independent. I wanted as much as we could get. And we got it!” McComish said.

Cohn said that the average donation was less than $300. The largest check was for $250,000.
A new purchase agreement still needs to be negotiated and the sale would be subject to FCC approval.

Cohn said he expects they will be a community-licensed radio station by September or October.

Cox Media Group