Proposed Seattle NPR Station Sale Would Align Two Overlapping Stations

Editor's note: The online and on-air versions of this story were edited by the team at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

KUOW, Seattle's NPR member station, announced plans Thursday to purchase and absorb Seattle’s other major NPR station, KPLU, for $8 million. The acquisition would create one large public radio entity in Seattle with KUOW as the central provider of NPR news.

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KPLU traditionally broadcasts a mixture of NPR programming, local news and jazz. KUOW General Manager Caryn Mathes said KPLU’s jazz programming will continue on station 88.5 even with new ownership.

Mathes said one impetus for the merger is the fact that the two stations have significant overlap in the news programs they currently air.

“Sixty-five hours a week of content overlap is a lot; that’s 40 percent of the schedule," Mathes said. "And so that content duplication will go away and the news and information content will be on 94.9, and then having a full-power service that’s dedicated to jazz and related music.”

Mathes said the stations already share a regional reporting network and hold joint events for major donors.

“Even predating me, this topic of – 'Could we combine a little? Could we combine a lot?’ – it’s been a recurring topic. And it just seemed that now was a good time.”

KPLU General Manager Joey Cohn said it’s a sad day at his station. Cohn said he’s glad to see the jazz presence maintained, but sorry that his local newsroom may be folding.

“I’m very happy that 88.5 is going to become a full-time jazz station," Cohn said. "But I would be even happier to see the growth in both the news and jazz in this market.”

The acquisition means KUOW is buying KPLU’s assets and KUOW will develop several new positions to run the music service. But prospects for KPLU’s news staff are unclear. However, a spokeswoman for KPLU’s owner, Pacific Lutheran University, said they don’t expect any immediate layoffs.

The deal was unanimously approved today by KUOW’s license holder University of Washington. The deal is contingent on FCC approval, which could take several months.