A Case for Support

A New Broadcast Facility | The Importance of Technology | The Future of KPLU | In Partnership with PLU | Why Build on the PLU campus? | A Public Asset | What the Listeners Say | Worthy of Your Investment | It’s Your Move

KPLU is launching a $5 million campaign to secure the future of public radio in Western Washington and southern British Columbia. The campaign will ensure KPLU's position as a premier provider of news, public service information, jazz and blues for the region and for the world.

KPLU aired its first broadcast in 1966 as a 10-watt station on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University. The signal barely covered the 126-acre campus located just south of Tacoma, Washington.

Today, KPLU is one of the most listened to NPR-affiliate radio stations in the country, broadcasting at 100,000 watts of power. Its broadcast signal reaches over 3 million people and stretches from Victoria, British Columbia, to Astoria, Oregon, and from the Washington coast to the Cascade Mountains

KPLU’s Internet webcast is heard world-wide. KPLU has the distinction of being in the top ten in terms of listenership of all jazz music streams in the world. On any given week, KPLU serves upwards of 500,000 listeners.

In its 40-year history, KPLU has experienced phenomenal growth. Its dependability is recognized by no less than the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has designated KPLU as its second radio station (behind only KIRO) in this market for broadcasting emergency information in the event of a regional or national disaster.

Yet in all these years, amidst all of the growth and technological changes, one thing at KPLU has remained the same. It continues to operate in the same space that it first occupied in 1966: a space created to provide a single broadcast stream via a single radio frequency, 88.5 FM.

KPLU’s home is Eastvold Hall, an auditorium/performance space on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University constructed in 1952. Or, to be more precise, the portion of Eastvold Hall located behind the main stage. Eastvold Hall was never designed to serve as a broadcast center. It was inadequate in 1966 when KPLU moved in. That KPLU has been able to grow to be one of the top broadcast stations in the nation is nothing short of miraculous.

But KPLU is running out of miracles. Due to the exponential growth in new technologies entering the broadcast arena, it can no longer remain competitive in its current space. In addition to providing sub-standard working conditions for its 35+ employees, it lacks adequate power, heat and ventilation. It also lacks the standard amenities of hot water and adequate rest room facilities.

KPLU has been blessed with dedicated employees. The average tenure of its on-air staff is 10 years. The employees would willingly work in the same cramped, sub-standard space for another 40 years if they could continue to provide the kind of high-quality programming that thousands of listeners in the South Puget Sound and around the world have come to appreciate and depend upon.

But they can't.

The 1950s infrastructure of KPLU’s home is creaking under the weight brought on by the demands of 21st century technology. The power supply is inadequate, the cabling for Internet, satellite and other feeds is jury-rigged, and there is neither the raw square footage nor the proper layout of that square footage to keep KPLU running into the next decade, let alone the next century. Something must be done before this jewel at the end of the dial can no longer compete in this intensely competitive media market.

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A New Broadcast Facility

As a public radio station, the listeners of KPLU are its shareholders. KPLU is only able to operate because of the financial support of its listeners and corporate underwriters. It is a licensee of Pacific Lutheran University, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

In order to keep KPLU a strong and effective service, the station is turning to its supporters to help provide a new, state-of-the-art broadcast center to be located on the campus of PLU. The cost of the 12,000 square-foot facility is around $7 million.

They will get a radio station fully positioned to take advantage of the technological breakthroughs happening now and the ones we can't even image that will take place in the next 5, 10, 20 years and beyond. They will benefit from those breakthroughs in the form of new and varied services, including multiple ways to access the award-winning jazz, blues and news programming that has brought KPLU the status and listenership it enjoys today.

Here are just some of the benefits of the new broadcast center:

• Space to properly store the station's 17,898 albums, CDs and tapes of jazz and blues performances. Many of these are archival editions and out of print. They currently are stored in a room never designed to safeguard this cultural treasure.

• A sophisticated technology center to house the station’s computer servers, transmitters and other devices. As the radio industry becomes increasingly computerized, KPLU needs space to house and access its technological infrastructure.

• The technological infrastructure itself -- computers, servers, routers, cabling, etc. -- will be overhauled and updated to meet 21st Century standards. And, as will be explained more fully in this document, the ability to harness the power of what those new technologies have to offer to listeners.

• The ability to conduct live interviews and to broadcast performances from jazz artists, something the current station cannot accommodate.

• More humane working conditions for its employees, including adequate rest rooms, heat and ventilation.

All of this will enable KPLU not only to survive but thrive in this increasingly competitive media marketplace and to continue providing the rich level of community service to its listeners.

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The importance of technology

Few could have dreamed that KPLU would have grown from a radio station operating on the power needed to illuminate a 10-watt light bulb to one operating on power sufficient to light 10,000 bulbs. But, increasingly, the strength and durability of a broadcasting station lay not only in its signal strength but in its technological strength.

With the advent of the Internet, web-streaming is an increasingly important venue for radio stations worldwide. Radio stations that do not have a web-streaming presence are losing market share daily. Thanks to the web, people can tune in to KPLU from literally anywhere in the world. All they need is a computer and an Internet connection.  Unlike with broadcast, the issue of having a space on the dial is irrelevant. The Internet “dial” has virtually limitless space, making it an increasingly competitive and congested medium.

The Internet has been a new and hopeful source of support for KPLU. Pledge drives yield donations from listeners in places like Shanghai, Baghdad and Taiwan in addition to Seattle, Bellevue and Tacoma. During the most recent pledge drive the number of gifts made on-line outpaced the number made by phone for the first time. This bodes well for future financial support for day-to-day operations.

But the Internet is just the start. As the Internet becomes an increasingly wireless medium, people no longer need to be tethered to their desks to listen to KPLU through their computer speakers. Wireless zones are springing up in businesses and homes at a rapid rate. Futurists see the day when wireless Internet signals will be akin to radio or cell phone signals of today, able to be accessed virtually anywhere in the world.

Cell phone companies, by the way, are not being left behind either. They are looking for providers like KPLU to deliver content directly to their customers. So with one device you will be able to make a phone call, take and view pictures, and listen to your favorite radio station or web stream.

Pod-casting also is at the fore. Can’t tune in to hear your favorite NPR program at 6 p.m. or that special report on Education in the Puget Sound airing on Monday morning? Simply program your iPod or other MP3 device to digitally record the program via the Internet just as you would record your favorite television show on your VCR. Then plug in your headphones and hear it on your own time.

Satellite radio also is making its way into the market. This technology provides high-quality music, news and special programming from satellite links.

HD, or digital, radio, provides listeners with crystal-clear, CD-quality sound. But it also provides listeners with more options, including the ability to listen to more than one broadcast within the same frequency.

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The Future of KPLU

KPLU has done a remarkable job taking advantage of some of these technological advances. But it cannot take advantage of them all, or use them to their full potential, in their current outdated space. With its updated space, KPLU has plans to do the following:

• Provide a second audio stream on its HD signal of 88.5. Listeners will be able to hear the current mix of NPR and local news and Jazz on the first channel. On the second channel, KPLU will provide a 24-hour jazz stream to be called Jazz24.

• Send out a second Internet stream, to be called Jazz24.org. In addition to music, this stream also will provide news and information on artists, music reviews and other jazz-related features. A similar stream featuring blues programming also is in the planning stages.

• Digitize its jazz and blues music library. With close to 20,000 records, tapes and CDs of jazz and blues artists, many of which are out of print, KPLU feels an ethical responsibility to insure this treasure. It will do so by converting this music into digital format and storing it on a series of hard drives and servers. The source material will then be stored in a secure, temperature-regulated space. This will secure the material for eternity, and by having the music in digital form, it can be more easily retrieved and shared with listeners via the web stream or the radio signal.

• Provide a place for musicians to play live on the air or for recording purposes. This can only come about in a new broadcast center.

• Provide KPLU’s jazz and blues music service on satellite radio. With new studios and technology, KPLU will have the ability to produce such streams and services.

And these are just the technological innovations we know about today. Most of these advances weren’t even part of our vocabulary five years ago. What technological advances will be part of our vocabulary five years from now? Many people have ideas, but no one knows for sure. KPLU needs to be positioned with the proper infrastructure to take advantage of future opportunities that we can’t even articulate today.

KPLU is no longer one radio station. It is several stations rolled into one. KPLU also broadcasts through KVIX in Port Angeles and soon will be broadcasting through its new station, KPLI, in Olympia. In addition to these stations, KPLU is rebroadcast on seven  translators throughout the Puget Sound region. This is all in addition to its presence on the Internet, where it broadcasts both its regular on-air program and a 24-hour jazz stream. With the new ability to stratify its signal, KPLU will have the opportunity to diversify its programming in new and unprecedented ways via its many broadcast outlets.

KPLU needs the kind of facility where it can take full advantage of the technological breakthroughs occurring today and be positioned to take advantage of the many developments that we know will occur, but we just don’t know in what form.

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In Partnership with Pacific Lutheran University

Two dedicated professors in Pacific Lutheran University’s Department of Communications, Ted Karl and Paul Steen, along with PLU engineer David Christian provided the incubator that nurtured KPLU in its infancy. They had the vision, foresight and just plain luck of applying to the Federal Communications Commission for a frequency in the 1960s. If Pacific Lutheran University did not have that foresight then, KPLU would not exist. Even if the university at some later date decided to launch a radio station, it would have been shut out of the market as there simply are no longer any open frequencies to be had.

In those 40 years, KPLU has established itself as a self-sustaining station. Its operating revenue is completely separate from the University’s. 

KPLU’s position as an independent station was enhanced with the arrival of President Loren J. Anderson in 1992. Recognizing the value and importance of KPLU to the residents of this region, Dr. Anderson signed a letter of agreement stating that the university would not use its position as licensee to influence KPLU’s editorial judgment in the newsroom or other programming-related decisions.

It is a relationship that has worked remarkably well for both KPLU and PLU.  KPLU is a major component of the university’s commitment to the community it serves. The radio station extends the university’s reach as a beacon of education and enlightenment beyond the classroom. KPLU provides an avenue to get the word out about various programs, classes and activities taking place in the community. It educates the community about the major events of the day. It provides a source of entertainment and education about America’s classical music, the art of jazz.

While maintaining its place as a professional radio station, KPLU still hires up to 15 students per semester, many of whom come from the university’s journalism and communications departments. They receive valuable experience in a variety of broadcast jobs. The current chief operating officer of KPLU is a PLU alumnus, as is one of the on-air hosts.

Pacific Lutheran University boasts one of the top music programs in the country. Dr. David Joyner is the professor in charge of the jazz vocal and instrumental program. Both his students and KPLU benefit from the sharing of musical ideas and the history of the art of jazz. Dr. Joyner and his students team up with professional musicians at least once annually for a live KPLU broadcast during the Christmas season.

Unlike most universities with student-run stations, students who do work-study at KPLU get an apprenticeship at a professional radio station. The over-night jazz host position is typically occupied by a PLU student. Students also help in the news department and with other operations.

The station would love the opportunity to work with more students, but it can’t for one simple reason – it doesn’t have the space for them. It is not atypical for several students to have to coordinate their work schedules so each has access to the same desk.

The university provides one other important service for KPLU. As an entity of PLU, KPLU leverages the university’s services in areas such as payroll, human resources, benefits management, utilities, janitorial, accounting, printing, mail and phone services, marketing and construction management. If KPLU had to purchase these services on its own, it would easily have to add another $1 million to its annual operating budget.

Why build on the PLU campus?

This was another decision in which technology played a key role. Because of the ability to digitize and move information at light speed, KPLU’s market reach would be no different if it were located in Olympia, Tacoma or downtown Seattle. It’s ability to innovate and to serve new markets would be no different either.

But the cost of building a radio station in any of those locations would be substantially higher than building on the current site. Land prices in Parkland are but a fraction of land prices in downtown Tacoma or Seattle. And this particular piece of land was free, as it is being donated by the university as a testament to its strong support and connection to the future of KPLU.

The university also is providing start-up funding and expertise for architectural, design and project management fees and is ushering the project through the county’s permitting process. If not for the university, KPLU would have to go into debt to get this project off the ground.

Most importantly, KPLU would lose its ready access to student workers, which benefit not only the students but the radio station in the form of a cost-efficient labor pool. KPLU also would lose its connection to the support services that the university provides, again adding to its operation costs.

With the new location, KPLU will maintain its offices and broadcast studios in downtown Seattle. Located in rented space at2601 4th Avenue , the KPLU Seattle studios house the station’s news and underwriting staffs. It also provides a back-up broadcast option should it be needed, something particularly critical in the event of an emergency.

The KPLU leadership believes that the decision to build its main broadcast center on the PLU campus is the right decision from both a strategic and cost efficient standpoint.

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A Public Asset

KPLU is more than a provider of media content. It is a public asset, and it takes its responsibility quite seriously. KPLU is an active member of the community it serves, educating young people, sponsoring events and providing free air time for area organizations.

With one of  the largest public radio news team in the market, KPLU employs reporters specializing in the environment, health and science, law and justice, business and labor, and youth and education. These distinguished reporters regularly provide stories to NPR for national distribution.

Per capita, more people in the Greater Puget Sound radio market listen to NPR news and information than in any other radio market. Put another way, more people get their news and information from NPR here than in any other part of the country. KPLU is one of only two providers of that programming.

KPLU is a regular partner with local schools to help educate our youth about the importance of jazz as America’s classical music. The station’s most recent project was titled “School of Jazz,” and it paired some of the top high school jazz bands in our region with professional performers for a memorable learning experience. The fruits of this labor are documented on the School of Jazz CD, which finds its way regularly onto the KPLU play list.

Because of strong community support, KPLU is one of the few radio stations remaining in the nation committed to promoting jazz and blues. In the past 20 years, KPLU has sponsored local performances of just about every major jazz artist as well as provided support and an outlet for new performers.

KPLU consistently is in the top 10 (with a current rank of 7) most listened to radio stations in the Greater Puget Sound market, which includes more than 60 radio stations.

KPLU's weekend blues programming is remarkably popular. When “All Blues” airs each , Saturday and Sunday evenings, KPLU is the most listened to radio station in the Greater Puget Sound market.

Of those stations that play jazz in the United States, KPLU has the greatest listenership in the country, outpacing stations in much larger markets such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

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What the listeners say

These are all very impressive numbers and rankings. But the proof, as they say, is in the listener. To get in touch with how the station is affecting actual human beings, here is a sampling of listener comments made during the most recent pledge drive:

Your station is my sunrise and sunset. My lunch and my quiet weekend mornings. Thank you for your quality programming. Thank you for providing sanity in an insane, media-hyped world.
Mark, Kirkland, WA

I love the blues. Thanks so much for making so many of my weekend evenings memorable, and educating me about the blues.
Karen, Kenmore, WA

I am a former Seattleite who moved to New York City last year. Although New York has much to offer and is an incredible city, there is no radio station that comes close to KPLU’s wonderful mix of jazz and NPR programming. I listen to KPLU through the web and am very grateful for it.
Lisa, Bronx, New York

The variety and depth of the news stories covered, the detail in which you present these stories make me feel as though I’m watching it happen.
Marilyn, Olympia, WA

People at work ask me why I have a smile on my face, and I tell them I’m listening to KPLU. Why, aren’t you?
Michael, Sacramento, CA

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Worthy of your investment

KPLU is not asking its listeners to fund a new broadcast center simply because it needs more space for its employees. KPLU is asking its listeners whether the service it provides is worth a one-time capital investment of $5 million to keep it thriving into the future.

The new facility and the ongoing partnership with Pacific Lutheran University means listeners worldwide can continue to benefit from the service KPLU provides and can continue to receive that service in an increasingly on-demand media environment. As technology evolves, listeners will expect to receive media content when they want it, not when the media provider chooses to give it to them.

Will KPLU be able to compete and thrive in this new environment? It won’t if it remains in space designed and built during the Eisenhower administration.

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It’s Your Move

Pledges to support Straight Ahead: The Campaign for KPLU can be made over a three- to five-year payment period. Gifts at all levels are welcome. Naming opportunities in the new broadcast center are available for gifts of $10,000 and above. For more information, contact us at 253-535-873

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