Guest columnist
Legacy intact at KING-FM

By Harriet Bullitt
Special to The Times

Harriet Bullitt

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Recent programming additions and updates at classical KING-FM (98.1) have provoked criticism that is both uninformed and undeserved.

My sister, the late Patsy Collins, and I split the FM station from the sale of King Broadcasting 13 years ago to keep classical-music radio alive in Seattle. We, like our mother and KING's founder Dorothy Stimson Bullitt, respected KING-FM's loyal audience and wanted to ensure the station's future.

I am proud of the quality classical music it broadcasts as well as the capable management that keeps the music coming.

But I understand that some listeners are responding to station programming changes by accusing KING-FM of violating the "values of the Bullitt sisters" and "Mrs. Bullitt's legacy." That's just not the way it is. And if Patsy were alive today, she would join me in this response.

We donated our ownership of the station to a nonprofit corporation that oversees KING-FM. The board of that nonprofit sees to it that KING-FM continues to broadcast classical music in Seattle; and under the ownership arrangement, the station must support itself by operating profitably.

Operating profitably is a formidable challenge, one that KING-FM addresses well — Seattle is one of only 10 major U.S. cities that still have classical music radio stations.

Our mother's business philosophy was always to manage for a profit — a profit that can underwrite community service. She scoffed at competitors who told her that it was impossible to give community service and be profitable at the same time. She applied her business philosophy throughout her broadcast career and it worked. Her legacy: Profits and service can make good partners.

Most people don't realize that KING-FM has to make money. Its profits ensure the future of its classical-music format and fund an annual donation of $500,000 to three important arts organizations — ArtsFund, the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Opera. In fact, KING-FM has paid more than $5 million to its three beneficiaries over the past 10 years.

To continue to make these meaningful contributions, KING-FM sells advertising. That requires maintaining and building its audience.

All important institutions need to change and evolve. I encourage KING-FM to pursue programming changes that will enable it to thrive and introduce classical music to a new generation of listeners. While critics of KING-FM's programming decisions may miss former programs and personalities, the station's financial health stands to benefit.

I ask listeners who love the music, as my family and I do, to respect the efforts of KING-FM's small staff and conscientious executive director, who manage the station in a way that it can continue to broadcast music to lighten the soul.

Harriet Bullitt is a former owner of KING-FM. In 1995, she and her sister Priscilla Bullitt Collins donated the station to a nonprofit corporation that pays an annual dividend to ArtsFund, the Seattle Opera and the Seattle Symphony.