Crosscut’s Feliks Banel called it back in October, just after KING FM laid off three announcers. As Banel saw it, KING FM had three options: try harder to sell ads, sell the station, or go the listener-supported route.
The email today from Program Director Bryan Lowe confirms that it’s door number three: “That’s why I am excited to tell you that effective July of 2011, KING FM will become a listener supported public radio station. Instead of airing commercials for our support, KING FM will now get its support from underwriters and our listeners.”
At that point, Banel says, “the station will stop airing 60-second commercial ‘spots’ and will switch to 20-second ‘underwriting announcements’ and occasional listener pledge drives.”
The nail in KING FM’s commercial coffin was an electronic tracking system that replaced the old audience-measuring diaries. Portable People Meters automatically sniff out which radio station is playing throughout the day, and don’t rely on people’s memories at all (they even come with a motion-detector, so you can’t just plunk it in front of a radio and walk off).
After Seattle switched to PPM, and got its first results back in June of 2009, there were shakeups everywhere, with Star 101.5 suddenly holding the #1 spot. For KING FM, the news wasn’t good: its “share of the local audience was smaller and older than it had been before, with the average age of listeners about 60,” reports the Seattle Times. Not exactly catnip to advertisers.