[BC] seattletimes.com: Asset too valuable to sell

[Bernie Courtney]

if that article is right that would give them about a 1.7 / 1.8 in the
market-- dam good for a high school station, let alone one with a
dance format.  Dam good playlist too, they got tracks in rotation that
the dance channels on XM and KTU in NYC haven't even spun yet.  I'm
impressed!

bern

On 5/5/05, Brent Hall <reader at oldradio.com> wrote:
> Asset too valuable to sell
> Full story:
> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2002262108_danny04.html
> 
>   Sawyer Moe may be new to radio. But he's a pro at the ancient disc-jockey
> art of begging for money.
> 
> First he woos his listeners with praise. They must be cool if they're tuned
> to C89.5-FM, Seattle's hottest dance music, right?Next he scolds. Why is no
> one calling during our pledge drive?
> 
> Finally, the high school junior tries the blunt truth:
> 
> "We need the money!" Moe shouts over a thumping dance-hall beat. "You know
> the Seattle School District won't give us any -- they don't even have any
> for themselves!"
> 
> There's a lot of gallows humor around the C89.5 studios these days. That's
> because selling the station -- arguably the most successful high school
> radio outfit in the country -- is on the list of ideas for how to solve the
> district's budget crisis.
> 
> It's startling how much the district says it could make: $8 million.
> 
> It would be a one-time cash windfall. In the short term it's more money
> than you get by closing schools and cutting transportation. It's almost
> enough to balance next year's out-of-whack budget by itself.
> 
> Not bad for a bunch of kids toiling out of a dingy, converted classroom at
> Nathan Hale High School in North Seattle.
> 
> It's also why the district should leave the station alone. It's way too
> valuable to sell.
> 
> "The kids have built this place into a powerhouse," says Gregg Neilson, the
> station's teacher-manager since 1983. "They aren't fiddling with radio in a
> classroom. They're doing it on a par with the biggest radio stations in the
> city."
> 
> That's not just pride talking. The 50 student DJs and technicians reach
> 110,000 listeners weekly. That's about one-fourth as many as Seattle's top
> FM station, KMPS (94.1) country, and as many as some AM commercial stations.
> 
> Billboard magazine considers C89.5 one of the six most influential dance
> stations in the nation. The others are all owned by multibillion-dollar
> corporations such as Clear Channel and Entercom.
> 
> The noncommercial station is almost self-sustaining. Listeners contribute
> $220,000 a year, enough to pay for all but two teachers (who, besides
> managing the station, teach classes in radio and video).
> 
> All this would vanish if the district sells. It has happened elsewhere; in
> 2003, Portland schools got $5.5 million for a classical station.
> 
> Selling irreplaceable assets to patch recurring budget deficits is a
> mistake. Even if you net $8 million. Public treasures are lost forever, and
> without more cuts the ledger just goes back in the red.
> 
> C89.5 also has intriguing plans to seek underwriting, &agrave; la National
> Public Radio, so it has the potential to turn a profit.
> 
> But I was especially swayed by an aside from a reader, Patricia Goudge,
> whose son Matt Cohn is the station's student manager. She heard I was
> dropping by the station around 3 p.m., and wondered: Could I urge Matt to
> come home by 10?
> 
> We usually fret about how to get kids to stay in school.
> 
> What's it worth to have them so obsessed with what's going on at school
> that they won't stay away?
> 
> Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at
> 206-464-2086 or dwestneat at seattletimes.com.
> 
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