Tacoma noncom’s future in doubt

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KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio has been supplementing its KUOW-FM News-Talk programming with alternative news/info options available on KXOT-FM. But it doesn’t own KXOT, and now the fate of that station is in doubt.


KUOW gained access to KXOT in a five year LMA/option deal with Public Radio Capital. But its board of directors apparently didn’t completely understand what that meant. The purchase option must be exercised next summer, but the board is apparently balking at that.

According to Current, PRC acquired the station from a local college for $5M to make sure it remained available to public broadcast interests. It also upgraded the signal to provide much better, although not total coverage of the Seattle-Tacoma market.

Station management is looking for alternative funding sources in an attempt to go through with the acquisition.