KNWX to become Spanish-language radio station

Entercom Communications Corp. plans to sell one of its eight Seattle-area radio stations, KNWX-AM (1210), to a Sacramento, Calif., company that will convert it to Spanish-language programming.

That will add to the competition in a market that already has two Spanish-language stations and on Monday will be getting a third.

Salem Communications, which operates KKMO-AM (1360) as Radio Sol, plans to convert KTFH-AM (1680) to Spanish-language programming, according to David Fitts, who heads Salem's five AM stations in the Seattle market.

The other Seattle Spanish language station is KXPA-AM (1540), owned by Multicultural Broadcasting. It airs 23 hours of Spanish-language shows per weekday.

KNWX is being sold to Bustos Media Corp. of Sacramento. Bustos currently owns four AM stations in Portland and an AM and an FM station in Salt Lake City. In May, it bought OM Media, which distributes Spanish-language programming to about three dozen stations.

The deal could close in late October or early November, pending regulatory approval. The purchase price wasn't disclosed.

"Seattle is a fast-growing Hispanic and Latino metropolitan market," said Amador Bustos, the president and chief executive of Bustos Media. With a cluster of stations in Portland, "Seattle was a natural extension."

KNWX currently broadcasts news and business and investing programs. Bustos said the KNWX call letters will remain with Entercom; new ones haven't been picked.

Kevin McCarthy, Entercom vice president and Seattle market manager, said the company decided to sell KNWX after looking at its portfolio of stations and concluding that the business format and the signal at 1210 wouldn't be able "to deliver the audience or (advertising) revenue vitality delivered by our other stations." The sale of KNWX will result in four layoffs.

Until the sale, Entercom, based in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., owned the maximum number of stations allowed for one company in a market the size of Seattle. Its other local holdings are KIRO-AM (710), KBSG-FM (97.3), KISW-FM (99.9), KQBZ-FM (100.7), KMTT-FM (103.7), KNDD-FM (107.7) and KTTH-AM (770). McCarthy said Entercom is interested in owning eight stations in the market and would be interested in a deal should a station become available. (The rules say an owner can have no more than five on one band, so Entercom could add only another AM station.)

That has led to conjecture in the radio industry that Entercom might be interested in Fisher Communications Inc.'s KOMO-AM (1000), which has the Seattle Mariners contract, which KIRO had for years.

But that speculation was shot down by Fisher Chief Executive William Krippaehne. "There's nothing for sale. We've done all the restructuring we need to."

At one time, the KNWX call letters were assigned to Entercom's outlet at 770 on the AM band. When Entercom decided to convert that station to conservative talk, it gave the station at 770 the new call letters of KTTH and moved the former call letters and format to 1210. The move sparked complaints from fans of some programs on KNWX, because 1210 has a weaker signal and a transmitter site in South King County, making it difficult for many people to hear the station, particularly at night.

Is there room for another Spanish-language station in the Seattle market?

"Absolutely," Bustos said. "Seattle is an under-radioed market for the size of the Hispanic audience."

"I hope so," Fitts said, adding Spanish stations don't take the same approach. KKMO has developed its own programming with local hosts and carries Spanish language broadcasts of home Mariner games. KTFH will sell time to programmers who develop their own programs. KXPA also sells time to others rather than produce its own shows.

KKMO's approach has proven attractive to "mainstream" advertisers such as Bon-Macy's, banks and auto dealerships attempting to reach the Spanish-speaking market, Fitts said.

Bustos said his station will not be a brokered-time operation but will feature a mixture of locally produced programs and promotions and its nationally syndicated shows. "We'll have the most powerful (Spanish-language) station in the market," he said.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com

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