Radio Beat: Country's KMPS begins its 30th year

KMPS-FM (94.1) recently billed a concert it sponsored at the Evergreen State Fair as marking its 30th anniversary, although program director Becky Brenner says she wasn't sure whether the country station was marking the start or the end of its 30th year with those call letters and that musical format.

For the record, KMPS is starting its 30th year -- it went on the air as an AM station (at 1300) in September 1975, converted from former Top 40 station KOL. The FM station at 94.1 was converted from easy listening to country and the KMPS call letters a few years later.

That comes from veteran newsman Don Riggs, who started at the station just six weeks before the switch to country, as well as the history section of the Puget Sound Radio Broadcasters Association Web site and www.kmpsalumni.org, a Web site chronicling the station's history.

Whether it's not quite or a little more than 30 years, that's a remarkable record for one station sticking with one format in Seattle. It hasn't been for lack of competition, ranging from KAYO-AM, the strong local country station when KMPS debuted, to KRPM-FM to KKBY-FM to young-country KYCW-FM (with the infamous echo-effect for its announcers) to an Olympia-area FM station that has revived the KAYO call letters and is trying to make headway in the Seattle market.

KMPS, today a part of Infinity's Seattle cluster along with classic country KYCW-AM, usually ranks at or very close to the top of overall rankings for local stations.

So what's the formula for longevity? Riggs, who is today part of Ichabod Caine's morning team, cites relative stability in management in the early years of the station, while KAYO was undergoing changes.

Brenner says the music itself has helped, in that country has not undergone the fracturing into subgenres seen in rock and pop music. Adds Caine, "People still leave their spouses and songs still die." While country is built on story songs about people's lives, foibles and all, "I don't think any other format speaks to that," he adds.

No dramatic changes are ahead for the station, Brenner adds: "We never seem to do any better than playing country hits."

In other radio notes:

Paul Nelson, a long-time local radio host, has folded his latest venture in public-affairs program production, Global Voices Radio, due to the financial hassles involved. Affiliate stations such as KKNW-AM (1150), which airs the program at 5:30 a.m. Sunday, have been asked to run archived shows through the end of the year to fulfill commitments to sponsors. Nelson says he plans to continue working part-time in radio, while working on a master's degree, on another of his longtime interests, poetry, and compiling a book of his radio interviews.

British actor and writer Stephen Fry appears on "The Beat" at 2:30 p.m. Friday on KUOW-FM (94.9).

"The Scandinavian Hour," normally heard at 9 a.m. Saturdays on KKNW-AM (1150), will be delayed until 4 p.m. this Saturday and Sept. 18 because of the Nebraska football broadcasts.

Jeff Herzog, chief executive of iCrossing.com, and Chris Beer, general manager of Seattle-based MediaLead.com, are the guests on "WebTalk Radio" at 11 a.m. Saturday on KLAY-AM (1180) and 10 p.m. Tuesday on KVTI-FM (90.9).

Saeta performs live at 8 p.m. Saturday on KEXP-FM (90.3).

Kate Daniels interviews Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed on "Sunday Morning Magazine" at 5:30 a.m. on KRWM-FM (106.9).

Don Riggs' guests on "Introspect Northwest" at 7 a.m. Sunday on KMPS-FM and KYCW-AM (1090) include Linda Greenlaw, author of "All Fishermen Are Liars."

"Music With Moskowitz" at 7 p.m. Sunday on KYCW-AM features song parodies.

"The Old Country" at 7 p.m. Sunday on KBCS-FM (91.3) features storyteller Paddy Graber in performance at the Seattle Folklore Society, along with local band Pipers Creek.

The Sunday edition of Jim French's "Imagination Theatre," heard at 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on KIXI-AM (880), includes a new drama "January Cove."

Environmental official Russell Train's speech in Seattle is featured on "Speaker's Forum" at 9 p.m. Wednesday on KUOW-FM.

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

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