KUOW-FM (94.9
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
) is a
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
member station in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...
. It is the largest of the three full-fledged NPR member stations in the Seattle and Tacoma
media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...
, with two Tacoma-based stations,
KNKX and
KVTI being the others. It is a service of the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
, but is operated by KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, a nonprofit community organization. Studios are located on University Way in Seattle's
University District, while the transmitter is on
Capitol Hill.
History

KUOW went on the air in 1952 on 90.5 FM.
[History Cards for KUOW-FM](_blank)
fcc.gov. Retrieved May 25, 2018. Its transmitter was on the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
campus atop the Administration Building, now
Gerberding Hall. In 1958, Dorothy Stimson Bullitt moved
KING-FM to 98.1 and gifted KING's 94.9 FM transmitter and antenna to the Edison Vocational School. That same year, KUOW started using the 94.9 FM transmitter operated by Edison. KUOW is one of the few public radio (or any non-commercial educational) stations in the United States broadcasting on a frequency outside of the
reserved band (88–92
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
; Seattle is also home to KING-FM on 98.1, which became a non-commercial station in 2010). From its 1954 sign-on until 1987, KUOW was a
sister station to educational/
NET television outlet (and now PBS member station)
KCTS-TV (channel 9); the university spun off KCTS in 1987 and became a community licensee.
In the 1960s, however, KUOW began branching out, adding more news programming. It was a charter member of
NPR in 1970. In 1992, it changed format from music to news and information, and in 1999 it moved off campus to its current location on University Way. Also in 1999, UW outsourced the station's operation to Puget Sound Public Radio.
In late March 2020, KUOW "made an editorial decision to stop airing White House briefings on the
coronavirus pandemic live on a daily basis."
A statement from the station asserted that the decision was not politically based, and their "greater concern was the potential impact of false information on the health and safety of our community."
For several weeks in January and February 2022, a technical glitch with HD Radio caused the
infotainment systems of
Mazda
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. ...
vehicles made between 2014 and 2017 to only play KUOW's signal and flash repeatedly. Mazda blamed the issue on a missing file extension in KUOW's station logo; KUOW had ruled out a theory that the rollout of
5G networks had interfered with the existing 3G data received by infotainment systems.
Audience
KUOW reported that the station served an average of 413,600 listeners each week in 2019, down from 447,100 in 2018.
The station also reported that their on-demand audio and podcasts received 2.9 million downloads total.
KUOW-FM broadcasts in
HD. On March 7, 2018, KUOW made the decision to discontinue the HD2, HD3, and HD4 subchannels. "KUOW2" continues to be transmitted on translator K214EW 90.7 and KQOW-HD2 in Bellingham, while KUOW Jazz was discontinued. The main analog signal continues to be simulcast on HD1.
KUOW is also carried on the following satellite and
broadcast translator stations to improve reception of the station:
* KQOW 90.3 FM
Bellingham
*
KUOW 1340 AM
Tumwater and
Olympia
Finances
For KUOW's fiscal year ending June 30, 2019, the station reported total revenue of $18,732,286 and total expenses of $18,339,864, for a net gain of $392,422. Its sources of revenue were:
* 68% individuals
* 24% businesses
* 6% institutions such as
Corporation for Public Broadcasting and
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
* 2% other expenses such as interest and dividends or donated services and supplies
Programs
KUOW broadcast the Washington Talking Book and
Braille
Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...
Library's Evergreen
Radio Reading Service to blind and handicapped listeners on its 67 kHz
subcarrier, until the service's closure on August 15, 2014. KUOW was one of three major FM stations in Washington to do so;
KPBX-FM in Spokane and
KFAE-FM in Yakima were the others.
Music programming
* ''The Swing Years and Beyond'': a program that ran from 1968 to 2017 featuring jazz, swing, and blues music from the early 20th century.
Podcasts
* ''Battle Tactics for Your Sexist Workplace''
* ''How's Your Day?''
* ''KUOW Newsroom''
* ''KUOW Shorts''
* ''Primed''
* ''Radioactive''
* ''Seattle Now''
* ''Second Wave''
* ''SoundQs''
* ''Speakers Forum''
* ''The Wild With Chris Morgan''
How to Be a Girl
''How to Be a Girl'' is a parenting podcast hosted by a mother using the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
Marlo Mack to discuss her experiences raising her
transgender child. Mack had been recording her child since she was a baby and had recently joined a local radio club when her daughter began expressing that she was not a boy, which lead to the production of the podcast. The podcast has been nominated for a
Peabody award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...
and has won both a
Webby award for best writing as well as the international award from the
British Podcast Awards. Freddie McConnell of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' praised the show calling it a "tender take on an under-represented reality" and Katy Cowan of ''
Creative Boom'' praised the show saying that it was "a revealing and often emotional podcast."
The Record
''The Record'' is KUOW's flagship local news and interview podcast hosted by Bill Radke that debuted in the fall of 2013 and ended in July 2021.
After a neo-Nazi was punched for wearing a Nazi band in public, Radke interviewed the neo-Nazi on the show, which was received negatively from the show's audience and led to Radke apologizing for doing the interview. ''Week in Review'' is the Friday edition of ''The Record'', which won an award in 1996 for the best commentary and analysis from the
Society for Professional Journalist.
Soundside
''Soundside'' is a midday news podcast hosted by Libby Denkman that airs on KUOW on Mondays through Thursdays. The show was created after ''The Record'' ended.
Terrestrial
''Terrestrial'' was an environmental podcast hosted by Ashley Ahearn which ran from April 2017 until December 2017. Ahearn started the podcast because she felt that most
environmental journalism
Environmental journalism is the collection, verification, production, distribution and exhibition of information regarding current events, trends, and issues associated with the non-human world. To be an environmental journalist, one must have an ...
is impersonal and she wanted to explore how individuals cope with
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
rather than the discouraging state of the world. The podcast was nominated for ''Best Green Podcast'' in 2020 at the
iHeartRadio Podcast Awards and was featured on
''Outside Online'' as the best environmental podcast of 2017. Jillian Capewell of ''
HuffPost'' praised the show saying that the podcast is an "informative show in a sound-rich and powerful audioscape" and Rowan Slaney of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' praised the show saying that "it absolutely blew me away."
References
External links
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{{Coord, 47.616, N, 122.309, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
UOW-FM
NPR member stations
Radio stations established in 1952
UOW-FM
University of Washington