Back in January, I had the opportunity to do one of the warmest interviews I’ve ever had yet. It was with two dj’s from a local Seattle community radio station called KBCS. KBCS is a very diverse community station, where every three hours you can hear a new genre of music, or get plugged into a new show with very diverse opinions.

That might be changing soon, depending on who you talk to.

So I decided to speak directly to both horses in this topic. According to members of the Save KBCS website (who chose to remain anonymous), big changes will be happening in August, and they seem to think that the opinion of the public was kind of left out. KBCS Program Director Peter Graff says that they are suffering from a ”declining audience though not as bad as people think in financial support.” They have also conducted numerous interviews and surveys over the years, and they say that the results pointed towards changes needing to happen.

What are the changes? Many are listed on the KBCS website, but here is a big one that jumped out at me: The jazz shows I tune in for each week will be replaced with “a daily show focusing on extensive knowledge of jazz, world, and Americana.” This would be the show that John Gilbreath already runs every Friday from 9am to noon. Now he will be on five days a week in the mornings, (replacing Al and Joanie’s shows), which isn’t un-heard of, and especially for that personality to be paid. I asked Graff why that money was used to pay the employee instead of something like more advertising to generate interest, and he claimed  that you simply can’t find someone to volunteer five days a week for three hours a day, doing the caliber of show Gilbreath will be doing. All of the current, knowledgeable dj’s are volunteer workers, so Save KBCS is baffled that the idea is to bring in new, paid personalities.

Graff stated that listenership has been steadily decreasing for years and there are proven stats (as well as many other questions answered) here.  He says the proof lies in Arbitron ratings, and that’s one of the biggest  causes for the upcoming changes. But Save KBCS responds by saying that the Arbitron ratings aren’t very relevant in this situation due to KBCS having such a wide, diverse audience. Plus, the station is listener supported. KBCS has also offered to keep many of the shows that will be going away on the air by doing a recorded, internet only show. But so far, Save KBCS reports that most of the dj’s are not interested in that.

 Graff stated that anytime big changes like this happen, you have to prepare for an acute decline, and they did. He says that KBCS has factored in an expected decline to their budget. But he also wants to point out again that the station is not in a financial crisis by any means. Save KBCS wants to remind us all that the economy is  terrible right now and that most stations that are not corporate-funded are struggling these days, which could bring down both donations and listenership.

If something isn’t broken, why fix it? Or is it broken and we don’t see it? Save KBCS claims that KBCS wants more talk and information shows because they feel like the mostly-music route has become dull. They also pointed out that the main people in charge of these changes at KBCS ”don’t really know or like music that much to begin with.”  On the contrary, Graff points out the many hours spent conducting research surveys of what the people really want. At the end of the day he says that the goal at KBCS is to be the best Public Service Institution that it can be. Regardless, they can’t make everyone happy, and there is always someone upset when big changes occur in life.

Save KBCS asks that you email them your thoughts on this change, whether good or bad. So far they claim to have received over 250 emails from listeners who are not happy with these up-coming changes. They also intend to present this evidence to KBCS in hopes that the station might re-think their actions in what could be a costly, if not even fatal move for them.  Graff stated that by all means they hope that not only will those 250 people give the new format a shot, but also stay with the station. But he understands that there are a lot of different tastes and even if those 250 people would choose to not donate anymore, it would be a shame but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that high of a number. And while Save KBCS might sound a little harsh, really all they want is for KBCS to be “willing to put a hold on the changes and take some time rethinking what they are doing, and include input from both listeners and programmers.”

To be fair I’ll probably give some of these new shows a chance and hopefully I’ll like them, and by all means I hope every KBCS listener will as well. That is also what KBCS wants and I think Save KBCS ultimately wants to see success around KBCS.

This is a change, and a big change for some people. It might seem like KBCS is making some outlandish moves, but you might want to give a good, solid look at their FAQ’s on the subject before making up your mind completely. On that note, it’s worth listening to what the folks at Save KBCS have to say as well. In the end, people have the right to tune in to whatever they want, whenever they want. They might tune in to the new KBCS and like what they hear and continue to be, or become members of the station, donations included. Or they might not like what they hear and walk away from the station for good. Both of these scenarios will happen for sure. Anyone with interest in this topic has obviously been a fan of KBCS in the past, so let’s hope that their judgement is still good and that they are making wise decisions here.

For me personally, I’m deeply saddened that I won’t get to hear the knowledgeable and soothing voices of Al and Joanie anymore because I have built friendships and listener bonds with them. I tune into their shows on KBCS because I can’t hear jazz and swing from the 20s and 30s anywhere else around town. I always figured that if I couldn’t hear them anymore, it would be because one of them had passed away. Thankfully that is not the case here, but it still kind of seems like it to me.