You may have seen the news this week that Fisher Broadcasting, which includes KOMO and KVI Radio and KOMO-TV, is being purchased by Sinclair Broadcast Group.
Some consumers don't care much about local ownership, media or otherwise. After all, how many of us are guilty of bypassing the local hardware store on the way to the big orange box store? But the sale of Fisher to Maryland-based Sinclair means there is not a single major commercial TV station left in the Seattle area that is locally owned.
And if you pay attention to media and politics, you may have heard about Sinclair. In 2004 one of the company's top broadcast journalists was fired after criticizing Sinclair's plans to air what he called "biased political propaganda to sway the election" toward George W. Bush.You can read about it here.
So KOMO TV, the former home of Kathi Goertzen, will now be owned by a company in Maryland that some feel spreads conservative propaganda. KIRO-TV is owned by Atlanta-based Cox Media Group; KING-TV is owned by Texas-based Belo Broadcasting; and Q-13 Fox is owned by Tribune of Chicago.
In radio, it's a similar story. KVI and KPLZ along with news-station KOMO will now be owned by Sinclair. KIRO radio and KTTH are owned by Bonneville, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mormon Church.
But that's not the end of the out-of-town-owners list. KZOK and KMPS are owned by CBS. KISW, The Wolf, The Mountain and the End are all owned by Entercom of Pennsylvania. And the biggest radio company in the U.S, Clear Channel, owns KJR, KUBE and KKBW.
You may have also heard about Clear Channel, which owns more than 1,200 radio stations. They were taken over in 2009 by Bain Capital, the 'financial services' company co-founded by Mitt Romney.You can read about Bain here.
Non-commercial public radio is different, thankfully. KPLU is owned by Pacific Lutheran University. KUOW and KEXP are both owned by the University of Washington. Bellevue College owns KBCS-FM.
So that get's us around to KSER. The one station not owned by a university or out-of-town corporation. Our owner, technically, is you. KSER members own the radio station and get to vote each year for which local citizens will make up our Board of Directors. And our board is all-volunteer...local people who are dedicated to the success and sustainability of KSER.
That desire to have local owners serving the local community with an independent voice is also why the KSER Foundation is developing a second station to serve the North Puget Sound. KXIR-FM at 88.9 will go on the air later this year. It's also why we've conducted a series of public forums and launched an online survey to determine how our stations can best serve you!
All of this isn't to suggest that KSER is a shining beacon and the big commercial stations are always slanting the news and always toeing the corporate line. There are some talented and dedicated broadcasters working at many of those stations.
But it is a reminder that there are few places where you'll hear voices like Amy Goodman and discussion of local issues like you'll hear on KSER's Sound Living or Color Commentary and programming produced by the League of Women Voters. And you don't have to question the motive behind our content. No corporate owner or advertising sponsor is pulling any strings on YOUR station.
And it's also a reminder that while more and more local broadcast signals get gobbled up by corporate out-of-town owners, it becomes more important than ever that YOU have a local voice. It can't happen without you and your support.
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