Doubling Down on Community Service

The non-profit KSER Foundation is about to be the steward of a second non-commercial independent public radio station. Sometime in the next few weeks we will expand our footprint in the North Puget Sound by launching the region's newest FM radio station: KXIR at 89.9.

This new station is a project that actually began years ago with planning and filings with the Federal Communications Commission. Several other organizations were eager to claim this last available full-power frequency in our region.  But almost three years ago the F.C.C. awarded the new frequency to the KSER Foundation.

Our initial focus was to find an existing tower that would meet the F.C.C. requirements for the broadcast signal. After all, who wants to build a new broadcast tower? Unfortunately, there were no towers already available that could accommodate our needs and the F.C.C. specifications. Eventually we were able to lease a small plot of heavily wooded land in the middle of Whidbey Island to construct a new tower.

We held a public hearing at Greenbank Farms which was attended by several of the neighbors who live in the sparsely populated area near the tower site. After the hearing we filed a land-use permit with Island County proposing the clearing of a relatively small area that would be surrounded by tall trees on all sides.  The average tree height in the area is nearly 140' and our tower would be 180' - meaning that from many vantage points you would barely be able to see the tower above the tree line. Our proposal also spelled out that the tower would remain in it's natural galvanized steel state - no bright orange or red colors. And because of the limited height, no strobe lights, beacons or lights of any kind will be placed on the tower.  We also included a commitment to plant additional trees around the tower site once it was complete.

The Island County Planning Department approved our application and allowed a window for public comment or appeals. There were none. We were given the green light to begin the project.

That began a four-month flurry of land-clearing; surveying; measuring; concrete-pouring; parts-ordering; parts-deliveries; (oops, defective parts - more ordering); trench-digging; conduit-installation; (oops, conduit in wrong place - more digging) electrical wiring; other utilities installations; on-the-ground tower parts assembly; antenna assembly; and more.

That was all followed by delivery of a large crane; (oops, discovery that the crane wasn't large enough!); delivery of a larger crane; stacking of a 180' tower; tower climbing; antenna installation; budget calculations and recalculations.

If you'd like to see a big chunk of all that work edited down to three minutes, watch this time-lapse video:

We're still not finished. We need to do some testing and proofs and file that information with the F.C.C. before we begin serving the community with KXIR.  But, hopefully, that won't take more than another few weeks and you'll be able to listen to our music, news and public affairs programming on both 90.7 FM and 89.9 FM.

For at least the first six months, we will simulcast KSER's programming on the new station 24 hours a day. But, we've already held six public forums seeking your input on how we can best serve our communities with two independent public radio stations.  We are planning more outreach and research to determine the best way to create two separate and distinct stations to serve our diverse area. But you can be sure that however the stations' programming is developed it will be done to match the KSER Foundation Mission Statement: To advance the common good in our community
through Public Radio and other services dedicated to arts, ideas and civic engagement.


You can find out more about our new station here. If you have ideas, suggestions or questions about the new station we'd love to hear from you.

Many towns and cities in the U.S. are not served by a community owned, fully independent public radio station. Some are fortunate enough to have one. In the North Puget Sound - thanks to the hard work, vision and dedication of many people and thanks to community support - we're about to have TWO!