Classical KING FM 98.1

Wonderful wonderful wonderful. I listen to this station whenever I have the chance.
In addition to the masterpieces and celebrated composers, KING has exposed me to many composers about whom I knew little (Satie, Faure, Khachaturian) or nothing at all (for example, Reinecke’s 3^rd piano concerto… wow!!! Piano works by Lipatti and Martucci!!!).
And new performers too… a few nights ago, they introduced me to Alison Balsom and a spectacular trumpet concerto based on the old song «Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.» Totally unlooked for and plaintive and gorgeous. Just lovely stuff 24/​7, and helpful online playlists if you want to research specific pieces or performances a bit more or buy music you like.
Also, great hosts and some neat programs. Brad Eaton is excellent in the morning, and I’ve really enjoyed the enthusiasm of Sean MacLean on the evening show, and the Music Through the Night show is great on those nights when I just can’t sleep. I’m **very** glad Dave Beck is on the air here. I really like the different channels they offer on line for streaming at work. And hooray for commercial-​free radio!

From a performer’s perspective: King FM Live is such an enjoyable experience.
Love the thousands of CDs on the wall. and although the recording room is rather small, they made great use of the space for our group.
Our show: Evenings with Sean MacLean. He was über-​professional, calm (especially for such a quick set-​up, warm-​up, and run-​through of how the program would proceed) and had a great voice! Then — BOOM: «30 seconds to air!» Well damn… guess no going to the bathroom for the next hour.
Sean was great on the fly working with all the interviews and promoting other programs on our show. He made me want to listen to the station more often.
Don’t forget: no burping (so ex-​nay on the Diet Coke beforehand) and turn your pages silently! :)

We have an amazing array of musical stations, including alt rock, hip hop, bee bop and skip to my lou… ok, maybe not the last one. Some more are R&B and oldies…
…but how many classical stations do we have? This is the only one I’ve heard of and it’s great [anytime of the day — usually before bed].

Good variety of classical music with their playlist. Keeps listener inspirational and upbeat. Always a good station to listen to.

Since they’ve switched to listener supported, I have been much more impressed by the playlist. It’s more modern, more daring, and lacks the infinite commercial segments.

Yes, now that they are a public radio station, they finally stopped having full-​fledged commercials!

Yay! I’m a fan!
I sat in for an interview between Eric Fridrich, of
, & Marta, programing manager for Classic King’s «The Arts Channel», and had a great time! Marta was every bit the gracious hostess and journalistic professional one would expect from one of the greatest thought and arts leading air-​wave venues in Seattle
Classic KING & The Arts Channel’s people are fantastic professionals, the studio is extremely easy to work in and the facility was cool to boot!
Thanks Marta!
–Rich

I have been very surprised and shocked at the jarring combination of tacky ads sandwiched between beautiful music passages. Maybe it’s the time of day when I’ve been listening lately: early morning, before I get out of bed. Anyway, you’ll hear an exquisite movement, and then, pow – a stream of blaring ads promising cures for troublesome physical ailments, such as thinning hair, varicose veins, overweight, etc. etc. It’s really quite schizophrenic. I do hope that, with the changeover to a listener-​supported format by July 2011, these ads vanish. Kudos, though, to KING FM for broadcasting selected performances of the Pacific NW Ballet from time to time.

A wonderful radio station. They play music that will help you relax especially if you can’t sleep. I’ve used it to help myself fall asleep and it works. It also works if ur really stressed out or really frustrated.

mmmmhmm
Smooth classical music.
That says it all.
Inspiring, cheerful, dreamy — upbeat at times.
Thanks guys.

I admit, I’m biased towards this station due to one of my best friends working there (go Aaron!). But hey, it’s a great station (arbitron rated consistintly in the top 5 or so in the country) and part owned by the seattle symphony. Who could ask for more? (oh ya, give Aaron a raise).

The local commercial breaks, I have noticed in the past few weeks, are back. Perhaps not as obnoxious as before but still annoying. This, unfortunately, for me, cancels out the announcements of local cultural events.
Thus, I have effectively stopped listening to KING FM, as long as its advertisers continue to insult the intelligence (and taste) of its listeners.
In the age of Internet audio streaming, it is better to go to, for example, to European streaming sites:
Using iTunes as one’s media player, for example, WGBH or WQXR are both vastly superior to the much locally vaunted King FM, if only one for one very simple reason: no obnoxious commercials shabbily hawking their wares and services.
Radio Classique (
) is for those who enjoys classical music. Understanding French is not really necessary, as music is a langauge in itself, as the cliché goes.
France Vivace (
) is even better.
No commercial breaks, which should not surprise anyone who after the debacles of Enron, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, AIG, Fannie Mae, General Motors, Bernard Madoff,
., may have finally realized that a 100% profit-​driven economic system has its drawbacks.
Europeans have, so it seems, taken culture a lot more seriously than America, where entertainment, consumerism, and $$ trump all else. And so KING-​FM doesn’t escape the taint… there’s so little government support of the arts.
(Monteverdi, which was more of a portal for different Internet classical music stations anyway, has apparently stopped its audio streaming).

The best (only?) station in this fine city to offer nothing but classical music. Listen at noon for the 5 at Noon where they play 5 usually amazing pieces of classical music without interruption. They play plenty of Beethoven, Bach and Mozart plus lesser-​known composers that are equally impressive. Ear opening music to drive to and a good alternative to all the alternative music stations we have in this city.