Sequim radio station gets permit
By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News
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"The construction permit was issued today by the FCC," Rick Perry, cofounder of Sequim Community Broadcasting Inc., said Friday afternoon.
"This gives us permission to build it," and provide music of the 1940s, '50s and '60s, plus weather and traffic reports and other local information free of traditional commercials, from eastern Port Angeles to Diamond Point.
Perry has been seeking a Federal Communications Commission license to broadcast here since early 2005.
He said he's invested about $20,000 in legal and engineering costs, and will sink another $60,000 into the radio station by the time it goes on the air.
November debut
He hopes for a November debut, just in time for storm season.
The station will broadcast 24 hours a day.
Along with music, KSQM will provide frequent reports on road conditions, power outages and severe weather, Perry promised.
In emergencies, the station will switch to continuous updates.
Perry is one of three on the Sequim Community Broadcasting board of directors; others are Keith Burfitt, a Sequim general contractor, and Lynda Perry, co-owner of In Graphic Detail in Sequim. The two Perrys are not related.
Johan Van Nimwegen, a retired broadcast engineer who worked at KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, Calif., was one of the original directors, but has since bowed out due to illness in his family, Rick Perry said.
Next step
The next step for KSQM is building a structure to house the transmitter, which will sit on a 40-foot tower about three miles west of Sequim.
A separate studio space must also be rented, Perry said, adding that he's looking at locations in Carlsborg.
Since last November, Perry and Burfitt have promoted their idea for a local, noncommercial station via their Web site, www.SCBradio.com, at the Sequim Open Aire Market and other events.
"The response from the community has been tremendous," Perry said.
He's heard from people with professional on-air experience, "who've retired in Sequim, and gotten tired of playing golf."
"We have the potential of being a great community radio station."
Like many nonprofit stations around the country, KSQM will run on volunteer power. The format will largely be listener-driven.
"The bottom line," Perry said, "is what do people want to hear?"
He's open to adjusting the station's window of musical history, and to adding radio dramas written and produced by local playwrights and performers.
Those interested in becoming involved in KSQM programming can learn more by visiting www.SCBradio.com.
Lynda Perry added she hopes to hear some local history on the air, in the form of stories told by farmers, veterans and other Dungeness Valley residents.
"I think [the radio station] is a good way to pull the community together," she said.
"We have such a rich mix of people here . . . We've got so many people at home," too, "who would feel more comfortable having a local radio station," broadcasting Sequim-specific information.
The road to this point has been long and tortuous, Rick Perry acknowledged.
Port Townsend
Sequim Community Broadcasting last year weathered a dispute with the Port Townsend Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which ultimately agreed to share the FM dial with KSQM and Radio Port Townsend.
The church and Radio PT have applied to the FCC for 91.1 and 91.9, respectively.
Any would-be broadcaster within 250 miles of the Canadian border must also get permission from Canada's government, Rick Perry added.
Shortly before he received word of his FCC construction permit, Canadian officials signed off on a statement that KSQM will not interfere with any Canadian stations.
KSQM's license to broadcast will come once the transmitter and other equipment is installed, Perry said.
A retired naval officer and school psychologist who worked in Yakima, Perry, 63, was a disc jockey back when he was in college.
"I never lost the love of it," he said. "Now's my opportunity to do what I really want to do."
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: August 16. 2008 9:00PM