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Port Looks to Relocate KGY Radio; Offers Help: Station Unsure on Finding New Home

Posted on: Thursday, 16 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Jim Szymanski, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

Mar. 16--OLYMPIA -- Port of Olympia Executive Director Ed Galligan has offered to work with KGY radio officials to find a new home on port land.

During an editorial board meeting at The Olympian on Wednesday, Galligan suggested station owners consider moving their building, which rests on pilings over Budd Inlet, to firmer ground on the port peninsula.

Port officials would prefer the station move before its lease expires at the end of 2009. The port envisions the spot for other real estate development, possibly a small hotel, an office building or a viewing pier.

"We are trying to help them work out a plan" to move, Galligan told the editorial board. Galligan wants KGY to be "alive and thriving' in the years to come, he said.

Moving discussions

Port and station officials have been discussing a move, and how to pay for it, for the past year. The station is one of the nation's oldest, having received its license in 1922 after going on the air at Saint Martin's College in 1914.

The station is close to working out a deal to move its transmission tower a short distance out of the way of potential port development, said Dick Pust, the station's general manager. But there is no plan to finance moving the studios at this time. All moving costs would have to be met by the station, Galligan and Pust said.

Pust said he wasn't sure the station would be willing to move from the building it has occupied since 1960, but he was open to Galligan's suggestion.

"It's not something we would rule out," he said. "But I'm a little skeptical the building could actually be moved."

Kerry's legacy

Barbara Kerry, the station's owner and chief executive, died last month at 71. Her descendents want to keep the station on the air, Pust said.

"They not only want to continue the business, they've expressed just incredible support to the staff of the station," he said.

Port officials believe the station's scenic location, at the tip of NorthPoint overlooking the inlet, is increasingly valuable for development. Such development includes a new Anthony's restaurant scheduled to open next to KGY this summer. As a result, the port has increased KGY's monthly lease on the site from $775 two years ago to $1,302 earlier this year.

Galligan has repeatedly pledged to work in a spirit of cooperation with the station. But he was emphatic with The Olympian's editorial board about an outcome.

"In the long run," he said, "they have got to move."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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