EVERETT — Tracy Myer practically raised her son, Sam, at KSER (90.7 FM), the independent public radio station which is the only one of its kind based in Snohomish County.
For most of KSER’s 20-year history, Myer, 49, of Mukilteo, has hosted an on-air music program, trained new volunteers, helped maintain the station’s music library and participated in its annual donation pledge drive.
If all goes as expected, KSER’s next two decades will include the establishment of a second radio station on Whidbey Island, a wider broadcast transmission area, changes in programming and an even greater reliance on listener support and volunteers.
Myer and other volunteers are ones who keep this station on the air for an estimated audience of 25,000.
When Sam, now 13, was a baby, he slept through his mother’s eclectic music program from 9 to noon on Wednesday mornings. As a boy, he did chores around the station office. Even though he’s now in his teens, he continues to help out during summers, including with the station’s public service announcements.
“KSER has been a huge part of our lives,” Tracy Myer said. “It has the sort of programming that attracted me in the first place and got me interested in volunteering,” she said. “What we broadcast are public service programs on subjects such history, poetry and the environment. And music you rarely hear on commercial radio. It could be instrumental music from the Ukraine, Hawaii, Southeast Asia or Senegal, or Cajun, folk, bluegrass or swing.”
News and public affairs director and former station manager Ed Bremer has been on board since the KSER went live in February 1991 from its original headquarters in Lynnwood. At one point, he was the only paid employee.
Even then, it was never a one-man show, Bremer said. It’s about providing people a chance to be part of the media.
“It’s an opportunity that can’t be allowed to go away,” Bremer said. “We are stewards for the future.”
To that end, the station is moving ahead with plans to add a second frequency. The Federal Communications Commission has granted KSER a permit to broadcast from 89.9 FM in Freeland. The new transmitter has to be in place by Nov. 30, 2013, but could be ready to go earlier that year, said station manager Bruce Wirth.
The new transmitter will offer people in Shoreline, Edmonds, Mukilteo, the west side of Camano Island, Mount Vernon and Port Townsend a better chance to tune in. Of course, KSER must raise the money to build the transmitter tower, Wirth said.
A new sister station at Freeland could be launched in 2017 with the help of Whidbey Island volunteers who would focus primarily on music and cultural programming, Wirth said. If that happens, KSER would switch to more news and public affairs during the daytime hours, he said.
In the meantime, the station’s small paid staff, its 120 devoted volunteers, frequent guests playing live music and politicians participating in call-in shows cram into the sound booths and offices of a small storefront on Wetmore Avenue on the north side of downtown Everett.
Just outside the station is a clear view of the flashing lights of KSER’s transmitter in Lake Stevens. Selling space on the tower has brought in additional revenue for the station, Wirth said.
“We are not connected with a college or other institution and much of the available grant money has dried up, so that makes us more reliant on listener support and the help of companies such as Boeing,” Wirth said. “Our agenda is that we try to be local.”
On Saturday, KSER plans to celebrate 20 years of broadcasting and present its annual Voice of the Community award. The nominees for the award are Carol Schillios, Joe McIalwain, PoetsWest, GROW Washington, the Greater Everett Community Foundation, Edmonds Center for the Arts, The FARM Youth Outreach, Transition Port Gardner, Dr. David Beyer, Lya Badgley, Bill Reed, Monroe Swift Watch, Phillip McConnell, and Wendy McClure.
The evening also includes an auction of such things as box seats to the Mariners, local plane rides, a sailboat cruise, classes, concert tickets and glass artwork.
Volunteer Donald Moody, “Pastor Donald,” hosts a hip-hop Christian show on Sunday evenings.
“We were so happy to find KSER in our back yard,” Moody said. “Working with the station is a great joy.”
Birthday bash
KSER’s 20th Birthday Bash and Voice of the Community award celebration, with champagne and dessert, is set for 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday in the Weyerhaeuser Room at Everett Transit Center, 3201 Smith Ave. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.kser.org.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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