Jazz, Blues and NPR News station KNKX-FM in Seattle is moving to the Pike Place market neighborhood. The plan is to be in the new location by the end of this year or early 2023 and a $4.5 million fundraising campaign to pay for the project is underway.
The new, larger studio space is nearly 7,900 square feet and includes a performance space that is double the size of its current Seattle studio. It will accommodate more video production of live jazz and blues performances in the KNKX Studio Sessions series. The new home includes new recording studios for local production, and more room for its news department.
The Madore Building sits between the Market and the reimagined Seattle Waterfront Park.
“We wanted a location that was visible, accessible, and provided us more opportunity to invite the public in. Traditional radio stations are walled off from their listeners, but we wanted something different,” said General Manager and President Joey Cohn. “At the Madore Building, we found a place where we can engage, host and interact with people. We can bring them into our operations instead of just listening to what we do through their radios or other devices.”
KNKX-FM plays jazz, blues, Northwest and NPR news. The public radio station has the largest radio footprint in the state. The station was founded in 1966 as a licensee of Pacific Lutheran University but gained its independence in 2016 after a community fundraising campaign purchased the station from the university in 2016. In 2019, KNKX moved its South Sound studios out of PLU and to its new home in downtown Tacoma.
