Yelm could be home to new radio station

By Rolf Boone | The Olympian • Published November 09, 2008

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YELM – A longtime South Sound radio executive who has been trying to open an AM radio station in Yelm since 2004 says he can see light at the end of the tunnel.

"I felt that it gave me the best opportunity to be granted a license if I was choosing an area that was not yet served," said Brian Butler, the sole owner of the proposed station in Yelm.

Butler is the general sales manager at Olympia's KXXO at 96.1 FM and owns a small stake in that station. He has been with that station since it went on the air in August 1989.

Butler started work on the Yelm station in 2004, filing a short application with the Federal Communications Commission that year, then a longer one in December 2007, he said. He now is waiting for a construction permit to be granted and aims to be on the air in mid-2009, Butler said.

This much he knows: The station will broadcast at 1120 AM; will operate at 10,000 watts during the day and 6,000 at night; and because of its directional signal, it likely won't be heard east of Yelm or north of Tacoma. However, it should cover Thurston County, he said. The county is home to about 12 stations, according to FCC data.

Station call letters haven't been determined, and although he envisions a station carrying music, news and local sports, Butler did not want to disclose the music format.

The primary channel will broadcast in analog and digital signals, but he also plans an auxiliary channel strictly for digital listeners, he said. He envisions a radio station in Yelm in which on-air personalities would be visible to the public.

Tim Larsen, longtime owner of Tim's Pharmacy in Yelm, said he's not surprised the city is getting a radio station because of its recent growth. He said it would be nice to have a daily source of local news; the city is served by the Nisqually Valley News, a weekly newspaper. Larsen also said he's not sure whether he would advertise on the station but would feel inclined to because it's local.

Yelm is Thurston County's fastest-growing city, with its population growing 6.2 percent in the year-over-year period ending in April, according to a recent estimate by the state Office of Financial Management. A Wal-Mart supercenter opened there in 2007, and the city's taxable retail sales have been strong.

A category of taxable retail sales known as retail trade, which excludes construction and is considered a better measure of consumer spending, shot up nearly 50 percent to $21.7 million from $14.7 million in the year-over-year second-quarter period this year. In the first quarter of 2008, year-over-year taxable retail sales in Yelm were higher by 52 percent, according to the state Department of Revenue.

"I've been in the radio business for 30 years, and I saw it as an opportunity as a station owner," Butler said about putting a station in Yelm.

Rolf Boone covers business for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5403 or rboone@theolympian.com.