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KCMU-FM

KCMU-FM

KEXP (formerly KCMU) is a public radio station based in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in independent and alternative rock programmed by its disk jockeys. Its broadcasting license is owned by the University of Washington, which operates the station in a partnership with Paul Allen's Experience Music Project. For the majority of its schedule, KEXP broadcasts an eclectic mix of primarily alternative music. The station also features weekly specialty programs dedicated to particular musical genres, including rockabilly, world music, hip hop, electronica, punk, and alternative country. Live, in-studio performances by artists are also regularly featured. KEXP is broadcast in the Seattle area on 90.3 FM; in the south Puget Sound area on its sister station KXOT 91.7 FM; on the Internet via streaming audio [http://www.kexp.org/]; and on PanAmSat's Galaxy 10R satellite [http://www.lyngsat.com/g10r.html]. KEXP's streaming costs are covered by the University of Washington (UW), which also provides most of the Internet technology used by the station. KEXP is often a testing ground for the university’s Computing and Communications department, leading to features not found by other stations. In addition, music licensing fees associated with internet radio are covered by the station's affiliation with National Public Radio. The association and financial help by these two organizations have allowed KEXP to experiment with its online offerings.

History

In 1972, KEXP started operations as KCMU, a small album rock station staffed by University of Washington students that broadcast at 90.5 FM to the UW campus. (The "CMU" in its call letters referred to its home in the Communications Building.) The UW also owns the NPR affiliate, KUOW (94.9). In 1975, its signal strength was boosted to 182 watts, up from the initial 10, carrying the signal off campus for the first time. In 1981, under the direction of Jon Kertzer, KCMU turned to its listening audience for public funding after the UW's budget was cut. KCMU played mostly indy-rock but also was the first station to play rap artists like Grandmaster Flash. Throughout the late 1980s, the station tapped into Seattle's burgeoning music scene. Members of local bands Soundgarden and Mudhoney worked as volunteer DJs as did both Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt, the founders of Sub-Pop. During these years, Billboard Magazine called KCMU "one of the most influential commercial-free stations in the country." From 1983 - 1985, Kerry Loewen (former station manager at KFJC-FM) was station manager. In 1984, KCMU switched frequencies to 90.3 FM and upped its transmitter signal to 400 watts, increasing its broadcast radius to 15 miles. In late 1985 Chris Knab (former owner of Aquarius Records in San Francisco) became station manager. Mr. Knab moved the station away from alternative rock-only programming, adding jazz, hip hop, world music and other genres to its lineup. In 1992, KCMU dropped many of its volunteer DJs and elected to run syndicated programming. Some listeners and DJs considered this a betrayal of KCMU's democratic mission, and formed a group called CURSE (Censorship Undermines Radio Station Ethics). A program called World Cafe, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a particular bone of contention. CURSE encouraged local KCMU supporters to stop donating money to the station in protest. Volunteer DJs who criticized the station's policies were fired, although a lawsuit from CURSE resulted in that policy being struck down by a United States District Court. World Cafe was dropped from KCMU's lineup in 1993, but none of the fired volunteer staff returned to the station. KCMU hired its three full-time paid DJs in 1996, a move that cost several volunteer DJs and led to further complaints from some listeners who decried what they perceived as commercialization of the non-commercial radio station. In 2000, KCMU started streaming uncompressed audio over the Internet. The kexp.org website was nominated for two Webby Awards in 2003, Best Radio Website and the People's Voice Award. KCMU changed its name to KEXP in 2001. At the same time, it moved to a new studio near downtown Seattle, partnered with the Experience Music Project (EMP), and increased its power to 720 watts. In 2004, KEXP started broadcasting on KXOT 91.7 FM in Tacoma, Washington, which extended the station's broadcast range to Olympia and the south Puget Sound region. Before then, KXOT was known as KBTC, was owned by Bates Technical College, and featured a classic rock format. Bates sold the station to Public Radio Capital for $5 million, and PRC leases it to KEXP. As of 2005, the station has construction permits to increase the power of KEXP 90.3 FM from 720 watts to 3,300 W effective radiated power, and KXOT from 7,900 W to 39,000 W. KEXP began podcasting their live, in-studio performances beginning with Seattle hip hop trio Boom Bap Project who appeared on 21 July 2005. On 3 November 2005, KEXP announced it was terminating operation of KXOT 91.7 FM at the end of the calendar year. The agreement made with EMP in 2001 is set to expire, and the radio station is preparing to support increased operating costs with a smaller budget. [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/247076_kexp04.html]

Website

In addition to features such as playlists and live streaming radio, KEXP's website includes an archive of all programs from the last two weeks as well as a massive collection of previous on-air live performances [http://kexp.org/aspnet_client/live.asp]. The performers in the collection are representative of the station's eclectic musical mix. These include national and international artists such as Patti Smith, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and They Might Be Giants and local Pacific Northwest artists such as Harvey Danger, The Long Winters, and Maktub.

Former DJs

Matt Nichols
Poptart
Amanda Wilde

External links


- [http://www.kexp.org/ KEXP home page]

References


- Julia Kingrey, [http://archives.thedaily.washington.edu/1998/071598/radio.html Radio-free UW: KCMU moves off campus], University of Washington Daily, July 15, 1998
- Jeff DeRoche, [http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=7007 Radio Ga-Ga: With Paul Allen's Money at Its Disposal, Does KCMU -- Wai...KEXP Really Need Any More of Your Money?] The Stranger, Apr 12 - Apr 18, 2001
- Reid Davis, [http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/article?article_id=100 KEXP Seattle - What Music Radio Could Be], Paste Magazine online, undated, appears to date from 2002, accessed 12 Dec 2005
- Nina Shapiro, [http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0549/051207_music_kexp.php The Expensive Expansion of KEXP: It's globally popular and flush with donations, but Seattle's seminal eclectic-music radio station is under financial strain that is affecting morale] Seattle Weekly, December 7 - 13, 2005. Category:Seattle radio stations

Public radio

Public broadcasting (also known as public service broadcasting or PSB) is the dominant form of broadcasting around the world, where radio, television, and potentially other electronic media outlets receive funding from the public. These funds can come directly from individuals through donations or fees, or indirectly as state subsidies that originated in taxes or other national funding sources. Some public broadcasters supplement this with contributions from corporations, which may be granted a limited amount of advertising time in return. However, when advertisements occur on public broadcasting outlets, they are usually much shorter and less attention-grabbing than on commercial broadcasting stations. Commercial broadcasting only occurs in a handful of large Western countries. One of the best known public broadcaster is the British Broadcasting Corporation, based in the United Kingdom, whose mission is to "inform, educate and entertain". In the United States, public broadcasting is more decentralized and is not government operated, but, rather, government supported. The majority of funding comes from community support to hundreds of public radio and public television stations, each of which is an individual entity licensed to one of several different non-profit organizations, municipal or state governments, or universities. These organizations often produce their own programs, but largely depend upon national producers and program distributors such as National Public Radio (NPR), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Public Radio International (PRI), and American Public Media. U.S. government support is filtered through a separate organization, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Defining public broadcasting

There is no standard definition of what public broadcasting is exactly, although a number of official bodies have attempted to pick out the key characteristics. Public service broadcasters generally transmit programming that aims to improve society by informing viewers. In contrast, the aim of commercial outlets is to provide popular shows that attract an audience—therefore leading to higher prices when advertising is sold. For this reason, the ideals of public broadcasting are often incompatible with commercial goals. Of course, public broadcasters also strive to entertain their viewers, but they can still come across as being overly paternalistic in nature. The Broadcasting Research Unit lists the following as major goals or characteristics of a public broadcaster:
- Geographic universality — that the stations' broadcasts are available nationwide, with no exception (a criterion failed by Five; however, in the case of PBS in the United States and the CBC/Radio-Canada in Canada, the "nationwide" criterion is satisfied by either member stations (as is the case with PBS) or, as is the case with most public broadcasting systems around the world (including Canada's CBC/Radio-Canada, the system owning transmitters to broadcast nationwide).
- Catering for all interests and tastes — as exemplified by the BBC's range of minority channels (BBC2, BBC Radio 3, and various digital services), but also by the commercial Channel 4.
- Catering for minorities — much as above, but with racial and sexual minorities etc. (for example Channel 4, BBC Asian Network, Radio-Canada).
- Concern for national identity and community — this essentially means that the stations should in the most part commission programmes from within the country, which may be more expensive than importing shows from abroad.
- Detachment from vested interests and government — in other words, programming should be impartial, and the stations should not pander to the desires of advertisers or government. In practice however, such impartiality is questionable, even with the BBC. Even when a station is removed from corporate and government interests, there may be a sense that it panders to a particular social group (the middle class that ascribes the values PSB aims to disseminate).
- One broadcasting system to be directly funded by the corpus of users — the licence fee in the case of the BBC, member stations asking for donations in the case of the US's PBS/NPR.
- Competition in good programming rather than numbers — quality is the prime concern with a true public service broadcaster. Of course, in practice, ratings wars are rarely concerned with quality, although that may depend on how you define the word "quality".
- Guidelines to liberate programme makers and not restrict them — in the UK, guidelines, and not laws, govern what a programme maker can and cannot do, although these guidelines can be backed up by hefty penalties. Some of these definition points may not be acceptable everywhere. For example in the United States public radio may see part of its mission to bring in foreign shows, e.g. shows from the CBC/Radio-Canada or BBC because Americans are exposed to little foreign media. In the modern world, the mass media is tremendously competitive, and as such, it can be difficult for a public service broadcaster to survive amongst commercial interests, especially with the increased number of channels that digital broadcasting provides. Modern public broadcasting is typically a mixed commercial model. For example, the CBC has always relied on a subsidy from general revenues of the government, and more recently, in the case of the CBC television, advertising revenues, making them competitive with commercial broadcasting. Some argue that this dilutes their mandate as truly public broadcasters, who have no commercial bias to distort their presentation of the news. In most countries in Western Europe, state broadcasters are similarly funded through a mix of advertising and public money, either through a licence fee or directly from the government.

Advantages and disadvantages

A key advantage of public broadcasting is that it can rely on stable management and policies to attract and develop journalistic talent. This tends to make public broadcasters worldwide particularly trusted for reporting news. Even in the United States, where there is far more competition for top news anchors, journalists, hosts and commentators, some of its public broadcasts, such as The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, are widely respected and can attract important people to comment on the issues of the day. Those guests can in turn count on a commitment to balance, and perhaps also more educated questions, which assured them they would not be turned into a public spectacle for the sake of ratings (always a risk in any TV or radio programme.) Another key advantage of public broadcasting is that a cultural policy (an industrial policy and investment policy for culture) is relatively easy to implement. For instance, the Canadian government commitment to official bilingualism creates stable work at the CBC for translators, journalists who work in French in English regions of Canada, encourages production of cross-cultural material. Some, such as Quebec separatists, argue that this is also a policy of cultural imperialism and assimilation. However, this is a criticism of the policy, rather than of the cultural methodology. In the UK, the BBC has also taken a strong stance in favor of multi-culturalism and diversity: many of its on-screen commentators and hosts are of different ethnic origins. For those who oppose cultural policy on principle, the above arguments are actually arguments against public broadcasting. However, even opponents of government cultural policy (who may state their objection as disagreement with 'culture being shoved down their throat'), rarely object to being exposed to the "cultural policies" of commercial broadcasting: pop culture, law presented as if it were truth, militarism and identification with 'our boys' etc., all manner of culture bias, and consumerism in the form of advertising itself. In public broadcasting, these things can be centrally controlled and limited, or at least openly discussed. Some will say lack of a cultural policy is a policy in itself: commercialism. An interesting example of this balancing role is the use of the word "terrorism". While commercial broadcasters often use the word as if it were a category one could observe directly, public broadcasters are forced by their very mandate to justify their use of the word — the BBC at one point claimed it would label no one a "terrorist" as they considered it a political term. Throughout the IRA crises, the BBC steadfastly referred to "the IRA", "Republican forces" or to "militants". They avoided the term "terrorist" and even "extremist". One viewpoint is that some public broadcasting, and also some pirate broadcasting, provides a necessary counterweight to the commercial media. Advocates of deliberative democracy, which requires much 'air-time' and 'feedback' and access to public figures to work, usually consider public broadcasting to be an absolute necessity to the maintenance of a complex modern technological democracy. Whether one likes it or not, in many nations, public broadcasting is all there is. Where commercial media is allowed at all, it may be seen merely as an avenue for the presentation of commercial products that few in the population can afford and as a cultural policy of foreign 'invasion'. Public broadcasting sometimes serves simply to put voices or languages on the air that may otherwise be completely ignored, and sometimes due to a lack of voice, obliterated. To the degree that rumours and hatred can be dispelled by diligent public broadcasting, it can be seen as a public good. Where it is used to amplify hatred and fear, as dictators have used it, it can even be an instrument to foment genocide. Accordingly, public broadcasting must probably be managed as carefully as any nation manages its police or military forces. The ability of electronic media to mobilise and motivate the public to a common cause is profound, and its abuse is probably as serious as abuses of force.

Public broadcasting around the world

Australia

In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is funded entirely through a Australian Government grant-in-aid, which has made it vulnerable to cuts in government spending. The multicultural Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Australia's other public broadcaster, now accepts limited sponsorship and advertising. In addition, there are a number of community television stations (most operating as Channel 31 despite being unrelated across different states) and radio stations that survive almost entirely on donations and corporate sponsorship. They are organised similarly to PBS and NPR stations in the US, however are much less powerful; largely due to competition from the ABC and SBS. They also take on the role that public access stations have in the US.

Canada

In Canada, the main public broadcaster is the national CBC, which operates two television networks (CBC Television and SRC), four radio networks (CBC Radio One, CBC Radio Two, La Première Chaîne and Espace musique) and two 24-hour news channels (CBC Newsworld and RDI) in both of Canada's official languages. In addition, several provinces operate public broadcasters; these are not CBC subentities, but distinct networks in their own right. These include TVOntario, which operates two networks (English TVO and French-language TFO), Télé-Québec, SCN in Saskatchewan, public radio station CKUA in Alberta, and Knowledge Network in British Columbia. Some of the provincial broadcasters operate through conventional transmitters, while others are cable-only channels. Alberta also has a semi-public television network, ACCESS, which is licensed to provide some public service programming but is owned and operated by a commercial broadcaster. The network, formerly a public broadcaster operated by the provincial government, was sold to CHUM Limited in 1995. Some local community stations also operate non-commercially with funding from corporate and individual donors. In addition, cable companies are required to produce a local community channel in each licensed market. Such channels have traditionally aired community talk shows, city council meetings and other locally oriented programming, although it is becoming increasingly common for them to adopt the format and branding of a local news channel.

Europe

The original British Broadcasting Corporation, widely trusted even by citizens of the Axis Powers during World War II, was widely emulated throughout the former British Empire and later Commonwealth: the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Australian Broadcasting Corporation are simple applications of that model. Also Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio, the public broadcasters in Sweden are basically an application of the model used in Britain, funded by television licence fees and carrying no advertising. In theory, public broadcasting is not beholden to advertisers, political parties, or the government of the day—and some critics say, it is also not particularly responsive to its viewers. In the Netherlands a different system is being used. Broadcasting foundations receive time to broadcast their programmes on the television and radio channels, based on the amount of members. This system reflects every population group.

Latin America

Latin America has never had a history of European style public service radio or television except for Chile's Televisión Nacional, an open channel which serves the entire country (including Easter Island and Antarctica bases). Televisión Nacional, popularly known as channel 7 because of its Santiago frequency, is governed by a seven-member board appointed by the Chilean Senate. It is meant to be independent of political pressures, although accusations of bias have been made, especially during election campaigns. State broadcasters tend to be either very weak and under-funded (as the Argentinian ATC), or to be clearly under the control of the party in power. Starting from these singularities, commercial broadcasting quickly and effectively conquered its audiences, leaving public and state broadcasting a token role. In some countries, such as Ecuador, where broadcasting was originally legally defined as a commercial venture, a public broadcaster was never born.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the former public broadcaster BCNZ (formerly NZBC) was broken up into separate state-owned corporations, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) and Radio New Zealand (RNZ). While RNZ remains commercial-free, TVNZ has been heavily commercialised, leading to accusations of 'dumbing down'.

Japan

In Japan, the main public broadcaster is the national NHK, sometimes informally referred to as Radio Tokyo by english speakers. The broadcaster was set up in 1926 and was modelled on BBC Ltd, the pre-cursor to the british public service broadcaster BBC created in 1927. Much like the BBC, NHK is funded by a "receiving fee" by every japanese household, with no commercial advertising and the maintainance of a position of strict political impartiality. NHK runs two national terrestial tv stations (NHK General and NHK Educational) and three satellite only services (NHK BS-1, BS-2 and the hi-definition NHK Hi-Vision services). NHK also runs 3 national radio services and a number of international radio and television services, akin to the BBC World Service. NHK has also been an innovator in television, developing the world's first high definition television technology in 1964 and launching high definition services in Japan in 1981.

United States

high definition television in the 1940s that spawned both PBS and NPR.]] In the United States the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television network operates on a largely viewer-supported basis, with commercial sponsors of specific programs. Over time, sponsorship announcements have slowly transformed into something resembling regular TV advertisements, though they are usually shorter and have a more muted tone than what is seen on commercial TV, and many organizations still only receive a short thanks for their contributions. Most communities also have public access services on local cable television stations, which are sometimes supported in part through donations. National radio networks include National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Radio International (PRI), and there are many smaller networks serving particular states or regions that are often affiliated with NPR or PRI (the situation is similar with public TV). Public radio stations in the US tend to broadcast a mixture of news and talk radio programming along with some music. Some of the larger operations split off these formats into separate stations or networks. Public music stations are probably best known for playing classical music, although other formats have been used, including the emerging "eclectic" music format that is rather freeform in nature (common among college radio stations, though a well-known eclectic NPR member station is KCRW in California). All of these networks are organized as membership cooperatives; member stations provide most of the funding for their operations through annual dues. The networks then contract with program producers—often the same member stations—to deliver programming to the membership. NPR produces some of its own programming (news in particular); PBS and PRI do not. In addition to membership dues, the networks also receive direct funding from private donors and foundations, and from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

List of public broadcasters

North America


- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- Knowledge Network — British Columbia
- National Public Radio — United States
- Public Broadcasting Service — United States
- Public Radio International
- Saskatchewan Communications Network
- Télé-Québec
- TFO — Ontario
- TVOntario
- CKUA — Alberta

Asia


- GMA
- ABS-CBN 2
- CCTV
- Israel Broadcasting Authority
- Japan Broadcasting Corporation
- Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation
- Turkish Radio and Television Corporation
- Prasar Bharati - The Broadcasting Corporation of India
- Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)

Australasia (Oceania)


- Australian Broadcasting Corporation
- Radio New Zealand
- Special Broadcasting Service — Australia

Europe


- ARD (TV) — working partnership of German public-service broadcasters
  - Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk — Leipzig
  - Westdeutscher Rundfunk — Cologne
- Arte — France / Germany
- BBC — United Kingdom
- BVN — Flanders and Netherlands television
- Česká televize — Czech Republic
- Danmarks Radio — Denmark
- ERT — Greece
- European Broadcasting Union — association of public broadcasters in Europe and other nearby countries
- France Télévisions
- HRT — Croatia
- NRK — Norway
- ORF — Austria
- Publieke Omroep — Netherlands
  - VARA
  - VPRO
- Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
- Radio France
- Radio Telefís Éireann — Ireland
- RAI — Italy
- RTBF — Wallonia, Belgium
- RTVE — Spain
- RÚV — Iceland
- S4C — Wales, United Kingdom
- SRG SSR idée suisse — Switzerland
- Sveriges Radio — Sweden
- Sveriges Television — Sweden
- Útvarp Føroya, Sjónvarp Føroya — Faroe Islands
- VRT — Flanders, Belgium
- Yleisradio — Finland
- ZDF — Germany

See also


- Commercial broadcasting
- Community Radio
- Pirate broadcasting
- Religious broadcasting
- Radio

External links


- [http://www.article19.org/pdfs/standards/modelpsblaw.pdf A Model Public Service Broadcasting Law], by ARTICLE 19
- [http://www.airmedia.org AIR, the Association for Independents in Radio]
- [http://www.prx.org Public Radio Exchange, non-profit distribution, peer review and licensing]
- [http://www.publicradiofan.com Public Radio Fan website], listing public-radio programs and stations worldwide.
- [http://www.radiocollege.org Radio College, Internet Resources for Radio Journalists and Producers]
- [http://www.transom.org/index.php Transom, A Showcase and Workshop for New Public Radio]
- [http://www.houseofdavid.ca/media.htm Comparative Advantage - Some Considerations Regarding the Future of Public Media].
- [http://www.article19.org/pdfs/standards/accessairwaves.pdf Access to the Airwaves: Principles on Freedom of Expression and Broadcast Regulation] Category:Broadcasting ja:公共放送

Seattle, Washington

:This article is about the city. For the Suquamish chief, see Chief Seattle. Chief Seattle Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located in the U.S. state of Washington between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, nearly 108 miles (174 km) south of the United States–Canadian border in King County, of which it is the county seat. Seattle was founded in the 1850s named after Chief Seattle, or Sealth. As of 2004, the population estimates of the city given by the U.S. Census Bureau was 571,480, however, in 2005, the city has an estimated population of 573,672 and a metropolitan population of almost 3.8 million. It is sometimes referred to as the "Rainy City", the "Gateway to Alaska", "Queen City", and "Jet City" (due to the heavy influence of Boeing). Its official nickname is "the Emerald City". Seattle is known as the birthplace of grunge music, and has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption. Seattle was also the site of the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization and anti-globalization demonstrations. Seattle residents are known as Seattleites. Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Seattle ranks 36th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked.

History

Founding

Most of the Denny Party, the most prominent of the area's early white settlers, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. They relocated their settlement to Elliott Bay in April 1852. The first plats for the Town of Seattle were filed on May 23, 1853. The city was incorporated in 1869, after having existed as an incorporated town from 1865 to 1867. Seattle was named after Noah Sealth, chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes, better known as Chief Seattle. David Swinson ("Doc") Maynard, one of the city founders, was the primary advocate for naming the city after Chief Seattle. Previously, the city had been known as Duwamps (or Duwumps)—a variation of that name is preserved in the name of Seattle's Duwamish River.

Major events

Duwamish River, the Downtown Seattle skyline, and Mount Rainier (to the right).]] Major events in Seattle's history include the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, which destroyed the central business district (but took no lives); the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, which is largely responsible for the current layout of the University of Washington campus; the Seattle General Strike of 1919, the first general strike in the country; the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair; the 1990 Goodwill Games; and the WTO Meeting of 1999, marked by street protests. On February 28 2001, a state of emergency was declared after the Nisqually Earthquake, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, rocked the region. Damage was moderate, but served as a reminder that the coastal Pacific Northwest — and the area around the Seattle Fault, in particular — is under a constant threat of earthquakes.

Economic history

Seattle has a history of boom and bust, or at least boom and quiescence. Seattle has almost been sent into permanent decline by the aftermaths of its worst periods as a company town, but has typically used those periods to successfully rebuild infrastructure. company town, is the result of a public vote on the "Libraries for All" bond measure approved by Seattle voters on November 3, 1998.]] The first such boom was the lumber-industry boom covering the early years of the city (it was during this period that Yesler Way became known as the first "Skid Row", named after the timber skidding down the street to be milled), followed by the construction of an Olmsted-designed park system. Arguably the Klondike Gold Rush constituted a separate, shorter boom during the last years of the 19th century. Klondike Gold Rush Next came the shipbuilding boom in the early part of the 20th century, followed by the unused city development plan of Virgil Bogue. After World War II the local economy was marked by the expansion of Boeing, fueled by the growth of the commercial aviation industry. When this particular cycle went into a major downturn in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading, "Will the last person leaving Seattle — Turn out the lights." Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company announced a desire to separate its headquarters from its major production facilities. Following a bidding war in which several cities offered huge tax breaks, Boeing moved its corporate headquarters to Chicago, Illinois. The Seattle area is still home to Boeing's commercial airplanes division; several Boeing plants including the Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, and Boeing 787 factories; and BECU, formerly the Boeing Employees Credit Union. The most recent boom centered around Microsoft and other software, Internet, and telecommunications companies, such as Amazon.com and RealNetworks. Even locally headquartered Starbucks held investments in numerous Internet and software interests. Although some of these companies remain relatively strong, the frenzied boom years had ended by early 2001.

Geography and climate

Geography

Starbucks Seattle is located between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. West beyond the Sound, Seattle faces the Olympic Mountains; across Lake Washington beyond the Eastside suburbs are the Issaquah Alps and the Cascade Range. The city itself is hilly, though not uniformly so. Some of the hilliest areas are quite near the center, and Downtown rises rather dramatically away from the water. The geography of Downtown and its immediate environs has been significantly altered by regrading projects, a seawall, and the construction of an artificial island, Harbor Island, at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway. The rivers, forests, lakes, and fields were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. Today, a ship canal passes through the city, incorporating Lake Union near the heart of the city and several other natural bodies of water, and connecting Puget Sound to Lake Washington. Opportunities for sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking are close by and accessible almost all of the year. An active geological fault, the Seattle Fault, runs under the city. It has not been the source of an earthquake during Seattle's existence; however, the city has been hit by four major earthquakes since its founding: December 14, 1872 (magnitude 7.3); April 13, 1949 (7.1); April 29, 1965 (6.5); and February 28, 2001 (6.8). See also Nisqually Earthquake. Seattle is located at 47°37'35" North, 122°19'59" West (47.626353, −122.333144)¹. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 369.2 km² (142.5 mi²). 217.2 km² (83.9 mi²) of it is land and 152.0 km² (58.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 41.16% water. See also: Seattle neighborhoods, List of Seattle parks, Bodies of water of Seattle

Climate

Seattle's climate is mild, with the temperature moderated by the sea and protected from winds and storms by the mountains. The "rainy city" receives an unremarkable 35 to 38 inches (890 to 970 mm) of precipitation a year, less than most major Eastern Seaboard cities, e.g., New York City averages 47.3 inches (1200 mm), but Seattle is cloudy an average of 226 days per year vs. 132 in New York City. Most of the precipitation falls as drizzle or light rain because Seattle is in the rain shadow of the Olympic mountains. Average low temperatures range from the mid/upper 30s (just above 0 °C) at night in winter to the mid/upper 70s (mid 20s °C) for summer highs. Seattle's hottest temperature ever recorded was 100 °F (37 °C) on July 20, 1994 and the coldest temperature ever recorded was 0 °F (-17 °C) on January 31, 1950. 80 miles (130 km) to the west, the Hoh Rain Forest, in the Olympic National Park, records an annual average rainfall of 142 inches (3600 mm), and the state capital, Olympia, south of the rain shadow, receives 52 inches (1320 mm). Snow falls on occasion, but rarely sticks very long. Sunnier "California weather" typically dominates from mid-July to mid-September, arriving later and leaving earlier than in Portland, Oregon, to the south. The [http://www.komotv.com/weather/faq/convergence_zone.asp Puget Sound Convergence Zone] is an important feature of the Seattle area's weather. In the Zone, air arriving in the area from the north meets air flowing in from the south. Both streams of air originate over the Pacific Ocean; airflow is split by the Olympic Mountains to Seattle's West, then reunited by the Cascade Mountains to the East. When the air currents meet, they are forced upward, resulting in convection. An active Convergence Zone results in rain at the very least (snow in the Cascades), and sometimes more severe weather such as thunderstorms and hail. Usually the Zone forms north of Seattle in the Edmonds/Lynnwood area, but depending on the relative strengths of the winds it can range as far south as Pierce County or as far north as Skagit County. Serious exceptions to Seattle's raininess can occur during El Niño years, when the marine weather systems track to the south, affecting California instead. During the drier summer months, the region's water comes from its mountain snow packs, so El Niño winters not only produce substandard skiing, but can result in water rationing and a shortage of hydro-electric generated power the next summer.

Demographics

As of the U.S. Census of 2000, Seattle had a population of 563,374 and in all the Greater Puget Sound metropolitan area is home to almost 3.8 million people. The population today is approximately 73.40% Caucasian, one of the highest percentages of Caucasians for a major American city. The city also has one of the nation's highest percentages of multiracial ancestry: 4.70% claim ancestry from two or more races. [http://www.brookings.org/es/urban/livingcities/seattle.htm] According to the 2000 U.S. census, 13.71% of Seattleites are Asian Americans, 8.44% are African Americans, 1.10% are Native Americans, 0.50% are Pacific Islanders, and 6.84% are from other non-Caucasian backgrounds. The median income for a household in the city is $45,736, and the median income for a family is $62,195. Males have a median income of $40,929 versus $35,134 for females. The per capita income for the city is $30,306. 11.8% of the population and 6.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 13.8% are under the age of 18 and 10.2% are 65 or older. Seattle has seen a major increase in legal and illegal immigration in recent decades. The foreign-born population increased 40% between the 1990 and 2000 census. [http://www.brookings.org/es/urban/livingcities/seattle.htm] Although the 2000 census shows only 5.28% of the population as Hispanic or Latino of any race, Hispanics are believed to be the most rapidly growing population group in Washington, with an estimated increase of 10% just in the years 2000 to 2002. [http://www.theolympian.com/home/specialsections/Census/20030918/103142.shtml] It is estimated that 1.25% of the population is homeless, and that up to 14% of Seattle's homeless are children and young adults. Many people in Seattle are involved with social causes; among the larger local groups nonprofits dealing with poverty and related issues are the Fremont Public Association [http://www.fremontpublic.org], the Asian Counselling and Referral Service [http://www.acrs.org/index.htm], and the Seattle Indian Center [http://www.seattleindiancenter.org/]. In September 2005, King County adopted a "Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness", one of whose near-term results is a shift of funding from homeless shelter beds to permanent housing. [http://www.metrokc.gov/mkcc/news/2005/0905/Ten_Year_Plan.htm] In 2005, Men's Fitness magazine named Seattle the fittest city in the U.S.

Government and politics

fittest neighborhood. Rescued from Eastern Europe, some argue that the statue is a leftist political statement instead of historical art]] Seattle is a charter city, with a Mayor-Council form of government, unlike many of its neighbors that use the Council-Manager form. Seattle's mayor and nine city council members are elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions. The only other elected office is the city attorney. All offices are non-partisan. The city government provides more utilities than many cities – either by running the whole operation, such as the water, sewer, and electricity services, or by handling the billing and administration, but contracting out the rest of the operations such as trash and recycling collection. In most neighboring cities, for example, electricity is provided by either a private company such as Puget Sound Energy, or a county public utility district. See the Utilities section for more details. As with most U.S. cities, the county judicial system (courts and jails) handles felony crimes — the Seattle Municipal Court deals with parking tickets, traffic infractions, and misdemeanors. Seattle does not have its own jail, contracting out inmates it convicts to either the King County Jail (which is located downtown), the Yakima County Jail, or (for short-term holdings) the Renton City Jail. In 2004, there were only 24 murders in Seattle, the fewest since 1965. Violent crime has declined by nearly 42% since 1994, to a rate of approximately seven per 1,000 people. Auto theft has increased about 44% in the same period; the SPD has responded by almost doubling the number of detectives in the auto theft detail, and is starting a "bait car" program. A Money magazine table, using 2001 statistics, ranked Seattle 18th highest in crime rate in the U.S., with 80.5 crimes per 1,000 citizens. Seattle's politics lean famously to the left compared to the U.S. as a whole, although there is a small libertarian movement. Only one precinct in Seattle, located in the famously exclusive Broadmoor area, voted for Republican George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. In partisan elections, such as for the State Legislature and U.S. Congress, most elections are won by Democrats, with Greens getting more votes than in many other cities.

Official nickname, flower, slogan, and song

In 1981, Seattle held a contest to come up with a new official nickname to replace “the Queen City”, which had been used since 1869 and was also the nickname of Cincinnati, Toronto, Buffalo, Bangor, Maine and Charlotte, North Carolina. The winner, selected in 1982, was "the Emerald City". Submitted by Californian Sarah Sterling-Franklin, it referred to the lush surroundings of Seattle that were the result of frequent rain. Seattle has also been known in the past as the "Jet City" though this nickname, related to Boeing, was entirely unofficial. (This nickname is made reference to in the song "Jet City Woman" by Seattle progressive metal band Queensrÿche.) Seattle's official flower has been the dahlia since 1913. Its official song has been "Seattle the Peerless City" since 1909. In 1942, its official slogan was "The City of Flowers"; 48 years later, in 1990, it was "The City of Goodwill", for the Goodwill Games held that year in Seattle.

Seattle mayors of note

Among Seattle's notable past politicians is Bertha Knight Landes, mayor from 1926 to 1928. She was the first woman to be mayor of a major American city. Another, Bailey Gatzert, was mayor from 1875 to 1876. He was the first Jewish mayor of Seattle, narrowly missed being the first Jewish mayor of a major American city (Moses Bloom became mayor of Iowa City, Iowa in 1873), and has been the only Jewish mayor of Seattle so far. See List of mayors of Seattle for a list of Seattle's mayors going back to 1869. See also: Current leaders of Seattle, Washington

Sister cities

Seattle is internationally partnered with a number of sister cities to promote global cooperation, cultural exchange and economic collaboration. See List of Seattle sister cities for a complete list.

Economy

Five companies on the 2004 Fortune 500 list of the United States' largest companies, based on total revenue, are currently headquartered in Seattle: financial services company Washington Mutual (#103), insurance company Safeco Corporation (#267), department store Nordstrom (#286), Internet retailer Amazon.com, (#342) and coffee chain Starbucks (#425). Many Seattle residents work for companies based outside of Seattle proper. Airplane manufacturer Boeing (#21) was the largest company based in Seattle before its 2001 move to Chicago. Because several production facilities remain in the region, Boeing is still a major Seattle employer. Other Fortune 500 companies popularly associated with Seattle are based in nearby Puget Sound cities. Warehouse club chain Costco Wholesale Corp. (#29), the largest company in Washington, is based in Issaquah. Microsoft (#46) is based in Redmond. So was the cellular telephone pioneer McCaw Cellular, which in 1994 became AT&T Wireless (#120), before being absorbed in 2004 into Cingular. Weyerhaeuser, the forest products company (#95), is based in Federal Way. And Bellevue is home to truck manufacturer PACCAR (#250) and international mobile telephony giant T-Mobile's U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile USA. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has announced a desire to spark a new economic boom driven by the biotechnology industry. Major redevelopment of the South Lake Union neighborhood is underway in an effort to attract new and established biotech companies to the region, joining current biotech companies such as Corixa, Immunex (now part of Amgen), and ZymoGenetics. The effort has public support and some financial backing from Paul Allen. See List of companies based in Seattle for a more detailed compilation. In 2005 Forbes magazine ranked Seattle as the most overpriced city in the US based on median home prices and median incomes.

Education

Seattle has an educated population: of Seattle's population over 25, 47% (vs. a national average of 24%) hold a bachelor's degree or higher; 93% (vs. 80% nationally) have a high school diploma or equivalent. In fact, Seattle has the highest percentage of college graduates of any major U.S. city. In addition to the obvious institutions of education, there are significant adult literacy programs and considerable homeschooling. Like most urban American public school systems, Seattle Public Schools have been subject to numerous controversies. Seattle's schools desegregated without a court order, but continue to struggle to achieve racial balance in a demographically divided city (the south part of town being much more ethnically diverse than the north). The schools have maintained high enough educational standards to keep white flight (and middle-class flight in general) to a minimum, but some of the area's suburban public school systems — not all of them in wealthy suburbs — have consistently higher test scores. Notably, Seattle schools seem to be failing their minority students, as high academic standards are not realized uniformly by all racial groups in many of the city's secondary schools. The public school system is supplemented by a moderate number of private schools: four of the high schools are Catholic, one is Lutheran, and six are secular. Postsecondary education in Seattle is dominated by the University of Washington, with over 40,000 students, making it the largest university in the Pacific Northwest. Most prominent of the city's other universities are Seattle University, a Jesuit school, and Seattle Pacific University, founded by the Free Methodists. There are also a handful of smaller schools, mainly in the fine arts and business and psychology. Seattle is also served by North Seattle, Seattle Central, and South Seattle Community Colleges.

Culture

Landmarks

North Seattle, Seattle Central, and South Seattle Community Colleges have both caught the "flying fish" at the Pike Place Market, one of Seattle's most popular tourist destinations.]] The Space Needle is Seattle's most recognizable landmark, having been featured in the logo of the television show Frasier and the backgrounds of the television series Grey's Anatomy, not to mention countless films. The Needle dates from the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair. Contrary to popular belief, the Space Needle is neither the tallest structure in Seattle, nor is it in downtown. This misconception results from the Space Needle often being photographed from Queen Anne Hill, where it is closer to the viewer than are the skyscrapers of downtown. The surrounding fairgrounds have been converted into Seattle Center, which remains the site for many local civic and cultural events, such as Bumbershoot and the Bite of Seattle. A monorail runs from Seattle Center to Westlake Center, a downtown shopping mall -- a distance of about a mile. Other notable Seattle landmarks include the Smith Tower, Pike Place Market, the Fremont Troll, the Experience Music Project) (which is at Seattle Center), the new Seattle Central Library, the Washington Mutual Tower, and the Columbia Center, which is the fourth tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi River and the twelfth tallest in the nation. (On June 16, 2004, the 9/11 Commission reported that the original plan for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks included the Columbia Center as one of ten targeted buildings.) [http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/betweenthelines/archives/2004_06_16.html] The original Starbucks Coffee is in Seattle's Pike Place Market.

Annual cultural events and fairs

Among Seattle's best-known annual cultural events and fairs are the 24-day Seattle International Film Festival, Northwest Folklife over the Memorial Day weekend, numerous Seafair events throughout the summer months (ranging from a Bon Odori celebration to hydroplane races), the Bite of Seattle, and Bumbershoot over the Labor Day weekend. All are typically attended by over 100,000 people annually, as are Hempfest and two separate Independence Day celebrations. Several dozen Seattle neighborhoods have one or more annual street fairs, and many have an annual parade or foot race. The largest of the street fairs feature hundreds of craft and food booths and multiple stages with live entertainment, and draw more than 100,000 people over the course of a weekend; the smallest are strictly neighborhood affairs with a few dozen craft and food booths, barely distinguishable from more prominent neighborhoods' weekly farmers' markets. Other significant events include numerous Native American powwows, a Greek Festival hosted by St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Montlake, and numerous ethnic festivals associated with Festal at Seattle Center. As in most large cities, there are numerous other annual events of more limited interest, ranging from book fairs; the premier anime convention in the Pacific Northwest, Sakura-Con; and specialized film festivals to a two-day, 8,000-rider Seattle-to-Portland bicycle ride.

Performing arts

Seattle is a significant center for the performing arts. The century-old Seattle Symphony Orchestra is among the world's most recorded orchestras [http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/meet/recordings/] and performs primarily at Benaroya Hall. The Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet, which perform at McCaw Hall (which opened 2003 on the site of the former Seattle Opera House at Seattle Center), are comparably distinguished, with the Opera being particularly known for its performances of the works of Richard Wagner and the PNB School (founded in 1974) ranking as one of the top three ballet training institutions in the United States. [http://www.danceusa.org/Press%20Archives/pnwballet0402.html], [http://www.pnb.org/pnbschool/philosophy.html] The Seattle Youth Symphony is the largest symphonic youth organization in the United States, and among the most distinguished. In addition, Seattle has about twenty live theater venues, a slim majority of them being associated with fringe theater. It has a strong local scene for poetry slams and other performance poetry, and several venues that routinely present public lectures or readings. The largest of these is Seattle's 900-seat, Romanesque Revival Town Hall on First Hill. Seattle is often thought of as the home of grunge rock musicians like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Temple of the Dog, and Mudhoney, all of whom reached vast audiences in the early 1990s. The city is also home to such varied musicians as avant-garde jazz musicians Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz, rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot, smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G, and such poppier rock bands as Goodness and the Presidents of the United States of America. Such musicians as Jimi Hendrix, Duff McKagan, Nikki Sixx, and Quincy Jones spent their formative years in Seattle. Ann and Nancy Wilson of the band Heart, often attributed to Seattle, were actually from the neighboring suburb of Bellevue, as were progressive metal band Queensrÿche. Since the grunge era, the Seattle area has hosted a diverse and influential alternative music scene. The Seattle-based record label Sub Pop—the first to sign Nirvana—has signed such non-grunge bands as Sunny Day Real Estate, The Postal Service, and The Shins. Other Seattle-area bands of note in this period include Death Cab for Cutie (Bellingham), Foo Fighters, Maktub, Modest Mouse (Issaquah), and Sleater-Kinney (Olympia). Earlier Seattle-based popular music acts include the collegiate folk group The Brothers Four; The Wailers, a 1960s garage band; the Allies and the Heaters (later "the Heats"), 1980s teen-pop bands; from that same era, the more sophisticated pop of the short-lived Visible Targets and the still-performing Young Fresh Fellows and Posies; and the pop-punk of The Fastbacks and the outright punk of the Fartz (later Ten Minute Warning), The Gits, and Seven Year Bitch. Spoken word and poetry are also staples of the Seattle arts scene, paralleling the explosion of the indie scene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Seattle's performance poetry scene blossomed with the importation of the poetry slam from Chicago (its origin) by transplant Paul Granert. This and the proliferation of weekly readings/open mics and poetry-friendly club venues like the Weathered Wall, the OK Hotel, and the Ditto Tavern (all now defunct), allowed spoken-word/performance poetry to take off in a big way. The Seattle Poetry Festival (launched first as the Poetry Circus in 1997) has featured local, regional, national, and international names in poetry such as Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, Ted Jones, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ismael Reed, Seku Sundiata, and many others. Regionally famed poets like Bart Baxter, Tess Gallagher, and Rebecca Brown have also been featured at the Poetry Festival, as well as numerous other events such as the world-famous Bumbershoot Arts Festival.

Museums and art collections

Bumbershoot Arts Festival The Henry Art Gallery opened in 1927, making it the first museum in Washington. The main Seattle Art Museum opened in 1933. Art collections are also housed at the Frye Art Museum and the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Regional history collections are at the Museum of History and Industry and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Industry-specific collections are housed at the Center for Wooden Boats, Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum, and Museum of Flight. Regional ethnic collections include Nordic Heritage Museum and the Wing Luke Asian Museum. In addition, Seattle has a thriving artist-run gallery scene, including 10 year veteran Soil Art Gallery, and the newer Crawl Space Gallery. See also: Museums and galleries of Seattle

Other cultural institutions

The Woodland Park Zoo, opened as a private zoo in 1889, is one of the oldest on the West Coast, and has been a leader in innovations in naturalistic zoo exhibits. The Seattle Aquarium has been open on the downtown waterfront since 1977. The Seattle Underground Tour, visiting many of the places that existed mostly before the great fire, is also popular.

Media

Seattle's leading newspapers are the daily Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer; they share their advertising and business departments under a Joint Operating Agreement, which (as of 2004) the Times is seeking to terminate or renegotiate. The most prominent weeklies are the Seattle Weekly and the Stranger. Both of these consider themselves "alternative" papers; the Stranger has a reputation for a younger and hipper readership, the Weekly has a reputation as more serious and slightly more politically conservative, but both make frequent forays into each other's editorial and demographic turf. There are also several ethnic newspapers and numerous neighborhood newspapers. Seattle is also well served by television and radio. Seattle's major network television affiliates are KOMO 4 (ABC), KING-TV 5 (NBC), KIRO 7 (CBS), KCTS 9 (PBS), KSTW 11 (UPN), KCPQ 13 (FOX), KONG 16/6 (Ind.), KTWB 22/10 (WB), and KWPX 33/3 (i); five of them can be seen across Canada via digital cable or satellite. Seattle cable viewers also receive CBUT 2 CBC from Vancouver, British Columbia, often as cable channel 99. Leading radio stations include KUBE 93.3, KNDD 107.7, KIRO-AM 710, KOMO-AM 1000, and NPR affiliates KUOW-FM 94.9 and KPLU-FM 88.5 (Tacoma). Other notable stations include KEXP-FM 90.3 (affiliated with EMP) and KNHC-FM 89.5, owned by the public school system and operated by students of Nathan Hale High School. Many Seattle radio stations are also available through internet radio, with KUOW, KNHC, and KEXP being notable web radio innovators. On the internet Seattle is covered by the blogs [http://www.seattlest.com/ Seattlest], [http://seattle.metblogs.com/ Seattle Metroblogging] and [http://www.thestranger.com/blog/ Slog]

Sports

The first major professional modern day sports franchise started in Seattle was the Seattle SuperSonics (known to most as the "Seattle Sonics") NBA team (1967). They were joined by the Seattle Pilots baseball team in 1969. Both team names reflected the local importance of the aerospace industry. The Pilots played in Seattle for only one year at Sick's Stadium, previously home to several minor league teams (most notably the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League), before relocating to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their sole season was immortalized in Jim Bouton's book Ball Four. Legal wrangling over the move of the Pilots pressured Major League Baseball to award Seattle a new franchise, the Mariners, in 1977. The Mariners would play in the newly built Kingdome, an indoor sports facility they shared with the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL, who started play the previous year. For a time, all three of the city's major sports teams used the Kingdome, despite ongoing maintenance issues with the venue. After some controversy (voters defeated two funding initiatives), the Kingdome was demolished in 2000 and replaced with Seahawks Stadium (later renamed Qwest Field), built on the same site. By this time, the other sports had long since relocated: the Sonics now use KeyArena exclusively, and the Mariners' new home is the modern, retractable-roofed Safeco Field, built with state money after the city voted down a bond issue to build it. The city's first professional sports championship was brought to the city by way of the PCHA Seattle Metropolitans in 1917. The professional hockey team, which represented Seattle from 1915 to 1924, was in fact the first U.S. team to win the coveted Stanley Cup, beating the Montréal Canadiens. They returned to the Stanley Cup finals twice more. Their first return, again versus Montreal, was in 1919; that series was cancelled due to an outbreak of influenza with the two teams tied at 2–2–1. The Metropolitans last went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1920, when they lost to the Ottawa Senators. The Seattle SuperSonics last won a modern-day championship, the NBA crown, in 1979, with Lenny Wilkens as coach. It is the only major sports championship Seattle has won. In addition to professional sports, the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University field teams in a variety of sports, including football and basketball. Their teams are known as the Huskies, Redhawks, and Falcons, respectively. The Husky football team has a following that ranks with those of the major professional teams in the city. In 1991, the Huskies shared an NCAA Division I collegiate football championship with the Hurricanes of the University of Miami. In 1990, Seattle hosted the 1990 Goodwill Games. In 1998, the Seattle City Council failed to pass a resolution supporting a Seattle bid for the 2012 Olympics. In 2004, the Seattle Storm won a WNBA championship. In 2005, the Seattle Sounders won the USL First Division championship. The cities of Everett and Tacoma, to the north and the south of Seattle, respectively, have sports teams of their own. Most notable are the Tacoma Rainiers, a double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners in the Pacific Coast League, and the Everett AquaSox, an A team playing short-season baseball in the Northwest League.

Infrastructure

USL First Division

Transportation

As in almost every other city in western North America, transportation in Seattle is dominated by automobiles, although Seattle is just old enough that the city's layout reflects the age when railways and streetcars dominated. These older modes of transportation made for a relatively well-defined downtown and strong neighborhoods at the end of several former streetcar lines, most of them now bus lines. There is no subway, though a bus tunnel running roughly north-south through downtown will be used by light rail beginning in 2009. There are a small number of commuter trains from Tacoma and Everett and an extensive system of bus routes. About fifteen of King County Metro's bus routes serving downtown Seattle are electric and run on overhead wires. Like Vancouver, British Columbia and San Francisco, California, Seattle is one of the few cities in North America that use electric trolleybuses. A monorail line constructed for the 1962 Exposition still exists today between Seattle Center and downtown and is still used by tourists and by commuters from the north, who often find it cheaper to park at Seattle Center and take the monorail downtown to work than to take their car downtown. In the 1990s the city proposed to build a longer monorail to convert the monorail from a tourist attraction into a real commuter service. Controversy over scope, governance, financial difficulties, and so forth led to a series of five separate votes on the expanded monorail; although the voters initially approved the plan, anticipated cost overruns and other problems forced the city to return to the voters for approval no fewer than four times with updated plans. The project was definitively defeated by a November 2005 referendum. The Sound Transit light rail project also faced difficulties early on, although the first 15.7 mile-section from downtown to Sea-Tac Airport will be operational in 2009. Additional expansion of light rail will include an extension north to the University District (already funded) and eventually to Northgate Mall. Also in the planning stages are lines across Lake Washington to Bellevue and south to Tacoma. The South Lake Union line of the Seattle Streetcar passed full City Council on June 27, 2005. The streetcar is "on track" to be built and operating by 2007. The 2.6 mile (4.2 km) streetcar line will run between Westlake Center in downtown Seattle and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Property owners along the right-of-way will pay about $25 million of the $45 million total capital cost through a local improvement district. Seattle is noted for its reliance on water traffic, with many people commuting to work from Bainbridge Island, DJ (disambiguation). DJ (disambiguation) A disc jockey (also called DJ, or deejay) is an individual who selects and plays prerecorded music for an intended audience.

Origin of term

The term was first used to describe radio announcers who would introduce and play popular gramophone records, but today there are a number of factors, including the selected music, the intended audience, the performance setting, the preferred medium, and the development of sound manipulation, that have led to different types of deejays.

Job description

The physical act of selecting and playing sound recordings is called deejaying, or DJing, and ranges in sophistication from simply playing a series of recordings (referred to as programming, or composing a playlist), to the manipulating of recordings, using techniques such as audio mixing, cueing, phrasing, cutting, scratching, and beatmatching, often to the point of creating original musical compositions.

Equipment

The most basic equipment that is necessary for a standard disc jockey to perform consists of the following: 1. sound recordings in preferred medium (eg. vinyl records, compact discs, mp3s) 2. at least two devices for playback of sound recordings, for the purpose of alternating back and forth to create continuous playback (eg. record players, compact disc players, mp3 players) 3. a sound system for amplification of the recordings (eg. portable audio system, radio wave broadcaster) The addition of a mixer (used to mix the sound of the two playback devices), a microphone (used to amplify the human voice), and headphones (used to listen to one recording while the other is playing, without outputting the sound to the audience) is strongly recommended, but not required. Other types of equipment can also be added, including samplers, drum machines, effects processors, slipmats, and laptop computers.

Techniques

There are several techniques that can be applied by the disc jockey as a means to manipulate the prerecorded music. These include audio mixing, cueing, slip-cueing, phrasing, cutting, beat juggling, scratching, beatmatching, needle drops, phase shifting, and more.

DJ control and economics

Throughout the 1950s, payola was an ongoing problem. Part of the fallout from that payola scandal was tighter control of the music by station management. The Top 40 format also emerged, where popular songs are played repeatedly. Today, very few DJs in the United States have any control over what is played on the air. Playlists are very tightly regulated, and the DJ is often not allowed to make any changes or additions. The songs to be played are usually determined by computerized algorithms, and automation techniques such as voice tracking have allowed single DJs to send announcements across many stations. Even song requests are sometimes co-opted into this system—a song might be announced as a request by a DJ even though it was already set to appear in the playlist. Economically, this formula has been successful across the country. However, music aficionados look upon such practices with disgust and either seek out freeform stations that put the DJs back in control, or end up dumping terrestrial radio in favor of satellite radio services or portable music players like iPods. College radio stations and other public radio outlets are the most common places for freeform playlists in the U.S.

Types of disc jockeys

By definition, the role of selecting and playing prerecorded music for an intended audience is the same for every disc jockey. The selected music, the audience, the setting, the preferred medium, and the level of sophistication of sound manipulation are factors that create a number of different types of deejays. The following is a list of the most common types of disc jockeys, along with notable examples of each, listed in chronological order by birth.

Radio DJs

A radio disc jockey is one that selects and plays music that is broadcast across radio waves.

Notable Radio DJs


- Christopher Stone (1882–1965), became the first disc jockey in the United Kingdom in 1927.
- Martin Block (1901-1967), the first radio disc jockey to become a star, inspired the term "disc jockey".
- Alan Freed (1922-1965), became internationally known for promoting African-American Rhythm and Blues music in the United States and Europe under the name of Rock and Roll.
- Murray "The K" Kaufman (1922-1982), influential rock and roll disc jockey, for a time was billed as the "Fifth Beatle".
- Jimmy Savile (born 1926), British DJ and television personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It where he made the wishes of members of the public (mainly children) come true. In 1947 he was the first ever DJ to use twin turntables for continuous play after he paid a local metal worker to weld two domestic record decks together.
- Dick Clark (born 1929), host of American Bandstand, television's longest-running music/variety program, as well as a number of nationally syndicated radio shows.
- Casey Kasem (born 1932), disc jockey and music historian, host of the long-running radio series American Top 40.
- Wolfman Jack (1938-1995), drew upon his love of horror movies and rock and roll to create his raspy-voiced, howling persona, one of radio’s most distinctive voices.
- John Peel (1939-2004), one of the original DJs of UK's Radio 1 in 1967, known for the extraordinary range of his taste in music, and for championing unknown musical artists.
- Jim Ladd (born 1948), the last remaining freeform rock DJ in United States commercial radio.
- Johnny Rabbitt (1935-1997), midwest radio icon of the "Johnny Rabbitt and Bruno J. Grunion Show" which broadcast from 1963-1969 on KXOK- St. Louis. See also: :Category:Radio DJs

Rave/Club DJs

A rave/club disc jockey is one that selects and plays music in a club setting. The setting can range anywhere from a small club, a neighborhood party, a disco, a rave, or even a stadium.

Notable Rave/Club DJs


- David Mancuso (born 1944), founder of New York City's first underground party called the Loft.
- Francis Grasso (1948-2001), popularized several new disc jockey techniques, including beatmatching and slip-cueing.
- Larry Levan (1954-1992), leader of New York Garage music.
- Frankie Knuckles (born 1955), the godfather of house music.
- Paul Oakenfold (born 1963), British record producer, remixer, and one of the best-known DJs worldwide, referred to as a Superstar DJ.
- Frankie Bones, one of the early originators of the "rave" sound in the United States.
- Tiesto (born 1969), one of world's leading trance music DJs, voted DJ Magazines 'No. 1 DJ in the World' for the third consecutive year in 2004.
- Keoki (born 1969), famous techno musician, portrayed in the 2003 film Party Monster.
- DJ Digga Denver, Colorado hard house and hard trance DJ See also: :Category:Club DJs

Hip Hop DJs

A hip hop disc jockey is one that selects, plays and creates music as a hip hop artist and/or performer, often backing up one or more MCs.

Notable Hip Hop DJs


- U-Roy (born 1942), pioneer of the Jamaican sound system scene.
- DJ Kool Herc (born 1955), inventor of breakbeat technique, "the father of hip hop culture".
- Grandmaster Flash (born 1958), one of the early pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and scratching. Created the Quick Mix Technique which allowed a DJ to precisely extend a break using two copies of the same record; essentially invented modern turntablism.
- Afrika Bambaataa (born 1960), instrumental in the development of hip hop from its birth in the South Bronx to its international success. Created first hip hop track to feature synthesizers; "The godfather of Hip Hop"
- Jam Master Jay (1965-2002), founder and DJ of Run-DMC, one of the most innovative hip hop groups of all time.
- Eric B. (born 1965), one half of duo Eric B. & Rakim, popularized the James Brown-sampled funky hip hop of the late 1980s.
- Terminator X (born 1966), DJ of the highly infuential hip hop group Public Enemy.
- DJ Qbert (born 1969), founding member of the turntablism group the Invisibl Skracth Piklz and three-time winner of the International DMC Award.
- Mix Master Mike (born 1970), skilled DJ of hip hop group Beastie Boys, three-time winner of the International DMC Turntablism Award. See also: :Category:Hip hop DJs

Mobile DJs

Mobile disc jockeys are an extension of the original radio disc jockeys. Unlike their radio counterparts, mobile DJing is primarily seen as a part-time or second career. Mobile DJs travel or tour with their own sound systems and play from an extensive collection of pre-recorded music, on various media, for a targeted audience. Mobile DJs tend to work for hire at private functions such as wedding receptions, bar and bat mitzvah receptions, school dances, and so on, but they can occasionally be seen in bars, nightclubs, or even block parties. Unlike many club/rave DJs, mobile DJs often play more mainstream selections of music from multiple genres, they often take requests, and for mobile DJs, producing a continuous, beat-matched mix is rarely a priority. The definition and responsibilities of a mobile disc jockey have changed since Bob Casey's first two-turntable system for continuous playback was utilized for sock-hops in 1955. Bands had long dominated the wedding entertainment industry, but with the advent of the less expensive mobile DJ, the demand for live performers dwindled. Even so, in the early years, the mobile DJ industry was seen as a last-resort choice for entertainment, as the DJs were reputed to frequently be unreliable and unprofessional. Mobile DJs companies came and went. However, a few companies of this era did establish themselves as competent businesses and thrived; some even still exist today. During the Disco era of the 1970s, demand for mobile DJs (called mobile discos in the UK) soared. Top mobile DJs in this era would have hundreds of vinyl records and/or cassette tapes to play from. The equipment used in this era was enormous and usually required roadies (similar to those who work for bands) to set up. Because of the high demand for mobile DJs, many people from all facets of life jumped into the industry, hoping to make a few extra dollars on the weekends. These "Weekend Warriors", as they are called by many, helped enhance the negative stereotype of the mobile DJ; many of the same complaints from the e