About KBCS

Our Mission

As the only community radio station in the Seattle area, KBCS aspires to be the radio station of choice for adventurous lis-teners who are passionate about music, curious about our world, and who value social justice.

To accomplish our mission, we produce and broadcast quality programming that supports more inclusive interdependent communities. KBCS is a non-commercial, listener-supported source for local, national, and international music and informa-tion that draws from and reflects the diversity of our region. Operated as a public service by Bellevue College, KBCS trains and provides opportunities for community members to participate in all aspects of radio.

Strategic Plan 2010-2011

Our programming

Most of our hosts are community volunteers. Our programming takes you on a musical exploration from jazz, blues, and folk to modern global hip hop, electronica, reggae, and dub. We present Democracy Now!, The Takeaway, The Michael Eric Dyson show and other cultural and public affairs programs. KBCS is the only station in the Greater Seattle Area that offers ongoing training opportunities.

History and Broadcast Range

KBCS 91.3 FM is the only non-commercial community radio station in the Seattle metro market. We are licensed to Bellevue College in Bellevue, Washington. KBCS began broadcasting in February 1973 as a 10 watt, student-run media training center. We increased power to 1,000 watts in the late 1980s and expanded beyond the student body to become a full-time community radio station.
Other milestones followed: we increased power to 8,000 watts in 1990; we installed a new omnidirectional antenna in 2001; and we moved into new studios and offices in Factoria in June, 2002. In 2006 we moved back to the campus of Bellevue College and we now occupy two houses. Today, the signal is heard as far east as Fall City in the Cascade foothills, as far south as Tacoma, as far west as poulsbo on the Kitsap peninsula and as far north as Everett.

A Musician’s Station

KBCS 91.3 FM has featured some of the best and most original artists in the folk, jazz and world music traditions, both in-studio and in the community; artists such as:

• Jim Page
• Bill Frisell
• Claudia Schmidt
• Chris Smither
• Led Kaapana
• Dave Carter & Tracy Grammar
• Arlo Guthrie
• Mose Allison
• Dr. John
• D’Gary
• Utah phillips
• Taj Mahal
• Erica Wheeler
• Kelly Joe phelps
• paul Brady
• The Bobs
• Lunasa
• George Kahumoku Jr.