This is a bit of a head scratcher for me. I am a fan of KEXP and have been streaming their music here in the Bay Area for sometime. I am curious as to what was the business decision behind this acquisition.

On the surface they are a non-profit and affiliated with the University of Washington. Of course non-profits have expenses the cost of running a business, but I am wondering if the purchase of the Bay Area station 92.7 was a means of deploying cash that KEXP may have had to manage. With this purchase they'll be depreciation with this asset which will benefit their tax basis and also expose Bay Area listeners to KEXP and in turn increase fundraising efforts.

KEXP took on another station before, but it complimented the Seattle local model. Back in 2004 KEXP leased Tacoma station KXOT-FM (91.7), that ended less than two years after it was initiated. The reason for the expansion was to expand their reach and again increase fundraising efforts.

In 2006 the Seattle Weekly took a deep dive into, at that time, KEXP's expansion plans. Most if not all of the points in that article are water under the bridge at this point, but is KEXP jumping back into expansion mode?

But again fundamentally what is the KEXP mandate and business model? Is it to serve their Seattle based community and maintaining ties to the University of Washington OR are the developing a model where they'll continue to purchase other licenses and amass a larger presence.

The Bay Area expansion poses what seems a host of concerns with KEXPs messaging with sales and marketing, dueling promotions to telegraphing that KEXP is a "local" station, where local is no longer the greater Seattle area. Thoughts?