KUOW-FM 94.9

A National Public Radio member station broadcasting at 94.9 MHz in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest NPR affiliate among the three full-service NPR member stations in the Seattle-Tacoma media market, the others being KNKX and KVTI based in Tacoma. The station is a service of the University of Washington but operated by KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, an independent nonprofit community organization established in 1999 when the university outsourced station management. Studios are on University Way in Seattle's University District; the transmitter is on Capitol Hill. The station first signed on in 1952 on 90.5 FM with a transmitter atop the University of Washington's Administration Building. It moved to 94.9 FM in 1958, after receiving that frequency's transmitter from a predecessor station. KUOW is unusual among public broadcasters in transmitting above the 88–92 MHz reserved band, a characteristic it shares with Seattle's KING-FM. The station was a charter NPR member in 1970 and transitioned from a music-oriented format to all-news and information programming in 1992. It relocated off campus to its current University Way location in 1999. Through 2019, it shared university oversight with public television station KCTS-TV until the university spun off KCTS as an independent community licensee in 1987. Regular coverage includes regional topics in law, environment, and politics, as well as national NPR programming. The station covers the Pacific Northwest with a focus on Washington state legislative, environmental, and community affairs.