Funny story: if it weren’t for C89.5, there may have been no Brown Paper Tickets.

Growing up in Seattle, our founder William Scott Jordan was able to listen to Electronic Dance Music (EDM) on one of only 8 stations nationally. His passion for EDM eventually led him to create Brown Paper Tickets as the go-to ticketing option for the dance community over a decade ago. Today, C89.5 continues to spread cutting-edge dance music to the international masses from Seattle’s own Nathan Hale High School, and Brown Paper Tickets continues to provide low-cost ticketing to a wide, and ever-growing, variety of events all over the world.

Like with most non-profit radio stations, community support keeps C89.5 running. This is why we have pledged to match the first $1,000 in donations to this year’s pledge drive! Nathan Hale students will be accepting donations in any amount, and also giving away CDs of the radio station’s content for a donation of $89.50. Supporters can either call (206) 421-8989, or make a donation online to help them to reach their goal – the first $1,000 of which will be matched by us.

C89.5 is, in William’s own words, “an amazing example of what public radio can do,” adding “C-89.5 was one of the few place to hear the new and fantastic dance music that was coming out of places like Chicago, New York, Europe, and the UK…it’s really the only radio station in the city that offers this kind of programming.”

C89.5 KNHC-FM is one of the 8 stations nationally that help determine Billboard‘s Top 40 Dance Music chart and it has been named “the largest and most influential educational radio station in the country” by Rolling Stone magazine. They were also named the “Best High School Radio Station” by the Village Voice. The station serves over 250,000 loyal listeners in the Pacific Northwest alone and its internet stream has been accessed by more than 220,000 individual IP addresses worldwide, earning them international recognition. “Our biggest audiences are here in the Pacific Northwest, London, Germany and Brazil,” said General Manager Gregg Neilson.

C89.5’s 10-day pledge drive helps them continue to be self-sustaining station, and a beloved community staple. Support community media: lend your support!