Seattle Radio: Loyal P1 Leaves $10M To KEXP-FM

Here’s all we know: Her name was Suzanne. She was generous with her money. She wanted to remain anonymous. And she loved music.

So much so, that before she died, Suzanne made the largest-ever philanthropic gift — just under $10 million — to Seattle radio station KEXP 90.3 FM, according to The Seattle Times.

It is believed to be among the largest bequests to an individual station in public-radio history, save for a $200 million donation made to National Public Radio by Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc. (That donation included $5 million to her local NPR station in San Diego.)

“It’s pretty intense,” said Betsy Troutman, KEXP director of development, who was called to Suzanne’s attorney’s office and told the news.

“I was shocked and started crying,” Troutman said. “The thought that she would do this is mind-blowing to me. (Suzanne) had shared with me once or twice, kind of casually, that she had made plans for KEXP in her estate.

“But she was young and I said, ‘Oh, that’s amazing. Thank you very much.’ I didn’t think that it would come when I was here.”

Troutman called the gift “transformational. It changes our whole landscape. I still get goose bumps every time I think about it.”

The bulk of the money will be placed in a longtime reserve and provide seed money for education programs “aimed at inspiring younger audiences to engage their curiosity around music; services and programming for emerging artists; media-creation experiences for aspiring DJs and music journalists, and outreach activities aimed at deepening KEXP’s connections to local communities,” the station said in a release.

The money will also go toward the station’s digital-content strategy, and improvements to radio programming.

Executive Director Tom Mara said the money gives the station some financial room to breathe, and an ability to fund innovation.