The City of Burien now has its own radio station, but instead of broadcasting “Top 40 Cocktail Music” with DJ Mikey, or “EZ Red Tape Listenin’” with DJ HerHonor, they’re playing recorded information on city events and programs, emergency information and city-related public service announcements.

Kind of like what you see on the city’s TV channel (21) only without pictures.

You can listen to the broadcasts on one of those old-fangled radio thingys tuned to 540 AM.

The station is definitely low-frequency and can be heard primarily in the Burien area, and reception is best outdoors or in your vehicle.

The station’s signal is sent from a newly installed radio tower behind the Burien Community Center at 425 SW 144th Street.

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5 replies on “Burien Launches Its Own Radio Station At 540 AM”

  1. That's dumb. I would listen- if it was a top 40, burien DJ, local music or basically something more interesting than 'traffice lights are out on 152nd' stuck on repeat for 3 hours.

  2. Lindsey, it my uderstanding the City of Burien got the radio station primarily for emergencies, like when much of Burien was without electricity for days during the big December 2006 windstorm. If anything like that happens again, they can keep people informed.

  3. Lindsey is right. This is the most effective way for the city to conduct emergency communications during an emergency. If anything positive can come out of a natural disaster it is seeing what works and what needs to be improved. One shortcoming that was discovered during the 2006 windstorm was the inability to effectively communicate with Burien's citizens. When I was on the council I noted the radio notices that the DOT had along the freeways and proposed that this would be an effective emergency communications tool for Burien, so I am glad to see it finally happen. Preparedness saves lives.

    The other lesson learned was that when the power went out gas stations were unable to pump fuel. The next step the city needs to take is to require gas stations to have generators so they can operate during a major power outage.

  4. Oh how I remember when Burien Radio Station Kqin launched. I thought about that when I Tuned in to Radio Free Burien at 540. It’s nice to have the local info and emergency info, but I miss a local radio station.

  5. So that’s awesome we have a radio station for disasters that happen every couple years. But what is the point for the non-disaster times? The next windstorm/disaster I am probably not going to tune into 540am because I won’t remember we have it, if I never listen to it. Especially since every major radio station will be broadcasting more general and useful information during disaster times. Like where to buy batteries and get gas. All I am saying is to make it a true Burien radio station, something to tune into. Bring the kids in from the highschool to do a show, play music from Burien bands, broadcast the highline school sports, broadcast from local events – broadcast a karaoke party from one of the bars on a saturday night. I would actually LOVE to have it be reminiscent of the golden age of radio. Where people tune in to listen to ‘shows’ written and performed by residents. How much fun would that be? listening to a drama or comedy unfold? As a parent, I would love to have my child huddled around the radio using his imagination, rather than watching it on tv. Plus, I know that previous generations around here miss the radio shows and younger generations long for it.

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