Olympia/Tumwater & Media - Do you feel connected/informed? (Seattle: how much, college)

[KoHoSo]

I will be heading up to the Olympia/Tumwater/Lacey area at the beginning of June (I might also be looking at Shelton as well). The entire area continues to greatly impress me (aside from the economy, but who's economy is impressive right now?). While what I am going to ask is by no means a deal-breaker in my considerations of the area, I am greatly curious because it seems to be one of the few things not covered in this forum or elsewhere.

For the past few years, the company I worked for stuck me at the far end of a large, sprawling metropolitan area. While such a thing has many advantages, I also found it frustrating when it came to news about my own community. We were completely ignored by the television stations unless more than six people died in spectacular fashion, we were on the edge of the broadcast signal of a lot of radio stations and could never get them in clearly, and the local "small town" newspaper was mostly a joke.

So, what are the impressions of how Olympia and the general area sits in those matters as it lies in the shadow of the giant Seattle media market? Aside from what happens in relation to the state government, do local news programs ever cover what happens there besides when there is a disaster? Do most of the Seattle FM radio stations come in clearly or is your choice very limited due to the distance? Is The Olympian actually a good newspaper (politics aside, please) that has in-house reporters to cover local issues in depth or is it as bad as what I see in the free portion of the online version?

I look forward to reading your opinions.

[Ultrarunner]

Seattle is of course much larger and Tacoma has venues for Sports and Entertainment.

Olympia is the Capital and that's a fact. Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater are for practical purposes one community... I prefer county because I tend to like semi-rural.

The Olympian Newspaper has been getting smaller... it still covers local events and there are local Radio Stations too.

Shelton is definitely on the fringe...

[KoHoSo]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

The Olympian Newspaper has been getting smaller...

I know that is happening all over the country but the McClatchy papers really seem to be slashing more than most. It's just hard for me to tell with The Olympian because they show so little of their content online as opposed to another McClatchy paper, the Sacramento Bee. I'm kind of cheap (especially in the face of having moving expenses) so I don't want to subscribe yet until I am sure that's where I am ending up.

Thanks for the response...and for being a moderator here.

[cj327]

There is a strong local, homegrown movement in the Olympia area. Check out Olyblog.net as one example. Olympia Power and Light is the name of our local entertainment paper. Mixx 96.5 is the most popular local radio station and has lots of local events on the website. Also, we have our own pirate radio station 98.5, although it is of questionable quality. Also KAOS 89.3 is the local college station.
I have never in my life lived in or been to any small city that cares as much about the community as Olympia. If that's what you want, this is your place. I just hope you are very liberal, otherwise you might get tired of it pretty quickly

[KoHoSo]

cj327...thanks for the info! I was already aware of Olyblog but just wasn't sure how much most people read or rely upon it and other similar websites that cover the area.

As for FRO...very intriguing that they have been on the air for so long without "Uncle Charlie" (the FCC) shutting them down. I have actually been listening to their stream for the past half hour (I already had them bookmarked) and they are playing some folk-oriented music that is fantastic. However, "questionable quality" is often a problem with any "community radio" station as one show can be great and have somebody with at least a small clue as to how to run a show and announce while others will just drive one up the wall.

As for being "very liberal" -- that's probably not me but, from my experience, I find that places which really have a good sense of community usually have people of relatively strong, similar opinions, left or right, and I'm one of the few oddballs left that sees good in both sides. However, I must admit that, when push comes to shove and with no slight whatsoever meant to the right-leaning people reading this, I'd rather live in a place that is "very liberal" than "very conservative" so I don't think that Olympia's left-tilt is going to bother me all that much.

Also, just to be nitpicky as a old radio guy...isn't Mixx 96 (KXXO) actually on 96.1?

For all reading this...I am still curious as to how well the Olympia area pulls in the stations from Seattle. I know that commercial radio mostly sucks these days but I still love its surprise factor that one can't get from CDs or even an iPod. While still by no means a deal-breaker, I would like to know if I can get in my car in Olympia and crank up some oldies, classic rock, or hard rock without being overwhelmed by static since I see no stations right in town that play those formats.

[DBM]

Olympia pulls in radio stations from Seattle just fine. Driving south, the Seattle stations seem to fade out about Centralia, which is about where you start picking up the Portland stations.