KNKX-FM (Tacoma, WA)

KNKX (88.5 MHz) is a community-focused radio station located in Tacoma, Washington. As part of the National Public Radio network, it offers a blend of jazz music and news programming that serves the Seattle metropolitan area.

Local

English

Radio

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

#429400

United States

#142498

News and Media

#5001

Traffic sources

Monthly visitors

Articles

Family detained at Washington border was held for over three weeks before release

3 days ago | knkx.org | Kirsten Kendrick

ACLU of Washington is looking into the case of a family of six from Africa, seeking asylum in the United States, who were detained in a windowless cell for nearly a month at the border crossing in Blaine, Wash. The family was among a group of asylum seekers who came through Riverton Park United Methodist church in Tukwila. Over the past several years, the church has worked to house asylum seekers in the region, including those from Angola, Congo, and Venezuela.
New AI thermal-imaging system helps prevent ship strikes in Puget Sound

4 days ago | knkx.org | Bellamy Pailthorp

Quiet Sound, a program of the non-profit Washington Maritime Blue, has installed an AI-powered thermal camera at Point Wilson in Port Townsend that monitors the shipping lanes at the entrance to Puget Sound at Admiralty Inlet. The camera’s AI has been trained with tens of thousands of ‘thermal signatures’ of whales. If it sees one that looks familiar, it alerts a human researcher, who verifies the report before relaying it to others.
Scientists surprised by number of gray whale strandings along west coast

4 days ago | knkx.org | Bellamy Pailthorp

Scientists say they’ve seen a surprising number of gray whale stranding this year during their migration up the west coast – 13 alone are along Washington beaches, more than twice the normal average. And they’re expecting more. Click "Listen" above to hear this story.
Loss of USGS program could hamper salmon research critical for Puget Sound

1 week ago | knkx.org | Bellamy Pailthorp

About 1,200 scientists work in the biological arm of the United States Geological Survey, known as the Ecosystems Mission Area. President Trump’s budget would likely eliminate their work nationwide, if passed as proposed. That includes some work that is crucial to saving salmon in Puget Sound. Five years ago, University of Washington professor Ed Kolodziej identified 6PPD-quinone, a chemical in runoff from roads that kills Coho salmon almost instantly.
Seattle's new Waterfront Park set for summer debut

1 week ago | knkx.org | Emil Moffatt

It has been a transformational six years on Seattle’s waterfront. In 2019, runners and walkers took part in a race, which ended on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Joy Shigaki, the CEO of Friends of Waterfront Park says the event happened just a few months before the viaduct was torn down. “A lot of people remember how beautiful it was to do the final walk or run and take in and mark the historic moment in our city, for this next-generation project which was Waterfront Park,” said Shigaki.
WA nonprofit gets boost from state to house asylum seekers in Tacoma

1 week ago | knkx.org | Freddy Monares

Washington nonprofit Thrive International is set to receive $2 million from the state to help buy the Quality Inn hotel in Tacoma's South End. The nonprofit is currently housing about 350 people at the site. Since opening its doors to asylum seekers in September, the nonprofit has helped 30 families find permanent housing. Click "Listen" above to hear this story.
Biological arm of USGS could be eliminated, affecting salmon in Puget Sound

1 week ago | knkx.org | Bellamy Pailthorp

Around 1,200 scientists work in at the United States Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area. President Trump’s proposed budget would likely eliminate their work nationwide, including some that is crucial to saving salmon in Puget Sound. United States Representative Marilyn Strickland is co-chair of the Puget Sound Recovery caucus and says economic activity in Puget Sound from salmon alone provides millions in annual economic activity and more than 23,000 jobs.
Candidates for Tacoma’s next mayor offer diverse experiences for voters to weigh

1 week ago | knkx.org | Mitch Borden

The candidates running to be Tacoma's next mayor have a wide array of experiences that residents will have to weigh when they decide who will be mayor later this fall. But in Tacoma, the position of mayor has a lot less power than in other communities because of the city's Council-Manager style government, which makes the city manager the chief executive officer of the city. The top two candidates who receive the most votes in the Aug.
Seattle jazz and music nonprofits see their 2025 NEA grants vanish

1 week ago | knkx.org | Alexa Peters

In early May, after President Trump stated he’s looking to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) next year, his administration swiftly withdrew or terminated hundreds of NEA grants that had been promised or already awarded to cultural organizations across the country. Grants promised to three jazz-centered organizations in Seattle—Earshot Jazz, Seattle JazzED, and South Hudson Music Project—were among them. Each were promised $25,000 in funding.
Opinion: Cheers to a life well lived

2 weeks ago | knkx.org | Scott Simon

George Wendt died this week at the age of 76. I first met him at The Second City in Chicago, where he was already being typecast in bits as paunchy cops and roly-poly city council members. But he was best known from the TV show Cheers, about a bar where everybody knew his character's name: "Norm!""What would you say to a beer, Normie?" asks Sam the bartender. "Daddy wuvs you," Norm replies.