Paul Allen gives $500,000 toward Seattle station’s new home

SEATTLE – Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has donated $500,000 toward Seattle public radio station KEXP to help it pay for its new home at Seattle Center. The money pushes the station’s fundraising campaign beyond its goal. KEXP moved into its new home this spring, before it was finished with its fundraising campaign.

KEXP raised more than $15 million from more than 8,000 donors to build its new station and public event space at Seattle Center.

Allen has made other large donations to the alternative music station, which is affiliated with the University of Washington.

Previously, Allen gave KEXP the money to move off the UW campus and grow its signal as well as its programming. At that time, the station renamed itself from KCMU to KEXP, in at least a partial salute to another Allen philanthropic venture, the Experience Music Project, which is now known as the EMP Museum.