FINAL WNKU STAFF PHOTO 2/14/17 Courtesy WVXU |
Like a death in the
family, news of the sale of Cincinnati’s WNKU spread quickly around the public
radio Triple A community. Everybody knew that the station was on the block but
still the end of WNKU seemed sudden and sad.
WNKU will remain on
the air until the sale is approved by the FCC.
Of course, this makes the remaining WNKU staff “dead people walking” for
their final weeks. On the right is WNKU’s GM Aaron Sharpe’s message to
listeners and the Triple A community.
Now comes the news
that WNKU’s licensee, Northern Kentucky University (NKU) had a lifeline that
could have preserved the station and gotten the university off the hook
financially. According to John Kiesewetter, media reporter for Cincinnati Public
Radio (CPR), CPR had offered NKU a Local Management Agreement to operate the
station and take full responsibility for its operating finances.
A senior manager at
CPR who requested not to be named, confirmed that such an offer had been made
to NKU President Geoffrey Mearns. Means ignored it because apparently he had
already made up his mind to sell. His rationale was to get the debt for a $6.7
million dollar loan from NKU to WNKU for the 2011 purchase of three commercial
frequencies in Portsmouth and Middletown, Ohio, off the university’s books.
CPR has an established
track record of success. They have been
managing WMUB, Oxford, Ohio, successfully since 2009 via such an agreement.
Rich Eiswerth and company at CPR are considered among the best operators in the
public radio system.
KEN SAYS: The reason all this happened is that WNKU was own by an
“accidental broadcaster.” Northern
Kentucky University, like many universities, got into the radio business when the
risk was low and cash was more plentiful. Until the recently, NKU didn’t pay
much attention to WNKU.
For instance, NKU
failed to do its due diligence on the purchase of three commercial frequencies
in Portsmouth and Middletown, Ohio, for $6.7 million in 2011. Had NKU seriously
reviewed the plan by then WNKU GM Chuck Miller, they would have seen its was
flawed. As “accidental broadcasters,” NKU rubber-stamped Miller’s proposal. I’d
call it benign neglect.
The reason I bring
this up is because there are plenty of other “accidental broadcasters” in the
public radio system. As my friend Neil
Best, GM of KUNC/KJAC, once said:
“At a university licensee you
are one vice president away from oblivion.”
NOTE TO FOLKS AT WBST INDIANA PUBLIC RADIO
NKU President
Geoffrey Mearns is on his way Muncie. He will become President of Ball State
University later this year. Ball State
is the licensee of WBST and Indiana Public Radio, a regional network covering
central Indiana. According to disclosure documents on WBST’s website, the state
of Indiana provided around $50,000 in funds to WBST in FY 2015. This is much
less support than what WNKU has been receiving from the state of Kentucky. But,
Means insincere approach to saving WNKU demonstrates Means lack of appreciation
for public media and the potential for cuts at WBST.
TRIBUTE TO WNKU FROM GRADY
KIRKPATRICK
Grady Kirkpatrick was the Program Director
of WNKU from 1998 until 2007. He is now
PD of Wyoming Public Media and host of Wyoming Sounds, a Triple A day-part on
the statewide network.
Grady Kirkpatrick |
It’s the end of an
era for Cincinnati radio with the sale of WNKU.
The city has a
quite a rich history in broadcasting including “The Big One” news/talk station
WLW, 70’s progressive/ AOR rocker WEBN and the disbanded “Future of Rock N
Roll” WOXY repeated often in the movie Rainman.
Don’t forget “I’m living on the air in Cincinnati” from the TV sitcom station…
WKRP.
WNKU started late
80’s as Kentucky Folk Radio at
Northern KY University across the Ohio and just south of Cincinnati in Highland
Heights.
The station
provided music, specialty shows and NPR news carrying both Morning Edition and All
Things Considered until it went all music about seven years ago. At that
time, NPR news magazines were also on WVXU. WVXU switched to an all news format
in 2005 when Xavier University sold the station to Cincinnati Public Radio.
WNKU “the natural
alternative” became a mainstay for listeners and music fans bored with
mainstream radio. The station was an early adopter to the Triple A. Over
time WNKU embraced the “music discovery” brand.
The station had an
incredible collection of passionate and talented DJ’s combined with a great
support staff and the financial backing of Northern KY University. The
station became part of the fabric of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky hosting
live music in Studio 89, co-sponsoring concerts and events and most importantly
playing and promoting the many talented musicians in the region past and
present.
I have great
memories from my time at WNKU. Met a lot of great folks and enjoyed
Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky immensely.
Best to my friends
at WNKU. We’ll miss the sound and vibe.
Grady Kirkpatrick
(WNKU Program
Director-1998-2007)
As a person deeply involved in LMA's at RIPR, and having worked with one at WEOS, I sympathize with WNKU's plight but I'm not as sanguine about how CPR's offer of LMA'ing was a true "lifeline".
ReplyDeleteWhen you're a license-holder, the onus is still on you for everything. Sure, CPR might've assumed all the costs but it's nevertheless a lot of work for NKU to maintain legal compliance. Plus WNKU had an awful lot of debt. That debt creates optics that are difficult to manage when the University is fundraising for other needs. "Hey, you wasted $6 million on that stupid radio station, why should I give you $1 million for that new chemistry lab you want?"
If CPR were expressly offering to *purchase* WNKU in a "lease to own" arrangement that involved an LMA over, say, three or five years to give CPR time to raise the money to make the final purchase? That might be a somewhat different story. Even then, though, I can't really blame NKU for just wanting to get out of the game.
https://cincymusic.com/save-wnku
ReplyDeleteUpdate info - WFPK is interested too
FWIW, I'm a little surprised that NKU and WNKU didn't at least attempt to pull a KPLU/KKNX? I readily concede that was a rare success story, but it should give hope to any station that has a strong following, and any parent college that just wants to get out of the game, that you CAN raise a ton of money in short order if the conditions are right.
ReplyDelete