The University of Utah through its Public News/Talk 90.1 KUER-FM Salt Lake City and PBS Utah will acquire 88.3 KCPW-FM Salt Lake City from Wasatch Public Media.
Terms were not disclosed. KCPW-FM was put up for auction earlier this month by its lenders. KCPW-FM is currently one of two Public News/Talk stations in the market along with KUER Salt Lake City. The station dropped its affiliation with National Public Radio in 2013, due to its inability to raise funds and airs programming from other public radio distributors such as PRX, the BBC World Service, and WNYC.
KUER states it will launch the Spanish Public News/Talk network “Radio Bilingue” on the signal upon closing of the sale next year. That network launched on KUER-HD4 earlier this year.
KUER and PBS Utah, with support from their license holder, the University of Utah, will acquire the 88.3 FM frequency license from KCPW’s owner, Wasatch Public Media. Closing of the sale is subject to the final transfer of the license by the Federal Communications Commission, no later than April 30, 2024.
“We are uniquely positioned to keep this spot on the dial locally owned and in public service,” said KUER and PBS Utah Executive Director Maria O’Mara. “And our intention is to grow that service for a more diverse and younger audience.”
Supported by decades of broadcasting and fundraising experience, KUER and PBS Utah will bring a bilingual format of music and news to the 88.3 signal, which broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Oquirrh Mountains southwest of West Valley City and is heard throughout Salt Lake County.
After FCC approval of transfer of the license, programming for 88.3 will first come from Radio Bilingüe, a Fresno-based non-profit network and national distributor of public radio programming in Spanish. It has aired on an HD subchannel of KUER since May.
“As our local population continues to grow and diversify, it is important to us to offer an inclusive, bilingual platform for the voices and stories that make up our rich heritage and that propel Utah forward as a stronger, more connected state,” said Jennifer Tarazon, a member of PBS Utah’s advisory board.
KUER advisory board member Rossina Lake added that this “vibrant bicultural community” is looking for resources and new opportunities. “This presents an exciting moment for public radio to serve as a communication platform for locally and culturally pertinent content, delivered by trusted voices,” Lake said.
“I look forward to our comunidades, our communities, coming together to inform new programming,” said Edgar Zúñiga, PBS Utah Advisory Board member and former KUER host. “This is an exciting time for public media in Utah and as a Colombian-American who grew up in this state I could not be more thrilled.”
Longtime volunteer and Wasatch Public Media board member Paul Bruno thanked KCPW listeners and underwriters for the support they have shown for independent community radio for the past 30 years.
Local programs from KCPW — “Beyond the Headlines,” “Both Sides of the Aisle” and “Jazz Time with Steve Williams” — will continue to be produced and broadcast by Logan-based Utah Public Radio.
