Colorado Public Radio has found a home for news and information on the FM band.
CPR will purchase Christian-formatted 88.1 FM in Denver and this spring move KVOD, its classical-music station, there. Under an agreement announced Wednesday, CPR intends to move KCFR, currently at 1340 AM, to KVOD’s old home at 90.1 FM. The 1340 AM frequency then will be offered for sale.
The deal represents the fulfillment of CPR’s seven-year push to buy another FM station in Denver.
“It’s great news for public-radio listeners,” CPR president Max Wycisk said Wednesday.
Pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission, the transaction will locate CPR’s news/information and music formats on FM in the metro area, expanding the coverage area and boosting the sound fidelity.
Many listeners were disappointed when the news-and-information channel ended up on AM in 2001 because some public-radio shows feature music and the sound fidelity is of lower quality on AM.
The purchase price for California-based EMF’s 1,200-watt 88.1 FM, which currently simulcasts the “K-Love” Christian format, is $8.2 million. EMF’s K-Love will continue on 91.1 FM.
The changes will be implemented in late April or early May.
CPR expanded from one station that shoehorned news and music into one unsatisfying format to two stations in 2001.
“The intent was always to have two FMs,” Wycisk said.
Nonprofit Educational Media Foundation (EMF) has had 88.1 FM on the air for two years, broadcasting the Christian format from Mount Morrison and duplicating the main signal at 91.1 FM. That frequency is unaffected by the deal.
“It works out very nicely for us,” Wycisk said.
Wycisk promised the purchase of the new station “will not involve a heavy on-air fundraising drive. We did not seven years ago; we won’t now.”
The challenge, he said, will be educating people to change their media habits. Wycisk said the switch could mean regaining some listeners who were lost when KCFR went to AM.
“Some people don’t think of public-radio news being anywhere but at the left-hand side of the FM dial,” he said.
CPR plans to continue to build news staff and add locally produced programming.
With two FM stations, CPR’s primary coverage area will be 2.6 million listeners. While the two FM signals will cover metro Denver well, 90.1 FM is the stronger signal. The 88.1 FM signal will not reach very far north, for instance. Fort Collins classical-music lovers may be disappointed.
Various financing options are being pursued, said Marc Hand of Public Radio Capital, a nonprofit organization representing CPR in the transaction. The likeliest is “some form of tax-exempt bond funding, typical of public radio,” Hand said. CPR was one of the first public- radio outfits to receive investment-grade bond ratings several years ago.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
Public radio shifts
KVOD: Public classical-music station moves from 90.1 FM to 88.1 FM
KCFR: Public talk station moves from 1340 AM to 90.1 FM; the 1340 AM frequency is to be sold
K-Love: Christian-format station ends on 88.1 FM, stays on 91.1
