Ah, fidelity!
Colorado Public Radio’s OpenAir will begin broadcasting on 102.3 FM on Jan. 27.
Since it debuted on 1340 AM and online three years ago, the goal was to evolve to an FM signal. Colorado Public Radio President Max Wycisk called this a “natural next step” in the signal’s evolution.
“It meets an expressed listener need to strengthen the quality of the service while also making it more accessible across the Front Range,” he said in a statement.
From the start, OpenAir was considered an Internet radio station that just happened to have a tower and a weak AM signal. Now it will debut as an FM station while still simulcasting on 1340 AM for several months.
An application has been filed with the FCC for the purchase of the FM signal from Front Range Sports Network, LLC for $5.75 million.This signal was formerly ESPN Radio Denver, which is moving to the less desirable 105.5 FM.
The purchase will be financed through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds, which is the same financing process CPR has followed for the past 15 years. There will be no capital campaign; the loan will be paid back through listener donations, Wycisk said.
The station will operate as KDSP until the FCC approves the purchase. Once that happens (likely in the spring), the call letters are expected to change to KVOQ AM and FM.
The three years on AM have been “a gestation period, allowed us to make connections with bands” and establish the format, Wycisk said.
Nothing will change in the switch to FM. The goal continues to be to emulate Minnesota Public Radio’s 10-year-old The Current, a rock-based new music station that serves as an important part of the culture of the Twin Cities.
Marc Hand, whose Public Media Company represented CPR in the deal, said it has been a long project and “it’s nice to finally get to the finish line.”
A model for the project was public station KUT in Austin, which similarly moved from AM to FM for a purchase price of $6 million.
The audience was projected to grow to 50,000 in the first year; instead it reached 130,000 listeners in the first month, Hand said.
Public stations in Seattle, Minneapolis, New York and Los Angeles are similarly serving audiences passionate about eclectic and local new music.
“This kind of format is increasingly successful in the public radio world,” he said.
