News
Austin is one of the country's most acclaimed music cities, known for its vibrant local music scene and national importance as a platform for breakout performances at SXSW. The University of Texas's KUT 90.5 FM purchased 98.9 FM in August 2012 to rebrand and launch as KUTX, an all-music, Triple A format. Public Media Company, who held exclusive negotiating rights with 98.9's previous owner, Border Media Trust, assisted with the transaction. The acquisition will allow KUT 90.5 to become an all-news and information station. Data has shown that splitting formats increases overall listening audiences and mutually strengthens both operations. Within public broadcasting, there are a number of successful examples, including Dallas, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and Houston. The University of Texas-owned stations will be moving into a spectacular new facility as KUT celebrates its 50th anniversary and station leadership has stated as its strategic goal, to double the impact of their services and broadcast by 2020. KUT consistently ranks in the top 10 overall in audience size for the Austin market. Read KUT Frequently Asked Questions>
Public Media Company (PMC) has partnered with the University of Southern California's KUSC radio to launch KDFC as a Bay Area classical service. KDFC was acquired in 2011 from commercial operator, Entercom, and has grown its broadcast reach to include multiple signals: 90.3 FM (San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Los Gatos, Saratoga), 104.9 FM (South Bay & Peninsula), 89.9 (Wine Country), and 92.5 FM (Ukiah-Lakeport). PMC provides financial oversight to the Bay Area operations and on-going strategic participation as a member of the nonprofit Classical Public Radio Network, LLC.
www.kdfc.com
"Our move into the Bay Area would not have happened without Public Radio Capital and Public Media Company. The services and expertise they provided, and continue to provide, have enabled our success." ~ Brenda Barnes, KUSC President
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Ken Ikeda has been named Managing Director to serve with Marc Hand.
Public Radio Capital (PRC) today announced that Susan Harmon will retire from her position as managing director at the end of 2011. Harmon co-founded the organization with Marc Hand in 2001. Harmon will continue to serve on the PRC board as well as on the Public Media Company (PMC) board. PMC was founded in 2011 by PRC. The PRC board has named Ken Ikeda to serve as Managing Director with Marc Hand, both of whom also lead PMC. Ikeda has deep background in digital media and experience in bringing independent producers, emerging voices and diverse communities into the production/journalistic side of media.
Read full press release.
PMC will lead an 18-month long project to design, launch and model sustainable public media stations that increase civic engagement, strengthen local journalism and reach new public media audiences. These re-envisioned stations will build community capacity and collaborate in a new national infrastructure that uses radio-based production as a springboard for multiplatform content distribution.
Pittsburgh is one of only two U.S. cities in the top 35 radio markets without a full-service NPR news and information station, according to National Public Radio (NPR). Partnering with Public Media Company(PMC), locally-owned Essential Public Media purchased 90.5 FM in January 2011 to bring 24/7 news and information to Pittsburgh. In addition to broadcasting NPR news and information, 90.5 FM will be a source for local reporting and community initiatives. Essential Public Media has formed a news partnership with PublicSource, a new Web-based investigative journalism initiative being launched by The Pittsburgh Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. For additional information on Pittsburgh’s new station, visit www.essentialpublicmedia.org.