Capital Public Radio will provide operational support for KHSU in Arcata, Calif., through October as part of an interim deal to stabilize the station.
Humboldt State University, KHSU’s licensee, announced Friday that Sacramento-based Capital Public Radio will oversee KHSU’s programming and provide technical and engineering support. The short-term deal could be extended if both parties agree, according to a press release.
Capital Public Radio is already exploring a public service operating agreement with North State Public Radio in Chico, Calif. HSU is considering joining that as part of a longer-term plan for its station, according to Frank Whitlatch, university spokesperson.
Capital Public Radio’s interim agreement to manage KHSU is “limited to providing the immediate technical and engineering support required to maintain national programming while HSU assesses options for its stations,” according to a statement from a CapRadio spokesperson.
KHSU’s future has been uncertain since April when the university laid off the majority of KHSU’s staff. The remaining employees resigned soon after the layoffs.
When Capital Public Radio and North State Public Radio announced last month that they were exploring a PSOA, NSPR GM Phil Wilke said that HSU had participated initially, but later decided not to pursue an agreement. But Wilke indicated that KHSU could join at a later date.
“What we at HSU need to do is make sure we are really clear about what we want,” Whitlatch said in an email. The university’s president, who started this summer, will be discussing the station’s future with faculty and students to explore how they “might want to utilize KHSU to engage and educate students.”
What Humboldt State Administration did to the KHSU community is despicable.
Firing all the hard working employees and taking KHSU away from the community that loved and supported it for decades was sinister and wrong. All the top administrators are now gone!! How lovely.
How will the university stabilize the station when all the underwriting, almost all the membership dollars and CPB grants are gone, which is the state of the station now. No local programming or volunteers?
It’s a complete disaster engineered by a president and vice-president who both just retired. It’s one big gaseous balloon now, filled with hot air and flatulence but nothing of substance for the local listeners.