Colorado Public Radio and Colorado College have agreed to a public service operating agreement that will allow CPR to take over operation of the school’s KRCC-FM in Colorado Springs.
KRCC will retain its call letters, according to a Friday press release. A facility will be built at Colorado College that will include new studios for KRCC and space for Rocky Mountain PBS and the college’s journalism institute.
No immediate staffing changes are planned, according to CPR spokesperson Jodi Gersh. “This partnership is not about reducing redundancies and consolidating positions,” Gersh said. “This is about strengthening public radio programming in Southern Colorado.”
“This investment in KRCC will enable the station and CPR to be more reflective of the state, bringing important stories, ideas and experiences to audiences across Colorado,” said CPR President Stewart Vanderwilt in the press release.
KRCC’s news team will become part of CPR’s editorial structure. Other KRCC staffers will continue to report to their managers, but GM Kyle Cunningham will report to Erik Nycklemoe, CPR senior project director.
Programming on KRCC will not change initially, but CPR expects to make changes in the coming months to align midday programs across the two stations.
“This partnership with CPR preserves KRCC’s regional identity and Colorado College’s educational mission,” Colorado College President Jill Tiefenthaler said in the release. “Listeners will benefit because this collaboration brings more resources to cover the news in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, and KRCC’s news will now have wider distribution via CPR. It also provides valuable learning and internship opportunities for our students.”