WKSU

Radio operations within Kent State University can be traced back to 1940 with the establishment of the Kent State Radio Workshop, a division of the university's School of Speech. The Radio Workshop entered into a partnership with WADC to air a series of 15-minute long radio dramas produced by the Workshop on Tuesday afternoons; this began on March 3, 1940, with the program Lunch Room Nocturne, performed at the WADC studios in Tallmadge.[1] Studios were eventually constructed on the university campus for the Radio Workshop that were comparable to that of a licensed radio station; the Radio Workshop also assumed production of a weekly radio program by Kent State faculty members from WTAM in Cleveland, that program was also moved to WADC.[2] One of the last programs offered on WADC was an adaptation of the play Arsenic and Old Lace by the university's theater department on November 31, 1942.[3]

Programs did not air on terrestrial radio between 1943 and 1945 due to World War II, but the Radio Workshop remained in operation to assist in war effort purposes; this included a listening hour of classical music selections played for military personnel stationed on the campus.[4] When the Radio Workshop was able to resume regular operations, WAKR began airing the workshop-produced programs on January 13, 1945,[5] and would continue to do so through 1950, airing on Saturday mornings.[6][7][8] The Radio Workshop also signed on an unlicensed carrier current AM station that serviced the immediate university campus, bearing the unofficial call sign "WKSU".[9]

With the guidance of School of Speech director E. Turner Stump and speech professor Walton Clarke, the university and Radio Workshop filed paperwork in 1949 for a licensed 10-watt educational FM station.[10] In April 1950, the FCC gave the station permission to build a small transmitter attached to the roof of Kent Hall,[11] and after testing that began on July 19,[12] WKSU-FM (88.1) was born on October 2, 1950.[13] The signal was transmitted only within the confines of the campus, but the station encouraged people to report reception outside of the campus while they were in testing mode.[12] By November of that year, WKSU-FM was broadcasting five hours a day, five days a week.[14]

The station suspended operations in June 1960 following the completion of Kent State's Music and Speech Center;[15] Walton Clarke and WKSU-FM operations director John Weiser had been involved with the center's planning and construction process as early as 1954.[16] A closed-circuit television station—also bearing the unofficial "WKSU" calls—remained in operation.[17] On January 13, 1961, the university announced that WKSU-FM would soon return to the air following a $27,000 investment, with hopes of establishing a full-time operation daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.,[18] but the initial choice of 91.9 MHz was challenged by a Cleveland FM station over potential interference.[16] The FCC approved a frequency change to 89.7 MHz, and a power increase to 7,500 watts, on December 20, 1961.[11] WKSU-FM resumed operations in mid-March 1962, de-emphasizing rock and roll in favor of additional classical music programming, show tunes and jazz; the station also affiliated with the National Association of Educational Broadcasters.[15]

The 1960s brought about slow but steady growth for the fledgling station. The station's music library was built up from private collections and the collections of its student employees, and its airtime expanded to 40 hours a week. WKSU-FM began to produce reports covering everything from election returns to football games. WKSU-FM broadcast news updates informing the student body during the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970, and the state of emergency in Kent that directly preceded it, as part of an initiative to alleviate rumors.[19]

By 1973, according to former general manager John Perry, WKSU-FM had only 7,500 watts of power, and was not yet broadcasting in stereo. The station was only on the air for 85 hours a week, and programming was created by students, and scheduled around their class and vacation times.[20] The entire operating budget was $42,000, reaching an audience of about 1,200 listeners. The station had a full-time staff of three.[21]

WKSU-FM received for the first time money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 1973,[20] and also established an affiliation with National Public Radio (NPR) that same year, although it had carried the NPR program All Things Considered as early as March 1972. By February 1974, WKSU-FM debuted a local morning program titled Morning Show, created by Cleveland broadcasting veteran Dr. Bill Randle, then a professor of communications at Kent State. The program also featured Paul Warfield delivering sports reports, as Warfield was continuing his graduate studies at the university.[22] WKSU-FM hosted their first fundraising drive over the weekend of April 19–21, 1974, offering in advance to give half of the money raised to relief efforts in Xenia, Ohio following the 1974 Super Outbreak.[23] WKSU-FM met their goal of $10,000, with the relief efforts receiving $5,000.[24] The NPR affiliation would prove useful as WKSU-FM carried the network's coverage of the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment process against President Richard Nixon gavel-to-gavel throughout the spring and early summer of 1974,[25] one of the few stations in the region to have done so.

Following the closure of part-time Cleveland NPR member WBOE (90.3 FM) by the Cleveland Board of Education on October 7, 1978,[26] WKSU-FM effectively began doubling as the de facto NPR member in Greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, with Cleveland earning the dubious distinction of being the largest metropolitan city in the United States without a dedicated NPR-aligned outlet.[27] In July 1980, the station expanded its signal to reach over a million potential listeners in Northeast Ohio thanks to a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration increasing its power to 12,000 watts.[28] An additional power upgrade for WKSU-FM was filed with the FCC in early 1982 and contested by the Cleveland Public Library system,[29] which had attempted to acquire WBOE's license and was competing with Cleveland Public Radio, who sought out a replacement license for 90.3 FM.[30] Incidentally, the director for the Cleveland Public Library was not opposed to WKSU-FM's power increase request.[29] A settlement between the Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland Public Radio and the Cleveland Board of Education by September 1982 cleared the way for WBOE's replacement, WCPN, to begin broadcasting on September 8, 1984,[31] ending WKSU-FM's status as the unofficial NPR member of record for the entire region;[30] WKSU-FM and WCPN management expressed optimism that both stations could remain viable and help increase awareness of public radio.[32]

Logo used prior to merger with Ideastream.

WKSU-FM linked up with the Westar 1 satellite on January 22, 1980; this proved useful in the station convincing NPR management to transmit The Texaco Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee over the satellite instead of through dedicated phone lines,[33] that change took effect for the March 15, 1980 Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee broadcast.[34] The satellite linkup not only greatly improved the fidelity of NPR programs over WKSU-FM, but also allowed the station to begin broadcasting and recording live music programs,[35] including the Boston Globe Jazz Festival and the Salzburg Festival.[36][37] In addition, a 1979 WKSU-FM production of A Christmas Carol presented by the Kent Acting and Touring Company—itself rebroadcast annually by the station—found national distribution on December 25, 1983, by American Public Radio, having chosen WKSU-FM's production over other stations, owing to a "warm, authentic sound."[38] The 1980 satellite linkup, combined with the power increases for the station, triggered a period of growth and technical advancements. Shortly after, the station bought a remote truck, enabling it to record more than 1,000 programs in Summit, Stark, Portage, Cuyahoga, Wayne and Trumbull counties.

WKSU's former studios on Loop Road in Kent.

WKSU established its first repeater station, WKRJ in New Philadelphia, as the university had an existing satellite campus in Tuscarawas County. A "groundbreaking ceremony" consisting of a cake cutting took place on October 18, 1991,[39] but WKRJ signed on at the end of 1992 after delays and a change to the proposed transmitter site.[40] WKRW in Wooster was activated on March 29, 1993, after a study of listener donations saw the Wooster area contributing more money per capita to the station than any other city in the region.[41] WKSV in Thompson Township was added in 1997[42] and WNRK in Norwalk in 2004; WNRK became the first dedicated public radio outlet in the "Vacationland" region serving approximately 66,000 residents.[43] Low-power translator W239AZ (95.7 FM), based in Ashland, was established in 2006 to help address interference between WKSU and WOSU-FM in Columbus, both of which broadcast on the same frequency.[44] A second translator, W234CX (94.7 FM) in Mansfield, started operating on December 27, 2016, owing to W239AZ's limited reach outside of Ashland.[45] Columbus–licensed WSNY, which operates on the same frequency as W234CX, began appealing to affected WSNY listeners in Mansfield but withdrew a planned challenge to the FCC after less than five listener complaints were received.[44]

The station's website was launched in 1994, and began offering on-demand streaming starting in May 1995 with the Akron Roundtable program.[46] WKSU-FM additionally launched three distinct programming streams over their website in August 2005—WKSU's on-air feed, "The News Channel" and "The Classical Channel"—along with a stream on the station's separate website for Folk Alley.[47] These internet-only streams were created as prototypes for potential digital subchannels using the HD Radio in-band on-channel standard and eventually were launched as such,[48] while also appealing to listeners that had a preference for either all-classical or all-information programming.[47] Mobile apps for WKSU-FM and Folk Alley were developed in 2010.

A dolceola concert during the 2006 WKSU Folk Alley 'Round Town.

The Kent State Folk Festival was started in 1967 by a group of Kent State University students. It was produced by student groups at the university until the Kent State Student Senate voted to defund the activity in 2000;[49] a coalition of businesses and organizations assumed control of the event, with WKSU-FM as the lead presenter.[50] Throughout its history, the make up of festival programming changed from local musicians and groups representing ethnic heritage to national touring acts. The theme was consistently tied to folk and roots music and the festival included workshops on folk music and dance along with concert performances.

The Kent State Folk Festival typically featured several performances by both legendary and up-and-coming folk artists. Later line-ups included Bob Dylan, Donovan,[51] Avett Brothers, Doc Watson, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dawes, Judy Collins and Arlo Guthrie.

With WKSU-FM's involvement in the Kent State Folk Festival, a day of free concerts throughout the city of Kent was created. 'Round Town (later Folk Alley 'Round Town) drew thousands of people to downtown Kent each year.[52] In 2013, the entire festival was renamed the 'Round Town Music Festival to expand the programming scope.[53] WKSU ended its involvement with the festival the following year.[54]

WKSU-FM launched FolkAlley.com as a standalone website in 2003, centered around the station's folk, roots, and Americana music libraries. Within FolkAlley.com's first five years, web traffic data showed the site had been accessed in 130 different countries, resulting in a subscription base of 89,000 people and becoming the first public radio-produced internet stream to generate a profit; WKSU general manager Al Bartholet regarded the website as "like an international operation" successfully autonomous of WKSU-FM.[55] By the time of his retirement in late 2012, Bartholet called his experience programming FolkAlley.com to be "a lot of fun."[56]

The Folk Alley Radio Show with Elena See is a weekly two-hour program syndicated via PRX, with 40 stations worldwide carrying the program in 2015.[57] University of Pennsylvania radio station WXPN began streaming the Folk Alley feed on their website in 2007.[58] The stream is also on the NPR Music page; Folk Alley has often collaborated with NPR, offering original content for the web and producing audio from the Newport Folk Festival.

Kent State University and WKSU donated FolkAlley.com and the radio show to the FreshGrass Foundation, publishers of No Depression on March 7, 2019, having successfully operated as a fully self-sustaining entity throughout Kent State and WKSU's stewardship.[59] WKSU's HD2 subchannel simulcast of FolkAlley.com remained in place.[60]

Current afternoon host Amanda Rabinowitz working in the WKSU newsroom.

After heading WKSU-FM for 11 years and being involved with the station in some capacity since 1980, general manager Al Bartholet retired at the end of 2012.[56] Dan Skinner, former president of Texas Public Radio, took over as Bartholet's replacement[61] after a nationwide search conducted by the university.[56] Skinner would oversee WKSU-FM's shift to a more news-related schedule on August 5, 2013, remarking that, "this combination of news and music is the sound of Northeast Ohio's future."[48] WKSU had already been carrying the first hour of Here and Now in between locally-hosted classical programming; the format shift coincided with NPR expanding Here and Now as part of a larger initiative to revamp the network's image.[62] Most notably, classical music was limited to evenings and overnights and folk music programming on the primary channel was relegated solely to Folk Alley, with the daytime lineup starting to heavily mirror that of WCPN.[48]

The change added many new programs to the daily schedule and prompted introduction of a new logo and the major renovation of the newsroom in the Kent broadcast facility. With the shift, WKSU-FM also created several regular news segments, including weekly interviews with sports writer Terry Pluto, Quick Bites stories on food and eating, and Exploradio reports on research and innovation. During a Kent State University Board of Trustees meeting in late 2015, chairman Dennis Eckert advocated for WKSU-FM to offer more locally-based programming to national distributors like NPR to help boost the university's name awareness; WKSU-FM continued to produce Folk Alley for syndication and the station's news department frequently filed reports for NPR's news programs.[57]

The station changed its call sign on June 23, 2016, from WKSU-FM to the current WKSU.

The Portager reported on September 9, 2021, that Kent State University's Board of Trustees were planning to vote at their forthcoming meeting on a "public service operating agreement" proposal de facto merging WKSU into WCPN owner Ideastream; the meeting's advance agenda was largely withheld from the public but leaked to the Portager anonymously.[63] The details of the agreement proposal had Ideastream assuming operations of WKSU on October 1, 2021, with all WKSU employees retained by Ideastream for at least one year, while the university would still contribute to their retirement pensions.[64] This proposal had origins in a $100,000 CPB grant[65] jointly awarded to WKSU and Ideastream on September 1, 2020, to help expand public media service in Northeast Ohio and encourage collaboration between both entities.[66] The grant was prompted due to a decline in electronic and print journalism jobs in the region by 60% since 2004.[67]

The Idea Center (right), WKSU's current studio facilities at Playhouse Square in Downtown Cleveland.

Elizabeth Bartz, a former member of WKSU's community advisory council, found out about the merger proposal just before her term expired in May 2021[66] and voiced her disappointment in the lack of communication with Kent State president Todd Diacon.[63] Diacon countered by stating privacy had to be maintained in the event that the proposal—which would directly involve WKSU employees—didn't come to fruition.[68] Former WKSU general manager John Perry interpreted the proposal as "a deep alignment" between the two entities that had a "potential upside" despite the likely changes, while Perry's successor Al Bartholet expressed concern about WKSU having their focus on Kent and Akron diminished in favor of Ideastream's Cleveland orientation.[66] Bartholet's concerns were echoed by Bartz, who felt that WKSU was a "treasure (that) is leaving Northeast Ohio" and would "be second to ideastream".[63] Former radio executive John Gorman noted that WKSU's news department had for decades been a strong contributor to NPR, while WCPN had only recently established a fully-staffed newsroom with coverage that "pales in comparison".[69] A press release on Ideastream's web site concurrently stated that WKSU had been in operation for 71 years, "almost twice as long as WCPN".[70]

The deal was approved by the Board of Trustees on September 15, 2021, with no money changing hands.[71] WKSU general manager Wendy Turner hailed "the logic of this convergence (that) stares us right in the face", Diacon expressed confidence in enhanced journalism, reporting and public affairs[69] and WKSU news director Andrew Meyer felt the merger would help bolster manpower and resources for the station.[71] Under terms of the proposal, WKSU will become Cleveland and Akron's lead NPR station under Ideastream management,[65] retaining all local shows and inheriting WCPN's local productions The Sound of Ideas and the City Club of Cleveland's Friday Forum.[64] The second phase of the changeover on March 28, 2022, had WKSU drop all classical programming while WCPN changed call letters to WCLV and format to classical music.[72] Concurrently, WCLV's prior 104.9 FM facility changed calls to WCPN and became a WKSU repeater[68][69] in part to address signal weakness in the Lorain and Cleveland areas[73] with potential on-channel boosters for WKSU in Cleveland proper by the fall of 2022.[70] WCPN morning host Amy Eddings (who had joined the station in 2017)[74] was transferred to WKSU in the same capacity, while existing WKSU hosts Amanda Rabinowitz and Jeff St. Clair were retained for what Ideastream billed as "expanded news breaks" throughout the weekday.[75]

WKSU broadcasts over the following four digital subchannels using the proprietary HD Radio standard:[76]

• WKSU-HD1 is a simulcast of WKSU's analog feed.
• WKSU-HD2 airs folk music from FolkAlley.com.
• WKSU-HD3 broadcasts classical music as a simulcast of WCLV (with Classical 24 programming in the overnight hours).
• WKSU-HD4 airs an extended schedule of news and talk programming exclusively from NPR and the BBC World Service branded as "News and More". The Takeaway and As It Happens air exclusively on this channel, along with Folk Alley and locally produced ethnic programming on Sunday nights.[60]

Although WKSU operates at relatively modest power for a full NPR member, its 908-foot (277 m) tower in Copley Township allows it to provide at least grade B coverage to most of Greater Cleveland to the north, with Cleveland itself getting a city-grade signal albeit with some weaknesses in places like Lake County due to the region's topography.[70][77] WKSU extends its reach via the following full-power satellites, which rebroadcast WKSU's four HD Radio signals. With the exception of WCPN, which is fully owned by Ideastream Public Media, all are directly owned by Kent State University and operated by Ideastream:[78]

Additionally, WKSU is simulcast over WCLV's HD2 subchannel and over WVIZ's 25.7 subchannel in an audio-only format.[79]

WKSU also rebroadcasts to the following low-power translators:[44][45]