NEWS

Are public radio stations WKSU and WCPN planning to merge?

Eric Marotta
Akron Beacon Journal
WKSU logo

Kent State University is considering a merger of its public radio station with another public broadcaster in Cleveland, according to several people familiar with the station's operations.

Kent State University spokesman Eric Mansfield would not confirm a report the university's board of trustees will vote next week on a merger between Kent State's radio station, WKSU (89.7 FM), and nonprofit Ideastream's WCPN (90.3 FM).

Instead, he referred to a $100,000 "collaborative operations and services grant" the two stations received last year.

"In August, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded a grant to explore opportunities for growth and expansion of public media in Northeast Ohio," he said. "That analysis identified potential opportunities for Ideastream and WKSU, and we are continuing to review those possibilities ...

"Both entities recognize the need to refortify public service reporting in Northeast Ohio, and we continue to discuss ways to leverage these two strong public media organizations for the benefit of listeners in the region."

Messages left with Ideastream were not returned and Mansfield declined to comment further.

The agenda for the KSU Board of Trustees' Sept. 22 meeting is to be posted on Monday.

Plans in the works

People familiar with the station operations say a collaboration plan has been discussed for months.

Elizabeth Bartz, a former member of the WKSU Community Advisory Council, said WKSU General Manager Wendy Turner told the council in May that "there was discussion with Ideastream about a possible merger because 15 hours of their programming was duplicative every day and that's a lot of money going to NPR."

"She said this is a matter of having more resources so they can have more reporters doing more stories," Bartz said.

Turner did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Two former WKSU general managers also said they were told plans for a merger were in the works.

"It would be a deep alignment between WKSU and Ideastream and that as a result of that deep alignment there would be some significant changes," said John Perry, former WKSU general manager from 1973 to 1999. "WKSU would become the primary, and only outlet, for NPR and local news and WCPN would become the classical station for Northeast Ohio and WCLV (104.9 FM, also owned by Ideastream) would become an extension of the news stream for the Cleveland area.

"While a lot of people have been decrying this, it does have its potential upside," Perry said.

Al Bartholet, general manager at WKSU for from 1999 to 2013, said he had also heard of plans for a merger of the two stations.

"I knew it was coming, because there was a lot of chatter that was going on among some people who I won't disclose," he said. "I'm hearing from former employees and employees who are concerned about it."

He said a major concern is the potential for losing local news focus.

"It seems apparent to me that Ideastream will be in charge on a managerial level. Will all the staff be exported to Ideastream Center in Cleveland? Will WKSU lose its local identity? Will things like local reporting of the greater Akron area – the area that WKSU serves – be diminished? Ideastream has always looked at the Akron area like nothing more than a suburb, like Willoughby or Bedford. Those are the kind of things that people are concerned about."

In addition to WCPN and WCLV, Ideastream owns public television stations WVIZ and The Ohio Channel.

Money for studies, consolidation plans

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) grant the two radio stations received provides up to $100,000 for "facilitation, analysis, and research" of collaboration efforts. An "implementation" grant of up to $750,000 is available for entities with "binding commitments from station governing boards and authorities supporting the proposed collaboration."

The two radio stations announced in August 2020 that they intend to use the grant to "explore expanding local reporting and journalism resources; coordinate editorial efforts; expand and diversify geographic topical coverage of local and statewide issues, particularly in under served communities; and foster future journalists through engagement with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University."

Grant recipients are required to report the results of their work. Ideastream CEO Kevin Martin said in an e-mail to Ideastream staff the results of the study, and a plan for next steps, would be shared early this year, according to an Aug. 31, 2020, release.

A public records request for that report was pending Thursday.

Bartholet said he is familiar with the grant program but said it's been his experience the consolidations face many obstacles.

"I would think the university is going to lose quite a bit, because I can see them losing their identity in WKSU and how it's branded," he said.

Bartholet said he remembers when the CPB grant program began several years ago.

"Hardly anybody took them up on the money, because they couldn't come up with terms," he said. "It just comes down to localism. A station is fighting for its own territory."

He said the station he managed after leaving WKSU, in Charlottsville, Virginia, faced competition from another public radio station in the same area.

"On a per-capita basis, it was one of the four best public radio markets in the country ... it never worked out," he said.

Eric Marotta can be reached at 330-541-9422, or emarotta@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarottaEric.