To air is human: Despite steady growth, KNPR still belongs to the community

Kirk Baird

Wednesday, April 3, 2002 | 8:32 a.m.

In radioland fables, KNPR 89.5-FM would be the little station that could.

Offering a mixture of classical music and National Public Radio (NPR) programming news shows "All Things Considered," "Marketwatch" as well as the popular "Car Talk" and "Prairie Home Companion," among others for more than 22 years KNPR has survived in a town were high culture is often swept away by the desert wind.

In fact, before KNPR began broadcasting from an 800-square-foot room beneath Sam Boyd Stadium (then known as the Silver Bowl) in March 1980, there was no local radio station playing either classical music or NPR programming.

How times have changed.

KNPR now broadcasts from a $4.5 million, 15,000-square-foot studio on the campus of Community College of Southern Nevada's West Charleston Boulevard campus.

And, according to Spring Arbitron 2001 statistics, KNPR surged to its best numbers yet from March 29 through June 14 last year, with 100,000 Las Vegans tuning in weekly.

As far as Phil Burger, the station's director of broadcast operations, is concerned, KNPR's success has a lot to do with timing.

"I think in the past year there's been more public awareness of KNPR, and because of events in the news more interest in our programming," Burger said. "That interest in the news would go back to the (2000) presidential race and the whole vote-count fiasco up through Sept. 11 and now people are interested even more."

As more music-only listeners tune into KNPR's news shows to hear up-to-the-minute and more in-depth reports, more of these listeners are realizing the value of such programming and are reaching into their wallets in gratitude.

"Sept. 11 was fantastic for us," said Nancy Wood, KNPR's director of development, cautiously, realizing the gravity of her statement. "But really, a lot of charities are struggling since Sept. 11. We are doing great."

'KNPR in Las Vegas'

A classic sitcom from the late 1970s and early 1980s, "WKRP in Cincinnati" concerned itself with a never-quite-successful AM-rock 'n' roll station and its assortment of diverse personnel and DJs.

Walking into the KNPR studios, there is much the same feeling.

There is John Clare, the classical-music manager for KNPR, heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon.

Clare quickly and eloquently reads the title of a composition from a composer with an almost unpronounceable name. Unseen by listeners is Clare's long ponytail and Dallas Stars hockey team baseball cap.

There is Jurgen Fox, a 70-year-old retiree, who spends every weekday from 9 a.m. to noon volunteering at the station filing and pulling for play some of the 10,000 classical CDs in the station library.

When Fox started at the station in August, he was faced with the daunting task of re- entering 36,792 ratings numbers (based on popularity with listeners) for individual pieces after a computer glitch erased them.

The process took months, but he said his "job" is what keeps him alive.

"Before working in the library, I was getting old fast," Fox said. "This has rejuvenated me."

Then there is Ginger Bruner, the noon to 3 p.m. announcer and program producer at the station.

Bruner has been at KNPR a little more than 15 years, starting as a volunteer answering the phone during one of the station's pledge drives.

A fan of classical music and art, she stayed with KNPR as a way to help bring culture to Las Vegans.

"It's there as a public service," she said.

Station history

Public service was the idea behind KNPR when Lamar Marchese first envisioned a classical-NPR station for Las Vegas.

In the mid-'60s, while Marchese was a student at the University of Florida in Gainesville, he had the chance to work at the university's public radio station.

Marchese enjoyed his time at the radio station -- the fact that it was a public radio station in particular.

When Marchese arrived in Las Vegas in 1972, however, he noticed the city had so far been left out of the NPR loop. It didn't come as surprise. Until then NPR had been limited to broadcasts in major cities and/or through the campuses of major universities.

"At that time we (Las Vegas) were a lot smaller than we are now -- a quarter-million people," he said. "But we were big enough to support (an NPR) station."

As it turned out, Marchese, now president and general manager of KNPR, was correct.

Marchese decided if NPR wasn't coming to Las Vegas, he would bring Las Vegas to NPR.

In December 1975 he created Nevada Public Radio Corp. to raise funds and community awareness for an NPR affiliate in Las Vegas. The station has become Southern Nevada's sole source for classical music and NPR programming.

The station signed on in 1980 with the usual complement of classical music and NPR programming heard today, mixed with jazz, bluegrass and spoken-word compositions.

Although it took a few years for the KNPR's format to come together, it was only a matter of months before the station had upgraded its facilities.

KNPR worked out an agreement with the Boyd family, which donated a space next to Sam's Town on Boulder Highway. The station signed a 20-year lease and moved into a 4,600-square-foot studio/office, which Marchese said was a mansion compared to the station's previous home at the Silver Bowl.

From there KNPR began the fund-raising drives necessary to keep a noncommercial, community-licensed station alive.

Money was tight at first.

To get the station up and running, studio equipment and a transmitter had to be purchased. There was also a staff of six full-time employees to pay. (Back then KNPR relied heavily on volunteers -- especially for on-air openings.)

An independent and commercial-free station, the budget was planned for $225,000. The first fund-raiser generated $14,000. Marchese said there were Fridays when he worried about making payroll.

Attracting listeners

Working against the station is what could best be described as the city's "blue-collar" residents.

A public station such as KNPR tends to attract college-educated listeners -- hence the station's ad campaign is "Smart Radio for Smart People," although Marchese insists the slogan is not meant as a dividing line between mental haves and have-nots.

Marchese said that, according to surveys from Arbitron, 15 percent of Las Vegas residents are college-educated -- 10 percent lower than national average for comparable-size cities.

"Las Vegas is not the most conducive place in the world to do what we do," he said.

Membership has grown over the years from the hundreds to around 7,000, meaning that many listeners pledged anywhere from $50 to $100,000-plus to help the station meet its budget -- now at $1.7 million -- and keep it on the air. (Underwriting by local businesses and organizations, as well as state and government grants, end up filling most of the rest of the station's budget.)

The station, which Marchese refers to as "a business," has done so well that there have been plans and discussion for several years of splitting the station into two, one solely for news and NPR programming, the other for classical music.

The proposal must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission, which is notoriously slow in rendering verdicts.

The FCC's backlog of cases grew so large, for example, the agency suggested conflicts between radio stations be resolved before submitting proposals in order to streamline the decision-making process.

But Marchese and others at the station are reasonably optimistic KNPR could have a sister station at 88.9 on the FM dial by late 2003.

When the new studio/office was built in 1998, additional studio space to handle an additional radio broadcast was created. KNPR even secured a $1 million bank loan to pay for the necessary upgrades to equipment and personnel when and if the proposal goes through.

Marchese likened having the new station up and running to a casino.

"If it's not in operation, you can't make money," he said. "It's very important to get on the air as soon as possible."

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