KUSC in Los Angeles continues to move forward in audience service. The station just completed a very successful fund drive, despite the rotten economy. And now this, from LAradio.com:
Classical KUSC/fm 91.5, the most listened to public radio station in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, will expand its service to include the Central Coast in early 2009, according to station President Brenda Barnes. Barnes said that KUSC, which is licensed to the University of Southern California, was approached by Public Radio Capital recently regarding the possibility of purchasing KGDP/fm 90.5, which airs from Santa Maria.
“We are very pleased to bring our all-Classical format to the Central Coast,” said Brenda. Broadcasting on KGDP will begin when the FCC has approved the sale. The broadcast facility is located in Santa Maria and offers KUSC the potential of reaching about 250,000 new listeners 24 hours a day. KUSC currently serves over 700,000 listeners in Southern California.
One of my radio friends in the midwest said that with the economy being so tough for small businesses, he knows of quite a few small stations that are going belly up and might be on the market soon. While I hate to see anyone fail, I sure wish a few of them could go classical!
UPDATE 1:
A little more from the L.A. Times.
Classical music station KUSC-FM (91.5), which already reaches well beyond its L.A. base with stations that carry its programming in Palm Springs, Thousand Oaks and Santa Barbara, is expanding farther up the California coast. Station officials said Wednesday that they had agreed to pay $800,000 for KGDP-FM (90.5) in Santa Maria. The outlet formerly carried religious programming but has been off the air since August. It will begin simulcasting KUSC once the deal is approved by the Federal Communications Commission.
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Was your radio friend talking about public stations in particular?
Great news for KUSC. I was wondering what KGDP was previously airing — it was a Christian station. I wonder why they went off the air.
Brenda is a really great person. She tolerated, and, today while I am no longer a member, still tolerates my tirades about how KUSC should be run.
Thank you, thank you! I really look forward to having access to classical music on the central coast.