(Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct information about KKJZ-FM. The radio station left the campus of Cal State University Long Beach in 2015. An earlier version of this story was incorrect. Daily Report regrets this error.)
WRKF-FM and LSU are having discussions about moving the National Public Radio affiliate station to the LSU campus, where it would work closely with the Manship School of Mass Communication. But officials with both entities say it is too soon to discuss specifics of the proposed partnership.
Cyril Vetter, interim president and general manager of WRKF, says the station and the university are in discussions about how to make the partnership happen and that, if successful, such an arrangement would be a mutually beneficial one.
“Having an NPR station on campus would be good for LSU, good for WRKF and it’s a tremendous opportunity,” Vetter says. “But it’s far from a done deal.”
Vetter says the financial structure of the partnership has yet to be nailed down, as well as where on campus the station would be located. But he says there are several possibilities.
“The digital media center, for example, would be a fantastic place for it because there is a state of the art auditorium and across from that is classroom space where we could do master classes,” he says.
In response to a request for comment, LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard says the university is looking at the deal “as a potential mutually beneficial partnership, but at this time there are no specifics to share. We are still in the discussion phase of things.”
Ballard notes that it is not uncommon for public radio stations to be located on college campuses. Red River Radio, for example, is based on the LSU-Shreveport campus. California State University, Long Beach, where LSU President F. King Alexander served as president before coming here three years ago, housed a public radio station, KKJZ-FM.
“Any time we look at partnerships with the university, one of the major factors we consider is the learning and education opportunity available for our students,” Ballard says.
Representatives from WRKF and LSU are scheduled to meet again in November, “to try to get our arms around what each side needs to get this done,” Vetter says.
WRKF began broadcasting in 1980. Since 1986, it is has been located in its current offices on Valley Creek Drive in a building owned by the station.
—Stephanie Riegel
