Expansion Brings Local KCRW Broadcast of News, Music, and Culture Programming to Santa Barbara
SANTA MONICA, CA (FEBRUARY 18, 2014) — KCRW and the Santa Barbara Foundation announced today KCRW’s acquisition of KDB. With the purchase, KCRW will pursue its goal of creating meaningful connections with communities it serves through relevant, credible content across news, music, and the arts. KCRW is also committed to supporting local cultural institutions, and building on its already established partnerships with the Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and other organizations.
As a result of the purchase, Santa Barbara listeners will benefit from an increase in programming across the spectrums of news, culture, and a variety of music genres. KCRW will broadcast from 88.7 FM, while KUSC will combine its broadcast (previously at 88.7 FM) with KDB to preserve 93.7 FM as a high quality source for classical music with Santa Barbara-focused programming.
KCRW has also formed a strategic partnership with Antioch University. KCRW’s Santa Barbara studio will be located on campus, and will provide opportunities for students to gain insight into storytelling and broadcasting through internships and integration into the curriculum.
“This opportunity is very exciting. Santa Barbara is a natural home for KCRW. We’ve partnered with Santa Barbara institutions for years on music and culture initiatives,” said Jennifer Ferro, president and general manager of KCRW. “It has all the elements that have made KCRW a success in Los Angeles — a diverse and intelligent population interested in arts and culture who are passionate about their local community. We believe we can further amplify the voices of Santa Barbara in a unique and compelling way.”
“At the Santa Barbara Foundation, philanthropy is the starting point for being high impact on community issues,” said Ron Gallo, president and CEO of the Santa Barbara Foundation. “With the transition to the ‘new KDB,’ we were able to keep classical music alive while enhancing and expanding the variety of musical programming offered in Santa Barbara.”
The Santa Barbara Foundation announced its intention to sell KDB in September 2013, following an unanimous vote from Foundation board members. KCRW submitted its proposal to the Santa Barbara Foundation in November 2013. The broadcast is expected to start airing in Spring 2014.
KCRW will create culturally responsive news, music and talk programming that speaks to the nuanced interest and needs of Santa Barbara listeners. With plans to partner with The Santa Barbara Independent and hire two announcer/producers, KCRW will create a Santa Barbara edition of NPR’s popular morning newsmagazine Morning Edition and afternoon news show All Things Considered.
The schedule will also include syndicated public radio programming broadcast on KCRW, such as Marketplace, The World, This American Life, TED Radio Hour, and The Moth Radio Hour, in addition to over 100 hours of KCRW’s originally produced, award-winning content, ranging from flagship music program Morning Becomes Eclectic with music director Jason Bentley to news and culture show Press Play with Madeleine Brand, nationally-syndicated To The Point with Warren Olney, and cultural programming on art, film, architecture, food, literature, and politics. The on-air schedule will follow a similar format to KCRW’s terrestrial broadcast, available online at www.kcrw.com/schedule.
The Santa Barbara station will benefit from KCRW’s community engagement programs and digital platforms, including its robust events department, which will help build local partnerships with arts and culture institutions; expansion of the Fringe Benefits program, a curated collection of discounts from over 1,100 Southern California businesses; and Santa Barbara-specific content’s availability on KCRW.com, mobile apps, and social media platforms, which reach over 1.5 million people monthly.
KCRW will welcome two Santa Barbara residents to its Foundation Board in the coming year, ensuring that the community’s needs are represented in the visioning of KCRW’s future. An Advisory Board will also be formed, including philanthropic, arts and culture, academic and political leaders from the Santa Barbara community.
About KCRW
KCRW, a community service of Santa Monica College, is one of the nation’s leading National Public Radio (NPR) affiliates, also featuring an eclectic mix of originally-produced and nationally-distributed news, music, talk and arts programming. The terrestrial signal serves Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Orange, Riverside and Ventura counties, as well as parts of San Diego, San Bernardino, and Kern counties and the greater Palm Springs area. KCRW’s programming is available worldwide, both live and on-demand, at KCRW.com, and through its smartphone apps (iPhone, Android, and Blackberry).
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About Santa Barbara Foundation
The Santa Barbara Foundation is a community foundation established in 1928 to enrich the lives of the people of Santa Barbara County through philanthropy. As one of the largest private sources of funding for area nonprofits, agencies, and college bound students, the foundation builds and facilitates philanthropy through donor partnerships; invests in nonprofits; and identifies and strategically addresses important community needs. Guided by compassion for the most vulnerable and those most in need of help, excellence in what it supports and with whom it partners, and integrity with a focus on stewardship and transparency, the Santa Barbara Foundation is invested in a more vibrant, engaged, and meaningfully connected Santa Barbara County…for all.