The Campaign for Cincinnati Public Radio’s New Home
If you’ve ever visited WGUC or WVXU, you know our current space is not easy to find. The building is a bunker, of sorts, with little signage and no obvious entrance. The paid parking lot is not ours and parking is frequently restricted, so we cannot promise access to guests. CPR does not have space for the entire staff or more than a few dozen visitors to gather. We had to convert closets into office space to accommodate staff after purchasing WVXU in 2005.
In this new home, we can do so much more.
Public radio is no longer just what you hear on the air. Like everything else, we are growing into something much broader and more accessible. Think more content. New programs and podcasts. More access and outreach. More online videos and events. More community engagement.
CPR’s new building in Evanston is centrally located off the I-71 Dana exit; it’s steps away from Wasson Way, close to Xavier University and adjacent to Evanston Recreation Area. The building will be easily accessible, clearly branded as Cincinnati Public Radio’s and there will be hundreds of free parking spaces available. We’re excited about additional and updated studio spaces including a professional recording studio for local musicians and a public podcast booth. We’ll have event space for more than 100 guests so we can host concerts, debates, classroom visits and events with other non-profits. And we’ve already talked with the Cincinnati Recreation Commission about hosting events in the park next door.
This new building exponentially increases CPR’s ability to connect with our audience, and to welcome new audiences in to learn more about what public radio offers.
The Central Parkway corridor will be reimagined soon – and staying is not an option.
Late last year, the City of Cincinnati released a Request for Proposals for the redevelopment of our entire Central Parkway block. Ultimately the City decided to put the redevelopment on hold temporarily, but it is obvious big changes are afoot. We could either wait to be forced to relocate without the proper time for planning and fundraising – or we could take action to find a new and permanent home on our own timeline.
And that’s just what we’ve done.
Public Radio is more than the programming we broadcast. We want to partner with fellow arts organizations and universities for performances and live broadcasts; we want to bring students in for Classics for Kids ® and Democracy & Me programs; and we want to host debates and roundtable discussions. Our job is to amplify the arts and inform the community and in this new facility, we can do both better.
This new home will be transformative, but the most important reason we’re investing in this new building is to protect these local public radio stations. We know there are plans to reimagine our current home that don’t include CPR, and frankly, we know there are organizations that would love to purchase 90.9 or 91.7 and eliminate public radio programming.
Our sole focus is building a permanent home for WGUC, WVXU and WMUB so we can continue to serve and grow our audience.