Spokane Public Radio avoiding cutbacks as it unveils single format news, classical and jazz stations

Spokane Public Radio’s offerings became more concise and clear last month on its three Spokane stations: one for news, one for classical and one for jazz.

The move followed President Donald Trump’s successful push to pull federal funding from public radio and PBS.

But Spokane Public Radio made the decision to reformat its stations before Congress’ vote.

“We knew there was a possibility of this happening, given the administration and their approach towards the media and voices of dissent,” said John Decker, SPR president and general manager. “Those funds, which to Spokane Public Radio, were about a quarter of a million dollars a year, give or take, are no longer in existence. They just disappeared, literally overnight. Poof, gone.”

Despite the loss of federal money, Spokane Public Radio is not laying off staff or cutting operations.

Community members have begun to step up.

“Folks have been very, very generous, and have increased their gifts, many are new givers,” Decker said. “We’re not out of the woods yet, but I’m cautiously optimistic that this year and the year after will be OK.”

This summer, Spokane Public Radio reorganized its three signals into single-format stations: SPR news on KPBX 91.1 FM, classical on KSFC on 91.9 FM, and jazz on KPBZ 90.3 FM. The move was not a direct response to the funding changes but a long-planned strategy .

“The station had correctly seen that the future is in single-format stations, not in a variety format,” Decker said. “So for us, what it means is that it has a greater chance of increasing our audience.”

Moving to single -format stations has been an industry trend for the 20 years or more, said Henry McNulty, Spokane Public Radio’s classical music and program director.

“A big part of our tradition has been that eclecticism and that variety that traces all the way back to SPR’s founding in the 1980s,” McNulty said. “I think the time finally came to follow the path that so many other stations have to ensure success and to ensure the viability of public radio into the coming decades.”

After Eastern Washington University decided to sell its jazz station, KEWU 89.5 FM, Spokane Public Radio stepped in to fulfill the legacy left behind. KPBZ, the new jazz station, has inherited some of KEWU’s library and pieces of music to preserve what was left behind by the station.

“We definitely had KEWU going away in mind as we built this,” McNulty said. “Our hope with that third signal of KPBZ is that as that station goes away, we can pick up some of that slack and keep jazz going. In fact, we’ve been able to inherit some things from KEWU. … It is going to be part of the DNA of what we’re doing.”

EWU spokesman Linn Parish said that there is “nothing new to report” on the sale of the radio station to the Oldies Preservation Society. EWU announced in February that it sold the station to the society for $510,000. But as of Monday, KEWU remained on air, broadcasting jazz.

Spokane Public Radio also has plans to expand investments in local news.

“My goal is to increase the size of our newsroom … that’s a huge opportunity for us to be much more active in local news and information,” Decker said. “Folks want journalism they can trust, they want a source of news that they can count on, they want it every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so they can tune in and find out what’s going on from news organizations that they trust.”

Still, the nationwide budget cuts add urgency to the need for listener support.

“The overarching message from our audience has been to help save and solidify public radio against what the administration is doing,” Decker said. “There is no question that the audience is stepping up because and as a direct result of what the Trump administration has done to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, there is no doubt about that.”

Spokesman-Review Reporter Cannon Barnett contributed to this story.