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KUNC In Colorado Offers Lessons For How A Community Can Buy A Public Radio Station

Greeley Tribune
The front page of the Greeley Tribune, March 2, 2001 announcing the sale of KUNC to the Friends of KUNC.

Editor’s note: KPLU has hired an independent editor to oversee coverage of this story.

Last month, KPLU listeners were surprised to find out that Pacific Lutheran University, which owns KPLU's license, was planning to sell the station to the University of Washington. UW operates a rival public radio station, KUOW. 

After public outcry, UW and PLU have now said they're negotiating an agreement to allow a possible community bid to purchase the license of KPLU.

As it turns out, the Rocky Mountain West offers an example of how a community managed to make that happen.  

Almost 15 years ago, in Greeley, Colorado, KUNC found itself in almost the same situation now facing KPLU. At the time, KUNC was owned by the University of Northern Colorado, which had struck a confidential deal to sell the license to Colorado Public Radio. 

"We found out about it due to open meeting laws 24 hours before the sale was to be approved by the board of trustees," said KUNC President Neil Best. 

Fans of KUNC showed up at that trustees meeting and urged the board to allow a community bid. The university administration and trustees acquiesced.  

$2 million In 20 Days

“We were told they’d accept bids at the end of business the last day of the month, so February 28th,” Best said.

They only had 20 days to raise $2 million. The station’s community advisory board created a group called Friends of KUNC and started collecting money.

“We had everything from children taking $5 out of their piggybank to a million dollar gift,” Best said.

They didn’t fundraise over the airwaves, but they still pulled it off, and KUNC separated from the university and became independent.

Best has been following news of the proposed sale of KPLU to UW and said it will be a challenge to raise enough for a counter-bid.

“But it can be done,” he said. “We’re evidence that when a community comes together, that money like that can be raised.”

Best said he worried his station’s next pledge drive would be dismal after raising $2 million to buy the license. Instead, he said, it was a record breaker.

In July 2017, Ashley Gross became KNKX's youth and education reporter after years of covering the business and labor beat. She joined the station in May 2012 and previously worked five years at WBEZ in Chicago, where she reported on business and the economy. Her work telling the human side of the mortgage crisis garnered awards from the Illinois Associated Press and the Chicago Headline Club. She's also reported for the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage and for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.