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Dallas' oldest radio station gets a reboot
The first radio station in Dallas -- Classical WRR -- is under new management by the respected public broadcasters at KERA. Good Day talked about the reboot with KERA president and CEO Nico Leone.
DALLAS - The first radio station in Dallas will get a reboot with new people in charge.
The Dallas City Council voted unanimously to transfer management of the city-owned classical radio station WRR 101.1 FM to public television and radio operator KERA.
WRR has lost money for several years and the deal means KERA will assume all the costs of running the station.
"For 101 years, WRR has been owned and operated by the city of Dallas and that ownership structure gives it some constraints. As we move it forward to be managed by KERA to be part of the public broadcasting family and convert the license to non-commercial, we’re very confident that we can make it a sustainable service for the long term and continue providing free access to classical music and the arts for people across North Texas," said Nico Leone, the president and CEO of KERA.
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The city will continue to own the station, but it will become a publicly funded like KERA. It will keep its classical music format.
"One of the advantages of moving to non-commercial is we can open up other forms of fundraising including pledge drives. We’ll do those in a way that sort of minimizes the impact on the audience. We will be converting from advertising to sponsorships," Leone said.
WRR will also no longer be required to air city council meetings.