Capital Public Radio to expand news & information offerings

Capital Public Radio, a regional source for in-depth news and information, will soon be increasing its commitment to news and information programming for the communities it serves.

On Aug. 25 the board and management determined that news and information programming needed to increase to meet the interests of the audience. While the program and implementation schedule won't be finalized for another few weeks, CPR President and General Manager Michael Lazar says that the changes are a direct result of listener input and audience research.

"We've increasingly received inquiries asking why the capital city of the world's fifth largest economy doesn't have a day-time National Public Radio (NPR) news and information station. We can better serve our current news audience, as well as attract those people who are demanding this programming by filling the daytime hours between 'Morning Edition' and 'All Things Considered' with other intelligent news, analysis and listener call-in programs, such as NPR's 'Talk of the Nation. Sacramento may well be the largest market in the country that still doesn't have a daytime NPR news/talk station."

Capital Public Radio currently provides daytime news and information programming on its other stations in Stockton and Tahoe City. According to Lazar, "We would love to have a third Sacramento station so that we could provide full-time classical, jazz and news services. But the cost of purchasing a radio station is in the millions of dollars. We're looking, but the price tag is daunting. We're still committed to our evening and weekend jazz service, and we'll be looking for opportunities to enhance that tradition." CPR's annual free jazz concert series in Old Sacramento begins Sept. 5 for five consecutive Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m.

Capital Public Radio serves more than one quarter million listeners per week with classical music, jazz and in-depth news and information programming. CPR operates five listener supported non-commercial public radio stations. KXPR 90.9 (Sacramento), KXJZ 88.9 (Sacramento), KXSR 91.7 (Groveland), and KKTO 90.5 (Tahoe City) are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. KUOP 91.3 (Stockton) is licensed to University of the Pacific.

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For further information send E-Mail to infodesk@csus.edu or contact
Public Affairs (916) 278-6156.

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