Starting today, Fayetteville’s local NPR affiliate is replacing three hours of weekday classical music with more news and talk programs.
KUAF 91.3 FM announced last week that it will premier a daily edition of its news magazine “Ozarks at Large” with news director Kyle Kellams at noon, followed by NPR’s award-winning news/talk program, “Talk of the Nation,” Monday through Friday from 1 to 3 p.m.
“As the population of northwest Arkansas has grown over the past several years, so have the requests to broadcast “Talk of the Nation” on KUAF,” said Rick Stockdell, associate professor of journalism and station manager of KUAF. “The size of our news audience has increased in recent years, while our classical music audience has shrunk.”
According to a news release, KUAF is the third most popular radio station among adults in northwest Arkansas during the morning news program from 5 to 9 a.m.
But when the classical programming begins, the station’s share of the audience drops to around No. 12, said Stockdell. “By 5 p.m., we’re back to No. 2 during “All Things Considered,” he said. “People are hungry for high-quality news programming.”
“Ozarks at Large” will air from noon to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, and be rebroadcast at 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and at 6 p.m. on Friday. The weekend edition of “Ozarks at Large” will continue to air at 9 a.m. Sunday.
Stockdell said the daily edition of “Ozarks at Large” will enable KUAF to increase its coverage of local news as well as the number of interviews and performances with university faculty and visiting artists that the station airs. The additional news time will allow for an increase in the number of local features as well, such as segments of oral history from the Pryor Center. It will also give students more opportunities to have their work aired on KUAF.
Listeners can still hear classical music on KUAF from 9 a.m. until noon weekdays and from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. weeknights. In addition, the HD-2 channel broadcast by KUAF has classical music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is available on new HD radios and on the KUAF website.
KUAF weekday schedule
Midnight to 5 a.m. – Classical music
5 to 9 a.m. – Morning Edition (NPR news)
9 a.m. to noon – Classical music
Noon to 1 p.m. – Ozarks at Large (local magazine)
1 to 3 p.m. – Talk of the Nation (NPR news)
3 to 6 p.m. – All Things Considered (NPR news)
6 to 7 p.m. – Fresh Air (NPR talk)
7 to 8 p.m. – Ozarks at Large (repeat)
8 p.m. to midnight – Classical music
