Over 20 years, bouncing baby WNKU matures into popular public radio station
BY RICK PENDER

In April 1985, I had the shivers. I was on my way to work at Northern Kentucky University, where, as the first general manager of WNKU-FM, I’d been assembling a new public radio station to serve area listeners.
Early on April 29 — in fact, at 5:30 a.m. — Maryanne Zeleznik officially signed on the 89.7 mhz frequency for the first time. It was a chilly morning, so I could justify my shivers, but they had a lot more to do with the fact that I hoped, more than knew, that all our equipment would work and our satellite signal from National Public Radio (NPR) would deliver the popular news program Morning Edition. I had visions of Maryanne vamping through several hours of news without the network feed.

	photo: david sorcher News Director Maryanne Zeleznik was the first voice heard when WNKU signed on 20 years ago and remains one of the station’s best-known personalities.

Of course, everything worked fine — and today, two decades later, Maryanne still anchors the morning news (having won numerous awards for local reporting for herself and her able staff) and WNKU is a local radio fixture. In fact, CityBeat readers have voted it the area’s Best Radio Station.

Ben Singleton, WNKU’s general manager since 2003, says, “I suspect that readers of CityBeat and listeners to WNKU are the same people. They’re interested in music, and they want to be well informed. They’re really into what we do.”

Back in 1985, WNKU was an unusual proposition. Most public radio stations offered Classical music (like WGUC, which was then licensed to the University of Cincinnati) or Jazz (a significant portion of the music heard on Xavier University’s WVXU). As the third NPR station serving Greater Cincinnati, WNKU chose to air something different: Folk music, which related to the station’s license location in Kentucky, and news and public affairs programs focused on events in Northern Kentucky. The station’s broadcast signal, set by the Federal Communications Commission, was stronger to the south than the north, so it all made sense.
What wasn’t entirely understood was that lots of people north of the river would be attracted to the format. Singleton says that over the years WNKU’s membership base was dominated by Ohioans, about 80 percent to 20 percent from Kentucky.

That’s evolved in recent years, he says, as the area’s population patterns have changed. With more new residents in Northern Kentucky, the balance has shifted in a southerly direction, and Singleton says today nearly 40 percent of the station’s supporters have Kentucky addresses.

WNKU found smart ways to evolve its programming. Singleton says that in the mid-1990s then-Music Director Dan Reed tweaked the music selection in the direction of the then-new format called “Triple-A” (describing musical choices that are “album, adult, alternative”).

“The sound of the station today,” Singleton says, “has become more refined and defined.”

When he describes WNKU today to a non-listener, Singleton says he defines the musical spectrum with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen on one end and Coldplay and the Dave Matthews Band on the other. But the station has many other dimensions, including several longtime local favorites on the weekends — Bob Beemon’s Mr. Rhythm Man, Katie Laur’s Music from the Hills of Home and Kathy Costello’s A Celtic Afternoon. Each has its following, in addition to Brian O’D’s popular Saturday morning program in which the longtime Cincinnati announcer (he’s been all over the dial, from WEBN to his current gig as a Classical music host weekday mornings on WGUC) mixes up WNKU’s musical fare with classic Rock and Folk favorites from the ’60s and ’70s.

The station has also carved a firm niche for itself with its news programming. WNKU’s small news staff — Zeleznik’s veteran presence is extended by reporter Jay Hanselman, occasional contributor Pete Rightmire and reports from Kentucky Public Radio — has won regular recognition for its high-quality output. It’s not at all unusual for NPR to carry stories from WNKU’s studio on the national service.

Zeleznik also anchors a weekly program, Speaking Frankly, on Thursday mornings. The station airs a few NPR features such as Terry Gross’ interview program Fresh Air, and WNKU is the only local NPR station currently carrying both Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

That could change with the recently announced acquisition of WVXU’s operations by WGUC. It’s been reported that WGUC will make its main frequency (90.9 FM) a more exclusively Classical service, while WVXU (91.7 FM) will become a powerful all-news service.

That might motivate some re-positioning by WNKU, according to Singleton, but he also notes that if WGUC decides to sell some of WVXU’s repeater frequencies, the Kentucky station might be interested in one serving West Union, Ohio, and Maysville, Ky. (at 89.5 FM). He also mentions that WNKU already has rights to a frequency (94.5 FM) in West Chester, which could provide the station’s signal to more people in Cincinnati’s northern suburbs.

Add to that a faithful fanbase tuning in to WNKU’s signal via the Internet (wnku.org) and it’s evident that the station has a formula that’s working and a signal that reaching listeners who value the unusual blend of music and news.

“Our music,” Singleton says, “appeals to people who really appreciate music. We offer things you don’t hear on commercial radio, although a lot of what we play gets there eventually.”

As a guy who was in the studio watching the baby being born back in 1985 — and having the shivers in the process — let me say that I’m pretty proud of what WNKU has grown up to become. By the way, sometimes it still gives me the shivers. ©