Station for sale: Potential suitors vie for KCPW

The board of Community Wireless of Park City intends to sell Salt Lake City-based National Public Radio affiliate KCPW AM and FM, and potential suitors could include Utah State University and a California-based Christian broadcasting company.

Community Wireless, which has faced financial problems and questions about whether its executive pay is too high for a nonprofit group, this week issued a news release stating that its board had voted to spin off KCPW in order to better focus its attention on serving its KPCW listeners in Summit and Wasatch Counties. Community Wireless would continue to operate KCPW's sister station, KPCW, in Park City and is planning to build new studios near Park City's Main Street.

"KCPW has grown to the point that it needs to have a Salt Lake-based board of trustees whose primary responsibility is to insure that the stations serve the needs of its Wasatch Front listeners," said board president Bill Mullen. "It's time for KCPW AM and FM to become more than just a subsidiary of Park City and take the next step in their development."

KCPW, founded 14 years ago and now housed at Library Square, has a combined audience of almost 50,000 listeners and an annual budget of nearly $1.4 million dollars, according to the statement.

The Community Wireless board has given current KCPW general manager Ed Sweeney the opportunity to form a new nonprofit corporation whose board of trustees would be charged with raising the money to purchase the licenses and other assets of KCPW AM and FM. The board gave Sweeney 45 days to make an offer to purchase the assets of KCPW.

Mullen said that while it is the Community Wireless board's preference to sell the stations to the Sweeney group, the board will also entertain offers from other interested nonprofit organizations, giving priority to those that would continue the station's current news and information format.

Other potential suitors could include Utah Public Radio, which broadcasts on KUSU on the Utah State University campus in Logan, and Christian broadcasting company Educational Media Foundation, based in Rocklin, Calif.

"We're interested in the possibility of serving a statewide audience," said KUSU general manager Cathy Ives. "Right now, the one hole we have is in Salt Lake City, and there might be some interest in discussions just because it might further our mission."

She said they are waiting to see what happens during the 45-day period that the Community Wireless board has given the Sweeney group, adding that until then, it would be premature to comment further.

Keith Whipple, vice president of communications and marketing for Educational Media Foundation, said his company was aware the station was for sale but declined comment.

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