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About

KMUW, NPR for Wichita, is committed to providing quality journalism to the communities of south-central Kansas. Broadcasting from the historic Old Town neighborhood, KMUW produces 12 local newscasts each weekday and regular in-depth news features. KMUW is a service of Wichita State University and has served the community for 75 years.

Mission Statement

KMUW creates a more informed and curious public through deeper understanding of ideas, arts, culture, and community. KMUW - NPR for Wichita is an outreach service of Wichita State University.

Vision

KMUW is expanding the reach and quality of its local news and information programming to become the standard for local reporting of substantive issues, coverage of the arts, and current events of interest to the community in and around Wichita.

Funding Sources

By becoming a member of KMUW, you help to support the rich and diverse programming you enjoy as a KMUW listener.

  • 60% Member Donations
  • 15% Business Sponsors
  • 15% University Support
  • 7% Corporation for Public Broadcasting Community Service Grant
  • 2% Foundation Grants
  • 1% State Grant

Publications

KMUW is licensed to Wichita State University, whose fundraising arm is the WSU Foundation. Annual IRS Form 990s for the past five fiscal years can be found at the WSU Foundation’s website.

Annual Financial Reports to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting: 

Station Service to the Community Reports: 

Financial Statements and Independent Auditor’s Report: 

Technology

KMUW Coverage Map

This map shows the coverage area that KMUW can reach where approximately 710,000 people live. Yellow indicates the best signal from our transmitter tower in Colwich. The signal is not as strong beyond in the red area due to distance, terrain, and digital interference.

KMUW has received a grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce to upgrade equipment and replace outdated hardware and software.

Credit Mark Statzer / KMUW
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KMUW
KMUW is proud to have a solar array on top of its building in Old Town installed by King Solar

Core Values

Qualities of the Mind/Intellect

  • Love of lifelong learning: A desire to learn something new every day
  • Substance: Expand understanding of and connection with the world
  • Curiosity: The need to dig deeper, to ask why, not just what
  • Credibility
  • Accuracy
  • Honesty:  Listeners trust that we are non-manipulative, non-sensational
  • Respect for the intelligence of the listener
  • Purpose: A clear understanding of why we do what we do

Qualities of the Heart and Spirit

  • Humor: Always has a purpose and is never mean-spirited
  • Idealism: We believe in our power to find solutions
  • Inspired by public life and culture
  • Civility: Belief in civil discourse
  • Generosity: Content has center stage and the guest is the star

Qualities of Craft/Excellence in our use of the Medium

  • Uniquely human voice: Conversational, authentic, intimate
  • Pacing: Deliberate, thoughtful, appropriate to the substance of the content
  • Attention to detail: Music, sound elements, language

Code of Integrity

Public broadcasters have adopted shared principles to strengthen the trust and integrity that communities expect of valued public service institutions.
Public media organizations contribute to a strong civil society and active community life, provide access to knowledge and culture, extend education, and offer varied viewpoints and sensibilities.

The freedom of public media professionals to make editorial decisions without undue influence is essential. It is rooted in America's commitment to free speech and a free press. It is reflected in the unique and critical media roles that federal, state, and local leaders have encouraged and respected across the years. It is affirmed by the courts.

Trust is equally fundamental. Public media organizations create and reinforce trust through rigorous, voluntary standards for the integrity of programming and services, fundraising, community interactions, and organizational governance.

These standards of integrity apply to all the content public media organizations produce and present, regardless of subject matter, including news, science, history, information, music, arts, and culture. These standards apply across all public media channels and platforms - broadcasting, online, social media, print, media devices, and in-person events.

Public media, individually and collectively:

  • Contribute to communities' civic, educational, and cultural life by presenting a range of ideas and cultures and offering a robust forum for discussion and debate.
  • Commit to accuracy and integrity in the pursuit of facts about events, issues, and important matters that affect communities and people's lives. Pursue fairness and responsiveness in content and services, with particular attention to reflecting diversity of demography, culture, and beliefs.
  • Aim for transparency in news gathering, reporting, and other content creation and share the reasons for important editorial and programming choices.
  • Protect the editorial process from the fact and appearance of undue influence, exercising care in seeking and accepting funds and setting careful boundaries between contributors and content creators.
  • Encourage understanding of fundraising operations and practices, acknowledge program sponsors, and disclose content-related terms of sponsor support.
  • Maintain respectful and accountable relationships with individual and organizational contributors.
  • Seek editorial partnerships and collaborations to enhance capacity, perspective, timeliness, and relevance and apply public media standards to these arrangements.
  • Expect employees to uphold public media's integrity in their personal as well as their professional lives, understanding that employee actions, even when "off the clock," affect trust, integrity, credibility, and impartiality.
  • Promote the common good, the public interest, and these commitments to integrity and trustworthiness in organizational governance, leadership, and management.

The Public Media Code of Integrity was developed by the Affinity Group Coalition and the Station Resource Group, collectively representing public television and radio stations and service organizations from across the country, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

KMUW's Diversity Policy

KMUW will ensure its staff, on-air voices, news sources, outreach programs, and work environment reflect the culture it is licensed to serve. The station strives to maintain diversity in all areas including programming, engagement, and employment. To that end, we have the following goals and guiding principles:

  • To produce news, commentary and music content that includes diverse voices, opinions and perspectives.
  • To create a diverse workplace that represents Wichita and South-Central Kansas. KMUW believes that diversity extends beyond race and gender to include religion, national origin, education, sexual orientation, and culture.
  • To provide equal opportunity employment and follow the Wichita State University EEO guidelines and principles.

KMUW’s Director of Organizational Culture provides input on current and new station initiatives. This position participates in all hiring committees and provides input on community engagement topics, and participants. When hiring, KMUW posts position information in multiple recruitment publications and online job sites, reaching out to universities, minority newspapers, nonprofit organizations, and local resources that help job seekers of color connect with potential positions.

The KMUW Korva Coleman Diversity in Journalism Internship is now in its fifth year. The partnership with the Kansas Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is a full-time paid internship for a person of color that includes living arrangements and mentorship from NPR newscaster Korva Coleman, as well as award-winning KMUW staff. Meanwhile, KMUW has a year-round internship program that is a partnership with the WSU Elliott School of Communication. It continues to include opportunities in news, marketing, development, and engagement, which also strives to hire students of color.

KMUW is always seeking new initiatives to broaden reach and engagement in diverse communities. This year KMUW is focusing on partnering with diverse news organizations to expand content and bringing together young listeners to engage in fun and productive ways. KMUW produces Radio Real: la Veracidad en las Noticias, a Spanish-language newscast. New episodes are published every Friday at KMUW.org, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

KMUW’s locally produced music shows explore a wide range of genres including gospel, R&B, jazz, blues, AAA, and cultural music from around the world. The programs include Soulsations, Global Village, Night Train, Straight No Chaser, Crossroads, and Strange Currency.

All KMUW employees attend annual training to promote greater awareness of issues related to DEI. Managers complete additional training related to the role of DEI in their supervisory relationships. KMUW is committed to providing opportunities for staff to deepen their engagement in DEI work, including workshops and professional development sessions.

Donor Transparency and Conflict of Interest

The Federal Communications Act restricts public broadcasting stations from disclosing donor lists for political and other such uses in the case of university licensees. As such, KMUW does not share donor personal information with third parties.

When necessary, KMUW discloses connections to organizations or people in news stories. This is based on the relevance of a connection as determined by management.

Kansas requires annual Conflict of Interest disclosures for the Kansas Board of Regents members and all staff at WSU.

Editorial Independence

KMUW retains full authority over editorial content to protect our organization's best journalistic and business interests. This includes a firewall between editorial decisions and all sources of revenue.

Even though KMUW accepts gifts, grants, and corporate sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, all news decisions are made independently and not based on donor support.

Open Meeting Notice KBOR 

KMUW is licensed to Wichita State University. As a university licensee, the station is not required to have a Community Advisory Board. As a result, KMUW is not subject to the Communications Act rules subject to CABs. KMUW intentionally seeks programming and community engagement input from its audience.

KMUW is a service of Wichita State University, which is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. Information about Board meetings is available at kansasregents.org.

Members of the Board are listed below:

  • Blake Benson
  • John B. Dicus
  • Carl Ice
  • Alysia Johnston
  • Cynthia Lane
  • Diana Mendoza
  • Neelima Parasker
  • Jon Rolph
  • Wint Winter
  • Blake Flanders