About
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
When KMUW experiences a technical failure, it often happens unbeknownst to the listener. However, if the failure affects the signal, recovery time is typically short because of the station’s investments in redundant equipment. Transmitters, antennas, electrical power, cooling systems, satellite feeds, automation servers, STLs and studios all have backups standing by.
In 2007 KMUW built a new transmitter facility, allowing the station to double the height of its antenna, which greatly expanded the reach of radio signal. KMUW’s signal now reaches as far north as Salina and as far south as Blackwell, Oklahoma. In the studios KMUW adopted the revolutionary audio over IP method using Axia systems and consoles to route and mix audio. KMUW’s audio is in an uncompressed digital format (48kHz/16bit) through the entire plant all the way to the input of the transmitter. The goal is to have the cleanest audio signal possible — loud enough to be heard over traffic, but not so loud that it causes listener fatigue.
KMUW's transmitter facility was built using multiple green features to keep energy costs down and the site's carbon footprint to a minimum. The facility is constructed with Agriboard straw walls able to withstand an F5 tornado, geothermal cooling, redundant cooling units with filtered economizers, fly-ash concrete and a modular green roof that absorbs not only heat and UV rays but also any ice that may fall from the tower. KMUW's energy costs decreased approximately 30 percent with the build of the new facility. In 2009 KMUW won the Wichita Clean Air Award after being nominated by the Southwind chapter of the Sierra Club.
In 2017 our partners at King Solar installed solar panels on the roof of KMUW's station in Old Town, helping to reduce our energy use and carbon footprint. The initial array was 5kW (kilowatt) and averaged 28kWh (kilowatt hours) on a sunny day. In February 2020, King Solar donated and installed even more panels, doubling KMUW's solar power capacity. We now have a 10kW array that provides more than enough power to handle our Master Control, satellite receivers and audio servers that directly air our programming.
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 third year, thanks to support from the Kansas Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. This 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. KMUW’s year-round internship program continues to include opportunities in news, marketing, development and engagement, and strives to hire students of color.
KMUW has several initiatives planned to broaden both reach into and engagement with diverse communities. KMUW’s Engage ICT is a series of monthly conversations on local issues representing a variety of viewpoints. In 2022, the station added a weekly online version – the Engage ICT Mini – to expand the reach and content to broader audiences. Also in 2022 KMUW launched 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.
KMUW's Disclosure Policy
KMUW has thousands of corporate and individual supporters.
Disclosure of funding relationships is rare and only used where there could possibly be a perception that our supporters have influenced our work. If we did disclose every time, it would quickly lose significance.
Instances in which disclosure might be included are features or human-interest pieces about an underwriter. It would be rare to include disclosure in or adjacent to a newscast.
It is appropriate to move an underwriting spot by one or two breaks to lessen the perception of influence.
Opening Meeting Notice
KMUW is licensed to Wichita State University, part of the Kansas Board of Regents. Board meetings are
posted here.