FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas radio station KUAF will add three hours of news and talk programs to its daily schedule starting Monday.
The station, an affiliate of National Public Radio, will premier a daily edition of the local 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,” from 1 to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Classical music will continue to be played on KUAF in the mornings and evenings.
“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.”
KUAF is the third most-popular radio station among adults in Northwest Arkansas during the morning news program from 5 to 9 a.m.
“During classical programming from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., our share of the audience drops to around No. 12. But by 5 p.m., we’re back to No. 2 during ‘All Things Considered.’ People are hungry for high-quality news programming,” said Stockdell.
“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. Friday. The weekend edition of “Ozarks at Large” will continue to air at 9 a.m. Sunday.
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 for Arkansas Oral and Visual History. It will also give students more opportunities to have their work aired on KUAF.