KHOL awarded grant from Corporation for Public Broadcasting

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Jackson Hole Community Radio (KHOL 89.1 FM) was recently awarded a major grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, expanding the station’s budget by more than 50% and enabling significant programming expansion. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a nonprofit created in 1967 by the U.S. Congress and funded by the federal government to promote and help support public broadcasting.

For the first time in the station’s 13-year history, KHOL met the requirements for funding from CPB in 2020. This success was due to a combination of programming changes and the diversification and growth of the station’s funding streams, including increased local support. Over the past two years, KHOL has grown its newsroom in both English and Spanish and implemented daily top-of-the-hour newscasts that cover local, state and regional headlines. Additionally, the station has added a mix of locally and nationally produced podcasts on everything from investigative reporting to backcountry search and rescues.

CPB invests in the production and distribution of innovative, diverse content that aligns with public media’s mission—to provide universal access to high-quality programming that focuses on advancing journalism, education, innovation, diversity and content for unserved and underserved communities.

Funding from the Corporation often paves the way for NPR programming; NPR is an independent nonprofit membership organization of separately licensed and operated public radio stations across the United States. KHOL is soliciting feedback on programming to determine the next stage of the station’s growth, including potential NPR affiliation. Listeners can submit feedback through an online survey available online or in a series of focus groups the station will be organizing this fall.

From its infancy in the basement of the Teton Barbershop as a primarily music format station, KHOL now has a staff of four and dozens of volunteers, and the station’s programs are listened to around the world. KHOL also remains the only nonprofit newsroom focused on Jackson and Teton County and the only community radio station in the State of Wyoming.