Campus radio station about to move—again
By A.J. Kohler
PITTSBURG–KRPS, the public radio station on Pittsburg State University’s campus, moved in fall 2024 from its long-time home in Shirk Hall into Grubbs Hall. This spring, it’s on the verge of moving again.
The station had been housed in Shirk Hall since its creation in 1984. That building, however, has been ordered by the Kansas Board of Regents to be torn down to save money on repair and maintenance costs and to bring university employees closer to one another. That meant the station had to find a new home.
Finding that new home, though, was very difficult.
“One word I can use to describe it to you is insanity,” said Fred Fletcher-Fierro, general manager of the station. “The station came on air in ‘88, and we started the move-in in ‘87. So we have 36 years of stuff in that building.”
Leaving much of that equipment behind, the station was off air for a few days in fall and didn’t return to normal operations for weeks as it moved to its current, temporary home on the second floor of Grubbs Hall.
The key word is temporary—the station will be moving into the Bicknell Center of the Arts this summer once renovations to make room for its studios are complete.
Having to move twice in one year is a daunting task, but Fletcher-Fierro said the station is ready for the challenge.
“We’re better prepared because we’ve gone through it once,” Fletcher-Fierro said. “We know exactly what we need to get on the air. We know how long it takes.”
KRPS has collaborated with the Bicknell Center in the past. The station used to have a radio show called “Live From the Bicknell Center” in which performances from the venue were condensed to one hour and aired on KRPS. Due to staffing issues, though, the project fell to the wayside.
“That’s something we’re hoping to bring back, at least a part of that, eventually,” said Bicknell Center director Shawna Witherspoon.
KRPS’s new facilities will be housed in the south end of the Bicknell Center, necessitating significant changes inside the building. Witherspoon said its museum and gallery spaces will be combined in one part of the building to make room for the station.
Fletcher-Fierro noted these changes were approved by Gene Bicknell, founder of one of the largest franchisees for Pizza Hut and Wendy’s Restaurants and the person after whom the building is named.
As for what the audience of KRPS should expect, Fletcher-Fierro said the station will have to go off the air again—but like in autumn, the transition will be temporary.
“We’ll let people know ahead of time,” he said. “Once it starts getting into May and June, we start fine tuning and we see what we’ll know exactly what we have over there.”
Despite the headaches that come with such moves, Fletcher-Fierro said the changes will be worth it. And he’s enjoyed the station’s brief stay in Grubbs Hall, too.
“The move has been stressful, a lot of work,” he said. “But on the other hand, it’s been great to get to know people at the university better because when you’re in the … building, you see professors and students and people we would’ve never seen prior.”
