Inside FM89

California State Senator Melissa Hurtado has named Valley Public Radio as Nonprofit of the Year for Senate District 14. Station President and General Manager Joe Moore and Finance Director Shirin Assemi visited the state capitol Wednesday to accept the honor as part of California Nonprofit Day. The station was one of 200 nonprofits honored as part of the celebration. 

From an earlier press release: 

CLOVIS, CA – Valley Public Radio is proud to announce it has been selected as a 2019 California Nonprofit of the Year by Senator Melissa Hurtado for Senate District 14.

Start off your day on a different beat. NPR’s Morning Edition has launched brand new theme music for the first time in 40 years. Don’t sleep on our fresh sound, tune in to hear the show every weekday morning from 3:00 AM till 9:00 AM on FM89 and KVPR.org.

Now hear the acclaimed sounds of one of America’s finest orchestras on Valley Public Radio, Thursday nights at 8:00 PM. The Los Angeles Philharmonic broadcasts begin Thursday June 6th  2019, with a month’s worth of highlights from the prior season, followed by the launch of the all-new 2018-2019 broadcast season from Walt Disney Hall beginning Thursday night June 27th.

The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) has awarded Valley Public Radio a 2019 Regional Edward R.

J. Martin Temple, an influential Fresno architect, musician and community leader passed away on February 6, 2019 at age 84. Temple played a critical role in the establishment of Valley Public Radio, and served as president of the White Ash Broadcasting Board of Directors when KVPR debuted on the Fresno airwaves in October of 1978.

Station co-founder Von Johnson says Temple’s leadership helped bring KVPR to life.

Scott Dean, Valley Public Radio's longtime broadcast engineer has died, at age 73. Dean spent over two decades as the station's chief engineer before retiring in late 2018. In addition to his work at Valley Public Radio, he worked as a contract engineer for a number of other local stations including the Univision radio group. 

Are you searching for the NPR and your favorite public radio programs while making the drive between the Bay Area and Southern California on I-5? Valley Public Radio's two frequencies are there for you to help make the long drive easier. Tune to our Bakersfield-based NPR station FM 89.1 in Kern County from the Grapevine north to around the Kern/Kings County Line. Between Lost Hills and Kettleman City, you can switch to our Fresno-based NPR signal FM 89.3 which will be your public radio station all the way to north of Los Banos.

Valley Public Radio's news department has received two more honors for its outstanding work at the 69th annual Golden Mike Awards. The ceremony was held in Los Angeles on Saturday January 19, 2019.

CLOVIS, CA - Valley Public Radio is recognizing the longtime leadership of Mariam Stepanian, the station’s late President and General Manager by naming FM89’s studio complex in her honor.

At a ceremony Saturday January 12, 2019, station board members alongside Stepanian’s family unveiled a monument sign outside Valley Public Radio’s Clovis Broadcast Center reading "Mariam Stepanian Studios."

Many of you know me as Valley Public Radio’s Director of Program Content, and host of Valley Edition.  It’s been a great honor to serve you over the past eight years, helping to build the station’s local news department, deploying major advances in technology, and helping to better connect with our listeners.

Fans of early music have a new addition to their weekend radio lineup. Early Music Now with Sara Schneider is a new one-hour program showcasing music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque: from sonorous medieval chant and polyphony to delightful renaissance madrigals, dances, and consort music to magnificent baroque cantatas and keyboard music. You can hear the program on FM89 Sundays at noon beginning Sunday December 9, 2018. 

In collaboration with the California Dream project, KPCC’s Larry Mantle and election experts run through the 11 propositions on November’s ballot. Join us for an hour-long election cram session. Listen to this special hour-long broadcast and get informed about the ballot measures before voters in California. You can hear this special Saturday October 27th at 3:00 PM and Tuesday October 30th at noon on Valley Public Radio. 

Guests: 

CLOVIS, CA - The Board of Directors of White Ash Broadcasting has named Joe Moore as Valley Public Radio’s new President & General Manager. Moore has been serving as interim president since the spring, following the death of longtime President & GM Mariam Stepanian. In 2010, Moore was hired as Valley Public Radio’s Director of Program Content. In that role, he helped develop the station’s award-winning local news department, and accelerated the station’s adoption of new technologies from a new content management system to the KVPR mobile app.

Valley Public Radio has announced the hire of Alice Daniel as the station’s news director. A longtime correspondent for KQED’s The California Report, Daniel will supervise the station’s growing local news department.

Fans of the NPR Politics Podcast have a new appointment for must-hear radio. The same team of hosts behind the hit podcast - including the valley’s own Tamara Keith, Scott Detrow and Asma Khalid - are bringing their talents to the broadcast world with the new Politics Show from NPR. It’s your definitive guide to the 2018 midterms -- a one-hour roundtable discussion airing for nine weeks that presents a deep dive on the major races, themes, and issues defining these historic elections. The special series begins Saturday September 15th at 4:00 PM and runs through November 10th.

For the fifth year in a row, Valley Public Radio has been ranked as a “four star” non-profit by the independent website Charity Navigator. According to the company's CEO Michael Thatcher, only 10 percent of non-profits nationwide have achieved this honor for five consecutive years. The four star ranking is the highest rating given out by the company, and is a measure of accountability, transparency and results in a nonprofit sector.

Listeners to the popular segment StarDate segment heard on Valley Public Radio's broadcast of Morning Edition can now hear the segment at a new time. The two-minute-long daily feature can now be heard at 5:19 AM and 6:19 AM Monday through Friday on Valley Public Radio. The evening broadcast, which airs at 10:00 PM Monday-Sunday is not affected by the new schedule, which is necessiatted by a national change in the timing of local breaks with Morning Edition.