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KGOU Celebrates Anniversary in Public Radio

KGOU Radio
Jacob McCleland

This is the Manager’s Minute. Happy New Year, everyone!

This week marks KGOU’s 36th anniversary as a public radio station. KGOU first signed on at 106.3 FM in 1970 as a commercial station, with three professionals in management and a large staff of mostly unpaid University of Oklahoma students presenting news, sports and variety of musical programs. The OU Board of Regents decided to make KGOU a non-commercial public radio station to better serve our audience, and made the change on January 1, 1983. KGOU has come a long way since then.

KGOU now broadcasts from nine locations across the state, reaching more than a million people. We have well over 80,000 weekly listeners in the Oklahoma City metro area. KGOU has seen a gain of more than 20,000 weekly listeners in just the last two years.

Among many honors, KGOU has won the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters radio sweepstakes award for nine of the last ten years and Edward R. Murrow awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. 

That’s a strong record, but the person who’s led our news team for almost four years is leaving us this week.

Jacob McCleland has done an outstanding job as news director at KGOU. He's won numerous awards for reporting; served as local host for Morning Edition, All Things Considered and the KGOU midday news; hosted the Business Intelligence Report; edited stories prepared by our reporting team; trained students; anchored election night coverage; developed editorial strategy and story ideas; produced special reports; managed the news staff; and much more. Many of his stories have been heard on NPR and This American Life.

Now, Jacob has accepted a position as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department. Jacob will  go through training for several weeks, and then receive his first posting as a member of the U.S. diplomatic corps. It's an exciting opportunity for Jacob; his interest in international affairs, foreign language skills and experience as a journalist suggest he will do very well.

Congratulations, Jacob, on this next step in your career, and thanks.

Until next time, with the Manager’s Minute, I’m Dick Pryor.

Dick Pryor has more than 30 years of experience in public service media, having previously served as deputy director, managing editor, news manager, news anchor and host for OETA, Oklahoma’s statewide public TV network. He was named general manager of KGOU Radio in November 2016.
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