Who's Who in Public Radio
NPR (National Public Radio) is a producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming. A privately supported, not-for-profit membership organization, NPR partners with more than 300 independently operated, noncommercial public radio stations. Each NPR Member Station serves local listeners with a distinctive combination of national and local programming.
KGOU Radio is a non-commercial radio station licensed to the University of Oklahoma and operated as a department of the University of Oklahoma Outreach. With its five full-power transmitters and four translators, KGOU serves residents of 36 counties in Oklahoma. Between 60,000 and 90,000 listeners tune in each week in the Oklahoma City metro area to hear the range of programming from NPR and other program producers, as well as an array of locally produced programs. Information about KGOU, including the station’s finances and services, can be found on the Key Information page.
The Federal Communications Commission licenses all broadcast stations. The non-commercial radio and television stations are required to operate differently from their commercial counterparts. Non-commercial stations are not allowed to sell commercials, but rather can accept donations. When those donations are restricted in some manner, stations are required to identify those donors on the air so that the audience can understand where the money comes from, and can decide if the money has any influence on the content of the program the funding supported. There are other differences in the rules and operations between non-commercial stations and commercial stations, but both types are licensed by the FCC to service the public interest. Links to the public information files (PIF) for KGOU, KROU, KOUA, KWOU and KQOU can be found on the Key Information page.