KRNW to join KXCV in broadcasting digital signal

Thanks to an $80,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public radio patrons across northwest and north central Missouri who tune into Northwest Missouri State University’s KRNW repeater station in Chillicothe will soon receive a stronger, clearer signal.

The grant is helping pay for a new digital transmitter at KRNW, an automated facility that mirrors programming from KXCV, the University’s 100,000-watt public radio station located on the Northwest campus in Maryville.

After the new transmitter goes operational in May, both KRNW and KXCV listeners equipped with digital receivers will receive near-CD quality sound. KRNW patrons with traditional analog radios will also get an improved signal and should see an end to interruptions in service caused by aging equipment.

Plans call for the transmitter to be delivered Monday, May 5, with installation to begin immediately. KRNW will go off the air until the process is complete, but KXCV/KRNW General Manager Rodney Harris said the station should resume operations sometime Tuesday, May 6.

“This upgrade will serve public radio listeners in north and north central Missouri with cutting-edge technology designed to improve sound and signal strength,” Harris said. “Ultimately our digital capability will also provide listeners with multiple options for receiving their favorite programs.”

In the future, digital technology will allow both KXCV and KRNW to air multiple programming streams so that listeners can switch back and forth between simultaneous broadcasts. For the present, however, KXCV/KRNW will continue transmitting a single programming stream via both digital and analog signals.

Though few people currently own digital receivers, they are being installed in some new-model automobiles and have dropped in price due to increasing consumer demand.

KXCV went digital in August 2006 when a similar CPB grant made it possible to install a digital transmitter and antenna north of Maryville. The latest grant will pay for more than half of the KRNW upgrade, which has a total estimated cost of $150,000, with the balance coming from the University.

KRNW is located at 88.9 on the FM dial and has a range extending roughly 60 miles in all directions from Chillicothe. KXCV (90.5 FM) and KRNW broadcast jazz, classical music, news, public affairs programs, variety shows and Bearcats sporting events across northern Missouri and southern Iowa.

For more information about KXCV/KRNW, or to listen online, go to www.kxcv.org.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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