Astute listeners to the weekday KNPR news show “State of Nevada” have noticed a recent change in format. The show is not airing every weekday.
Bowing to a decline in federal funding, “SON” is now an hourlong, news magazine-style show airing 9 a.m. Wednesdays on 88.9-FM, streaming on the the KNPR app, KNPR.org and on Apple podcasts and Spotify.
The new format premiered last week. Producer/reporter Paul Boger hosted a show focusing on mail-in voting, the cyberattack on state services, and a “Wizard of Oz at Sphere” segment from veteran Vegas journalist and KNPR producer Mike Prevatt.
Absent call-in segments, the show distilled what was once a week of programs on Nevada Public Radio’s flagship program. “State of Nevada” has run weekdays on KNPR since 2003. Moving forward, Boger is to be the show’s dedicated host, with contributions from such proven pros as Prevatt and Desert Companion Managing Editor Heidi Kyser.
Not surprisingly, revenue cutbacks are at the center of the decision to shift the “SON” schedule. Nevada Public Radio President and CEO Favian Perez says the the closing of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, after being defunded by Congress, has forced the station to adjust.
Four Nevada public-radio stations received about $4 million in funding in fiscal 2024. That level of support has been pulled this year in Congress’s Rescissions Act, which revoked $9.4 billion in previously approved funding for a host of federal programs.
“We’re obviously facing the obvious reality of defunded CPB and lower overall revenues through federal support,” Perez said in an interview last week. “That’s something that we started looking at as a possibility some time ago, in terms of what would be the impact on our productions, our programming, and our personnel.”
Perez says the KNPR staff two years ago was in the “low 40s,” to “high 20s, approaching 30” today. Fewer employees produced “SON” and also Desert Companion magazine, which Perez says are KNPR’s “signature productions.”
“When you have a smaller team, it makes it difficult to keep everything status quo,” Perez says.
Joe Schoenmann, the “SON” host for nearly a decade, left the station in June. He stating that his departure was not due to funding concerns, but for his longtime plans to write a book about reporting in Las Vegas.
Perez says he is confident the quality of journalism and storytelling on “SON” will not be affected in the new weekly format.
“We’re focusing on this pretty substantial change in frequency, moving away from some of those call-in segments to more of a news-magazine front,” the exec says. “The team is robust. The team has talented individuals that have tremendous tenure with organization. and experience and leading the conversations. They are helping to form what we believe is going to be a super show for our audiences.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.