CMN | Coverage Area

The Civic Media Network's coverage area spans 89 counties across Western Kansas, the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles, far Eastern Colorado and far Southwest Nebraska. This region can be characterized as:

Largely very rural. While the total population of the region is nearly 850,000, when spread over 92,000 square miles the population density is only 9.3 persons per sq/mi. When the two largest counties are excluded (Potter and Randall counties in Texas), it is just 6.6 per sq/mi. Under the most widely used definition of a “frontier county” with a population of 205,000, along with the wider Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area at 276,000.

Widely varied in race and ethnicity. While there are 18 counties with “White Not Hispanic” populations greater than 90 percent, there are also 15 counties “majority minority” counties with less than 50 percent “White Not Hispanic.” (These variances are driven largely by local agribusiness related employment opportunities.)

Politically very conservative. The county-level voting average in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections was 78 percent, 78 percent and 80 percent Republican, respectively. There are also no “blue bubble” counties, as the highest Democratic vote in any county during this period was 37 percent in 2020.

Ties that bind. While this High Plains region is expansive and divided across five states, it is tied closely together by a common geography, environment, climate, economy, history and mix of cultures. Moreover, the major issues affecting both present and future life are shared across the region, including water resource depletion, climate change and its impacts, agricultural sustainability, inclusion of racially/culturally diverse residents, healthcare access, small town survival, local leadership development and others. These interests shape a regional identity that goes beyond state lines and looks north-south rather than east-west for its commonality, one that comes from being the distinctive “outback” of five states.

HPPR’s existing service to the region
The CMN’s service area largely matches the coverage area of High Plains Public Radio’s existing 18-station FM broadcast network. However, it extends somewhat further out to include additional counties on the far fringes of HPPR’s broadcast signal reception that have a high degree of similarity and close ties through retail and service trade patterns and travel.