Inside HPPR

High Plains Public Radio and the Cerulean Gallery announce the artists for the upcoming exhibition to benefit HPPR on Oct. 17-20 at the Cerulean Gallery in Amarillo. 

"POSTCARDS FROM THE HIGH PLAINS," a juried exhibition by the Cerulean Gallery and High Plains Public Radio (HPPR), was open to artists from Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska.

Job Title: Business Manager

Reports to: Executive Director

POSITION DESCRIPTION, RESPONSIBILITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS

The Business Manager of High Plains Public Radio is responsible for providing an accurate financial picture and analysis for better decision making. This includes daily entry, monthly reconciliation and budget compilation and monitoring.   

Visitors to HPPR’s Community Calendar may have noticed something new this week. The Amarillo Convention & Visitor Council is sponsoring the calendar, which lists events across the High Plains. To post your event click here.

Whatever your plans for this holiday weekend, we hope you will keep HPPR, either on the air or online, nearby. Allow us to share a couple of musings on Labor Day:

> Time Tells Its Own Story: A Labor Day Fable (From a 2012 column by Adam Frank):

The number of visitors to High Plains Public Radio’s website — www.hppr.org — is more than 60 percent higher than this time last year, according to a search of online data conducted this week. Not surprising. HPPR.org is a place where people of the High Plains (and others) can access the latest news, our thought-provoking features, and stream our two services — the music and news of High Plains Public Radio or the news and information on HPPR Connect.

High Plains Public Radio captured three awards in the 2019 Kansas Association of Broadcasters contest. Our winners were:

• Editorial/Commentary

1st Place: Little Spouse On The Prairie: Deep Fried Fun by Valerie  Brown-Kuchera

  HPPR's Radio Readers Book Club's 2019 Fall Read began this week. The new theme is "Navigating Uncharted Waters — Past, Present, & Future." We’ll be exploring the ways in which our childhood and life experiences inform our worldviews. Are we products of nature or nurture? Many intriguing questions will be explored.

This week saw a somber one-year anniversary in the High Plains.

On the evening of Aug. 1, 2018, Garden City Community College football player Braeden Bradforth died of heatstroke, according to an autopsy.

Sam Zeff, a reporter for public radio station KCUR in Kansas City, has followed Bradforth’s story since earlier this year.

The on-air portion of HPPR’s "Summer of Renewal" membership campaign concluded Thursday evening.

It’s summer time – your renewal time.  

Summer is renewal time – taking vacations, catching up on reading, tending a garden, enjoying hobbies, getting to long-awaited projects.

Make renewing your HPPR membership a part of your personal summer renewal so public radio can be there with you when things start getting really busy again.

Update: HPPR Connect, 94.9-Amarillo is back on the air. Thank you loyal listeners once again for your patience! 

UPDATE: Tuesday, July 9 - HPPR Connect 94.9 in Amarillo is back on the air! Thanks again for your patience!

And don't forget, you can always stream HPPR Connect or HPPR at hppr.org.  

The Kansas News Service, a collaboration of HPPR, KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics, has a question for you: What’s your question?

So meta, right?

More precisely, the Kansas News Service wants to know, “What questions do you have about modern life in Kansas?” Your questions could very well turn into news stories.

How’d you spend Thursday?

Was there a cake? Party balloons? A little dancing?  

No? Well there could have been.

On June 27, 1945 — 74 years ago — the Federal Communications Commission set aside space on the FM dial for noncommercial educational use. Thus, one-fifth of FM channels — the ones on the left of the dial (88-92MHz) — are dedicated to noncommercial use.

Thanks to everyone who visited High Plains Public Radio’s Garden City offices Thursday. The occasion was  the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce’s June After-Hours event.

Our guests were treated to the musical stylings of  Ruth Ellen Lynch and Stephen Johnson, two of HPPR’s talented staffers.

Here are a few photos and videos from last night:

KTOT 89.5, serving Spearman, Perryton, Pampa and Canadian, Texas, is currently off the air while air conditioning units are being repaired.

Service is expected to be restored by the end of the day Wednesday. 

Thanks for your patience. 

We hope you’ll join us Thursday, June 20, for an open house at the High Plains Public Radio offices in Garden City. (210 North 7th St., Garden City, KS)

We are the site for the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce’s June After-Hours event.

Please come by between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Don’t miss a musical performance by HPPR’s Ruth Ellen Lynch and Stephen Johnson from 5:30-6.

My 12 months with High Plains Public Radio are a vivid illustration of the close relationship between this community-focused radio station and the community it serves.

This weekend the “TEXAS Outdoor Musical” makes its 2019 debut.

The first performance of the season is Saturday, June 1, at 8:30 p.m. The location is the Pioneer Amphitheater in Palo Duro Canyon. More information about this classic production in its 54th season can be found here.

Exciting news, right? Well, there’s more.

About one-third of Americans listen to at least one podcast a month, according to a 2019 survey. That figure represents a significant increase in the number of podcast-users over the previous year, reports The Infinite Dial, a survey conducted earlier in 2019.

“It’s about time for a fishing show.”

With that, Luke Clayton kicked off his weekly High Plains Outdoors segment last weekend.

What followed was a description of a recent trip to Texas’ Lake Tawakoni “to catch a bunch of ‘eater’ size blue catfish.”

Here are some fun facts to know and share from this week’s news on High Plains Public Radio and HPPR Connect:

“Walk into your local medical clinic and you’re increasingly likely to be seen by a nurse practitioner instead of a physician. In the span of about a decade, the number graduating from nursing schools has more than tripled.”

Your decoder ring should spell out:

The 2019 Spring Read on-air book discussion is Sunday, May 5 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m.

Don’t miss it!

(Pro tip: You can catch up on all the books and reviews here.)

Also, Don't Miss So. Much. Music.

HPPR's Living Room Concerts In Amarillo and Garden City: Nikki Talley and Jason Sharp perform Friday, May 3, at the Gallery on 7th (Monroe & 7th) in downtown Amarillo.

High Plains Public Radio was recognized for its coverage of the arts by the Amarillo Convention and Visitor Council Golden Nail Awards Arts Committee at the Derrick Event Center in downtown Amarillo Thursday night.

A can-do spirit is built into the DNA of the High Plains.

It was this pioneering mindset that inspired a set of dreamers four decades ago to create something the naysayers predicted was impossible - community-supported public radio on the High Plains.

5/4/19 UPDATE

KANZ now at 30% of normal power. New components have been installed allowing  the main transmitter to be connected to the backup antenna and line. Repairs will continue with the goal of reaching 100% of licensed power.

!!!UPDATE 4/18/19!!!

Tower climbers are scheduled to assess the damage to the KANZ transmission tower on Friday, April 19, 2019. During the time when climbers are near the antenna, the transmitter power will have to be reduced or shut off. Work is expected to begin around 11 am central time on Friday. The transmitter may be off for as long as two hours. This outage will affect a large area of southwest Kansas including Garden City, Liberal, Tribune, Ashland and the surrounding areas. Listeners in Dodge City can tune to KONQ, 91.9 fm. We will post an update as soon as new information becomes available

Spring is planting time on the High Plains. It’s a season of hope.

Seeds are placed in the ground with the expectation that over time a hearty crop will emerge, decorating the landscape and nourishing those in need.

Place defines us.

One of the first questions we usually ask after meeting someone for the first time is, “Where are you from?”