Full-time Public Radio in Amarillo, Texas

High Plains Public Radio wanted to expand services to reach audiences in the Amarillo-Canyon, Texas metro area.

To prepare them for this expansion, High Plains Public Radio participated in Public Radio Capital’s More Channels, More Service project, which included 10-months of comprehensive business planning. PRC assisted High Plains in developing custom acquisition strategies based on an organizational assessment, detailed market research, and financial analysis. On behalf of High Plains, PRC contacted commercial station owners in the Amarillo market and found an FM station owner interested in selling.

In 2004, with the help of grassroots initiatives, including a visionary donor and a local foundation, High Plains Public Radio was able to acquire this commercial station, which is the first full-time public radio station to serve the Amarillo-Canyon metro area.

Currently, over 230,000 people in the Amarillo-Canyon metro area have reliable access to the quality programming of High Plains Public Radio, including NPR News and Information, jazz and classical programs.

High Plains Public Radio was founded in 1977 for the expressed purpose of enriching the educational, cultural, and community life of the High Plains region. It is also dedicated to developing the self-identity of the High Plains so that the region might better appreciate its common heritage and build a sustainable future. It pursues this mission through public radio broadcasting because the medium is economical and accessible to nearly everyone.