The ½ûÂþÌìÌà dream of having its own building is becoming a reality.
A work crew this week removed an old parking lot to prepare for construction of the new WVXU-FM and WGUC-FM offices and studios on Dana Avenue in Evanston west of I-71, by the Keystone Parke Hilton Garden Inn, the Greater Cincinnati American Red Cross and Evanston Park.
It's the culmination of a six-year search for ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, which rents space in the two-story Crosley Telecommunications Center owned by public television station WCET-TV on Central Parkway across from Music Hall.
The public radio stations purchased 0.79 of an acre at 2117 Dana Avenue for $600,000 from Neyer Properties Inc. a year ago, after plans announced in 2018 to build new studios at Ninth and Plum Streets, immediately north of City Hall, fell through.
"It's long overdue," says Richard Eiswerth, ½ûÂþÌìÌà president, CEO and general manager. "They're hoping to have it under roof before winter sets in."
A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 22. The goal is to complete the building in about 18 months, by the end of next year, Eiswerth says.
½ûÂþÌìÌà will build a two-story, 30,000-square-foot headquarters — nearly double its current space — with studios, offices and a performance space. The new professional recording studio will be about four times the size of the current Corbett Studio, the stations' production studio, Eiswerth says. The 11 studios include facilities for interviews, news, production and a podcast studio open to the general public.
Plans also call for a large first-floor gathering space to serve as a public performance venue for student, professional or amateur musicians, public lectures, political debates and public meetings.
WGUC-FM began broadcasting on Sept. 21, 1960, from the University of Cincinnati campus. The station moved in 1980 to the Crosley Center named for Powel Crosley Jr., the industrialist and broadcasting pioneer who started WLW-AM in 1922 and the city's first TV station, WLWT-TV, in 1948.
WVXU-FM, founded in 1970 at Xavier University, moved from the Xavier campus into the Crosley Center in 2005 after ½ûÂþÌìÌà purchased the station from Xavier. The new Dana Avenue studios are less than two miles from Xavier University.
John Kiesewetter's reporting is independent. ½ûÂþÌìÌà only edits his articles for style and grammar.
