‘Local Radio Station’ Saved By Chappelle
• Community-owned NPR affiliate WYSO/Yellow Springs, OH is being given a new lease on life, thanks to the generosity of famous local resident (and WYSO fan) Dave Chappelle. As reported by Current.org, WYSO had been owned by Antioch College until 2019, when the station bought out its license. While still located on the Antioch campus, the current facility has a leaky roof and is too small to accommodate WYSO’s continued growth — the station has tripled its reporting staff over the past 18 months and plans to continue expanding.
WYSO initially looked into building its own studio in Yellow Springs but decided the project would be prohibitively expensive, and local lease options were scarce. Enter Dave Chappelle (pictured), a Yellow Springs resident and WYSO supporter, who bought the historic Union School House near the center of town last year. After hearing that the station was looking to relocate, Chappelle offered to renovate the building according to WYSO’s specifications and to work with the station to negotiate a long-term lease agreement.
WYSO GM Luke Dennis said, “This move into a new building and the relationship with Dave is not just a facilities solution for us. We see it as an important part of our audience-building efforts.” The new building will include community gathering spaces with room for up to 120 people, where Dennis said the station hopes to host live studio performances and to continue the audio production training WYSO offers for community members. The performance space will also provide options for digital engagement opportunities, such as a YouTube channel.
The building project, funded by Chappelle’s company, Iron Table Holdings, and designed by architect and former Yellow Springs resident Max Crome, will include a full remodel of the existing building, a 10,000 square-foot addition and a 150-foot radio tower. WYSO will occupy the basement and first floor, while the second floor will house professional offices for Iron Table Holdings. “We hope that the publicity we’re getting out of this will lead more people to listen to WYSO and that there will be creative synergies with Dave,” Dennis said. “Really talented, interesting people are coming to Yellow Springs all the time to interact with Dave… it’s an added benefit of being in his orbit that we might get to interview people or [that] musicians who come to town to work with Dave might do a workshop for our high school youth radio students.” [Rendering by Max Crome Architecture]
