Fourteen radio stations at historically Black colleges and universities are getting unrestricted operating money after the Ford Foundation gave $750,000 to the HBCU Radio Preservation Project.
The project said the grant is going out through a non-competitive, formula-based process rather than through competitive applications. Stations can use it to keep operations stable, pay essential staff, maintain or grow programming, maintain and upgrade broadcast and digital infrastructure, and cover carrier fees. The project also listed filling budget holes left by the loss of Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding as one of the purposes. Part of the money will help station staff travel to the 2026 HBCU RPP Symposium in Baltimore in November.
Unrestricted grants matter for small noncommercial stations because most outside money comes tied to a specific project. Flexible dollars can go toward the everyday costs that are hardest to fund, such as transmitter repairs, utility bills and salaries.
The recipients are WNSB at Norfolk State University, KTSU at Texas Southern University, WCLK at Clark Atlanta University, WURC at Rust College, WESM at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, WPRL at Alcorn State University, WJSU at Jackson State University, WEAA at Morgan State University, WNCU at North Carolina Central University, KJLU at Lincoln University, WRVS at Elizabeth City State University, WSSB at South Carolina State University, WJAB at Alabama A&M University and WVAS at Alabama State University.
The HBCU Radio Preservation Project belongs to the Center for Radio Preservation and Archives at WYSO in Ohio. Working with the Northeast Document Conservation Center, it provides free preservation services to HBCU radio stations and institutional archives. According to the project, close to a third of the 101 HBCUs operate radio stations, and many of those stations have been broadcasting for more than 50 years. Central State University's WCSU in Wilberforce, Ohio, licensed in 1962, was the first FCC-licensed radio station at an HBCU.