After losing its home of 40 years on Troost Ave., KCUR finds new broadcast spot

KCUR, Kansas City’s public radio station and National Public Radio affiliate, seems to have found a new home.

The station and its news team is moving to the west side of the Country Club Plaza. Exactly where is unclear.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City, in a statement released Monday, did not provide an exact address or date for the relocation, except to say that UMKC is “working on an agreement” and is “negotiating final lease details.”

The announcement comes five weeks after the station, in a move that stunned its 65 or so employees, was sent scrambling.

KCUR has been housed at 4825 Troost Ave., a building owned by the university, for 40 years, since 1985. On Monday, Dec. 22, the university announced publicly that the building was in such state of perilous disrepair that the radio station had just over one month, until the end of January, to find a new home.

The building was also the home of the Kansas City Repertory Theatre and the KC Stem Alliance.

A quick move to a new building not only has posed a large logistical problem for KCUR, but also, possibly, a fund-raising one as well. The station, which operates on about $9 million per year, has historically paid no rent to UMKC.

The UMKC announcement does not mention what rent, if any, KCUR will pay in its new location, and whether that money will have to be raised. The university has also absorbed administrative costs that KCUR may soon need to bear. KCUR, its websites notes, receives some 86% of its revenue from individual donations, membership gifts, grants, sponsorships and events.

The move comes at a time when public radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has found itself under existential attack by President Donald Trump who, on May 1, 2025, signed an executive order to cease federal funding for National Public Radio and PBS, the Public Broadcasting System.

On Jan. 5, the board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting voted to dissolve the organization after Congress voted to rescind approximately $1.1 billion in federal funding, meant for 2026 and 2027.

The cuts were predicted to cost KCUR approximately $500,000 per year in federal funding.

Sarah Morris, KCUR’s general manager, was not available for comment on Monday.

In a prepared statement, she said, “We look forward to working from a new space while continuing our mission of providing the very best in local news for Kansas City. I’m enormously proud of our team for remaining committed to serving our community with flexibility and grace.”

University officials in December pointed to numerous challenges in maintaining the old building, including an aging HVAC system and “accelerated” deterioration observed by facilities staff. The school said the building’s foundation was settling in a way that could affect boiler and sewer lines, which could render the building uninhabitable with minimum notice.

Troy Bruun, UMKC Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, also commented in a prepared statement.

“We thank KCUR employees – and everyone who turns to KCUR for its valuable local programming – for their patience as we worked through this unexpected situation,” Bruun said. “Although the circumstances were challenging in the short term, the outcome for KCUR will be a new office that will be an upgrade for its staff and a convenient location central to everything in the Kansas City metro.”

The Star’s Nathan Pilling contributed reporting