{"id":406343,"date":"2026-08-14T10:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/406343\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T10:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:10:08","slug":"el-paso-community-foundation-gets-option-to-buy-ktep-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/406343\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso Community Foundation Gets Option To Buy KTEP. | Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) could eventually give up ownership of public radio station KTEP (88.5) under a newly approved agreement that gives the El Paso Community Foundation the option to acquire the station and its federal broadcast license.<\/p>\n<p>The UT System Board of Regents approved the arrangement Thursday, Aug. 13. Under the deal, the foundation will initially assume much of KTEP\u2019s day-to-day operations, including programming and fundraising, while UTEP retains ownership of the station it has operated for more than 70 years.<\/p>\n<p>The foundation will have the exclusive option to purchase KTEP\u2019s assets, including its broadcast license, for $1 million through 2029. The option becomes nonexclusive for two additional years. Any sale would require another vote by the regents and approval from the Federal Communications Commission.<\/p>\n<p>Eric Pearson, CEO of the El Paso Community Foundation, told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kut.org\/texas\/2026-08-13\/new-deal-creates-path-for-el-paso-public-radio-station-to-leave-university-ownership\" target=\"_Blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Texas Newsroom<\/a> that the nonprofit is not currently focused on buying KTEP. However, he said a purchase would be a \u201cperfectly viable\u201d option if the new partnership proves successful.<\/p>\n<p>Under the agreement, UTEP will continue providing KTEP\u2019s studio and broadcasting equipment, while covering rent for the station\u2019s antenna site and certain equipment expenses. The university also retains \u201cultimate authority\u201d over programming and finances, including the right to reject or preempt programming.<\/p>\n<p>KTEP has operated at UTEP since receiving its broadcast license in 1950 and became an NPR member station in 1971.<\/p>\n<p>Pearson said the foundation and university first discussed a possible partnership during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the timing was not right. More recent cuts to federal public media funding helped revive the talks.<\/p>\n<p>The foundation has previously provided financial support to UTEP. Tax filings show it awarded about $3.1 million to the university through eight grants from 2020 to 2023, although it is unclear how much went directly to KTEP.<\/p>\n<p>Pearson described KTEP as an \u201cunderperforming station\u201d and said the foundation hopes to give it \u201csome new life\u201d by providing additional staff support while expanding opportunities for students and the broader El Paso community.<\/p>\n<p>For KTEP, the agreement creates a potential path toward nonprofit ownership while leaving UTEP in control for now. Whether the foundation ultimately exercises its purchase option will depend on the success of the operating partnership and whether a future sale makes economic sense for the parties involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) could eventually give up ownership of public radio station KTEP&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,11671,223],"class_list":["post-406343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-free","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}