Neil Best

Neil Best, president and CEO of KUNC, will discuss the public radio station’s recent changes and the future of community broadcasting at a Fireside Chat at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, at the Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm Place.

The program, sponsored by the Colorado Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, is free and open to the public.

The Greeley-based station has won numerous national, regional and state awards, including Colorado Broadcasters Association, Colorado Associated Press and SPJ’s Region 9 honors. It won two consecutive national Sigma Delta Chi awards in its radio category, in 2014 for feature reporting and in 2013 for breaking news. In April, KUNC won two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in journalism.

In Februry, KUNC, 91.5FM, announced it had purchased the broadcast license of KJAC, 105.5FM, to divide its news and music programming. KUNC, which had featured a mixture of NPR and local news and music, now provides news and information programs throughout the day. With a series of translaters, KUNC programming is broadcast throughout Colorado.

The format for KJAC, based in Fort Collins and which previously featured ESPN sports programming, was changed to a Music Discovery station.

KUNC also hired veteran broadcast and print journalist Michael de Yoanna as director of news content to bolster its local news coverage.

Metered street parking is available on Glenarm Place in front of the press club and in the public lot southwest of the club. The meters accept credit cards.