A bill to ban plastic water bottles, neighbors coming together to get ahead of wildfire season and the risk of harmful algal blooms in the lake are just a few of the Tahoe-region news stories covered in recent weeks by KUNR Public Radio.
Stories from the communities of Lake Tahoe often don’t get reported, due to a small number of news outlets and reporters based in the area. But KUNR’s new satellite studio, located on the ҹɫÊÓƵ at Lake Tahoe campus, is a huge step toward changing that.
"Having a local studio means we can show up more often, respond faster and tell stories with more depth, and that’s what public media is all about,” said Maria Palma, KUNR’s Lake Tahoe reporter. “At a time when public media is under threat, being present in places like Tahoe shows our commitment to keeping people informed and connected.”
Support from the University helped to build a new studio and office space. In addition to the station, the University will fund the dedicated Lake Tahoe reporter for the first two years.
“We worked with University administration and the Office of the Provost to have a bilingual reporter up here, reporting news from around the lake,” said Reynolds School of Journalism Dean Gi Woong Yun.
“Thanks to this studio in the Prim Library building, Maria Palma will be able to help fill a news desert in North Lake Tahoe by providing public service news and information for all of our listeners,” said KUNR General Manager Brian Duggan. “This studio will also be a home base for Reynolds School of Journalism students who will have opportunities to report about Lake Tahoe, too.”
The studio space on the Lake Tahoe campus provides hands-on opportunities for ҹɫÊÓƵ student journalists through the Lake Tahoe News Project, an internship program focused on multimedia reporting in the region. Students are able to report radio and online stories on a wide range of topics, including energy and the environment, local news and education. The program also includes a component for students reporting stories in Spanish.
Jim Scripps, lecturer and director of the Reynolds School of Journalism Writing Center is the director of the Lake Tahoe News Project. Scripps served as faculty director of Sierra Nevada University’s journalism program before joining the ҹɫÊÓƵ at the acquisition of SNU.
is a nonprofit, non-commercial, listener-supported public radio station licensed to the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education and has broadcast from campus since Oct. 7, 1963. In 2018, KUNR became an administrative unit of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the ҹɫÊÓƵ.
To hear stories from the lake, visit or tune in live.
