WOSU hopes to offer expanded content, community engagement as new headquarters opens
When Tom Rieland, general manager of WOSU Public Media, thought about a change of venue and updates in 2016, the broadcast company had spent nearly 45 years in the basement of the Fawcett Center.
After speaking with Ohio State University administrators about a transition, Rieland began taking suggestions from WOSU staff.
Between the requests for new equipment and innovative programs, one constant emerged: more windows.
"Architecture defines an area," said Cindy Gaillard, director of local content for WOSU-TV (Channel 34). "We are full of windows and that was very intentional because we want the community to understand this is a place for you."
WOSU's new headquarters
At the company's new headquarters, located at 1800 N. Pearl St. (the corner of East 14th Avenue and North Pearl Street near the OSU campus), the placement of large windows is just one of many alluring features of the $32 million project.
"This place, even during COVID-19, is built for face-to-face engagement," Rieland said. "It's a challenge, but it won't be a challenge forever. So it's an exciting time."
The four-story, 53,000-square foot center — about one-third larger than its previous location — is filled with state-of-the-art TV and radio equipment, lush studio spaces and editing suites, indoor and outdoor engagement areas and other features.
On the first floor of the newly constructed building, the Ross Community Studio will also be home to small concerts, public lectures and tapings of local productions such as "All Sides With Ann Fisher," "QED with Dr. B" and "Columbus on the Record."
University Square
WOSU's new building anchors the southern edge of University Square, a four-block redevelopment of the east side of High Street between Campus Place and 16th Avenue. When completed, the development is expected to include six buildings with a mix of offices, restaurants, an outdoor plaza and a parking garage. New restaurant tenants were announced last week for the project.
Despite WOSU's modernized design, Rieland said the basis of this project was not to build a "ritzy" media space. A large portion of the budget was poured into studio equipment, recording acoustics and collaboration spaces for WOSU's various divisions and visitors.
With these new installations, Rieland said the building is wired to ensure broadcast and livestreaming is accessible anywhere in the center, which makes the flow of radio, TV and digital content more efficient.
Rieland said prioritizing these elements will better align WOSU Public Media with its overarching goal of expanding local programming, increasing its staff and internship base and creating a larger sense of community.
"I think for us as a staff, there's a wow factor here for us," Rieland said. "We want to increase our involvement in the community and expand our local programming. We think there's a lot of gaps in coverage. A lot of things are being pulled back, and I think there are ways we can collaborate with others and do our own work. So, there's a lot of excitement."
As WOSU has expanded, News Content Director Mike Thompson said a space where interns, producers and media personalities can come together is essential. And the new facility fills the bill.
"We've been here 50 years, and media has changed and our needs have changed," said Thompson, who also hosts "Columbus on the Record."
"We're no longer just a radio operation, we're a multimedia operation ... and it's even more important as an organization we're able to collaborate with everyone in the organization."
Although a full transition of WOSU staff and equipment to the new space won't happen until early November, Ann Fisher, host of "All Sides with Ann Fisher," said she's thrilled everyone will be able to operate under the same roof.
"I can't wait until we're together again," Fisher said.
"For a long time, TV was over at COSI and administration and radio were at the Fawcett Center. I'm excited to have people together in the same building and have the kind of collaboration we're supposed to have."
Having worked at the Fawcett Center on Olentangy River Road for nearly 35 years, Business Operations Director Mary Alice Akins said being a part of the construction has defied her expectations.
With the building's evolution from its groundbreaking in April 2019 to its eventual grand opening, Akins said it's fueled a sense of reinvigoration for her and others.
"To have our own building and build something from the ground up was a lot of fun," she said. "I've never been involved in building a building, so I learned a lot — things I'd never think of. It's probably why I'm still here.
"It gives the employees a boost. You want to come to a place that's spanking new and has all the bells and whistles."
In its nearly 100-year history, WOSU has never had a building custom-built for multimedia. But with new equipment and resources at hand, Gaillard said it will be a vehicle for its creators to better produce local programs for years to come.
"We're bringing a different kind of content people want," she said. "We've got this unique space and you can tell our brains are on fire to come up with these things and start doing them. We know it will transfer content and that's going to enrich everybody."
ehopkins@dispatch.com
@Earl_Hopkins1
Jim Weiker contributed to this story
History of WOSU
• 1900-1922: Regular radio broadcasts begin from OSU campus.
• 1922: On April 24, OSU President William Oxley Thompson announces the premiere of the first radio station in Columbus, named WEAO before later being changed to WOSU. It was the sixth educational station in the country.
• 1929: With an early effort to use radio in public education, the Ohio School of the Air is founded by Benjamin Darrow. Broadcast to primary and secondary school students across the Midwest, the first radio school of its kind, reached 300,000 students at its peak.
• 1936: The OSU Radio Institute starts the first national broadcast awards competition called The Ohio State Awards to honor "serious" radio broadcasting.
• 1952: I. Keith Taylor of OSU organizes the effort to convince the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to set aside TV channels for educational television. Despite opposition, the FCC sets aside 242 channels for educational use.
• 1956: On Feb 20, WOSU-TV signs on at UHF Channel 34 with studios at Lane Avenue and North Star Road.
• 1959: By creating the afternoon drive-time news and variety radio show, "On The Way Home," Don Quayle helps personalize local news coverage on WOSU Radio.
• 1970: In May 1970, OSU shut its doors for nearly two weeks after student riots ranging from the Vietnam War to racial and gender inequality broke out. Administrators forced WOSU off the air for the first and only time in station history.
• 1970-72: WOSU Radio and TV facilities merge into the new Fawcett Center for Tomorrow.
• 1973: Budget cutbacks by OSU leads to the creation of the Friends of WOSU Board, a fundraising and advisory board officially charted on Oct. 29, 1973.
• 1980: WOSU sets up operation of the statewide Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau.
• 1989-98: WOSU adds four FM stations to create a regional radio network with community partners in Mansfield, Marion, Coshocton and Portsmouth. In 2020, a station in Granville was acquired from Denison University and joined the network.
• 2001: WOSU announces the ability to listen to WOSU AM and FM station programming through its website at wosu.org.
• 2003: WOSU-TV begins digital broadcasting, including HDTV, and provided the first multi-channel broadcasts in Columbus.
• 2006: WOSU Public Media opens WOSU@COSI.
• 2010: WOSU purchases a new radio signal at 101.1 FM and all-day classical music programming begins with Classical 101. WOSU 89.7 FM becomes an all-news station and the legacy 820 AM radio station is sold.
• 2013: WOSU unveils its first digital mobile app.
• 2019: On April 11, WOSU breaks ground on its new headquarters and studios at the corner of East 14th Avenue and North Pearl Street.
• 2021: After nearly 50 years in a repurposed campus airplane hangar and Fawcett Center, WOSU Public Media moves into its new headquarters.
SOURCE: WOSU Public Media