Northeast Indiana Public Radio unveiled plans Tuesday for its new building located in downtown Fort Wayne.
The stations, WBOI and WBNI, need to raise $4.5 million dollars to renovate the 14,000 square foot location on Jefferson Boulevard.
Mayor Tom Henry says the move is part of a growing downtown, and he thinks public radio is a great fit for the space, which used to house The Glorious Church, but now sits unused.
“We are concentrating a lot of our efforts in trying to make downtown a real point of destination, a place where many people want to come and enjoy themselves to work and, in many cases, to live,” Henry said.
Station General Manager Peter Dominowski says the new downtown building will be an upgrade from the current technology and the station’s location in an industrial park.
“We see relocating downtown as much more than just moving our radio stations from one address to another,” he said. “This central location and the facilities we are designing will begin a new era of audience participation and community engagement for both of our radio stations.”
The building will include a public theatre space, a new digital newsroom, and a facility where the public can use recording technology to make podcasts or other audio productions.
They hope to move to the new location in 2019.
