KUAF Sharing Studio In Downtown Bentonville

KUAF-FM 91.3 now has a presence in Bentonville.

When the Walmart Museum on the downtown square opened its own recording studio, the Fayetteville-based National Public Radio affiliate seized an opportunity to share the space.

The museum uses the Ferold Arend Studio, named after the first president of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., primarily to record oral histories to publish on its website, said Alan Dranow, senior director of heritage marketing at Walmart.

The space is a replica of KUAF’s other studios, and the radio station can potentially broadcast live at the location, with the remote equipment it uses to broadcast live from throughout the region.

KUAF has used the studio several times since it was built this spring, said Kyle Kellams, news director and producer/host of “Ozarks At Large.”

While the public should see the move as KUAF “reaching into Bentonville,” it does not represent much of a change in the station’s coverage, Kellams said.

“I have been with KUAF 26 years and hosting ‘Ozarks At Large’ for 25-and-a-half, and I’ve really been thinking regionally that whole time,” he said, noting the station’s 16-county coverage area, “from Mena, to Missouri, to Oklahoma, to Fort Smith.”

The museum does not charge KUAF for the studio space. Dranow said that he looks at it as another way for Walmart to support the University of Arkansas, which owns the station.

And Dranow believes the partnership benefits KUAF.

“If you want a presence in Bentonville, the square is a pretty great place to be,” he said.