USA - Since 1960, Cincinnati Public Radio (CPR) has provided listeners in southwest Ohio, southeast Indiana, and northern Kentucky with a steady diet of journalism and engaging cultural programming. In 2018, the organisation committed to an ambitious reimagining of their headquarters in the form of a new, two-story facility that would provide them with more modern technical capabilities and ample event programming spaces to serve as a cultural hub for their community of listeners.
To ensure that the new headquarters would have top-of-the-line AV production facilities seamlessly blended into this new vision, the organisation made architectural acoustic designers WSDG a key player in the design, construction, and AV systems integration team they assembled for the project.
The team – consisting of architects Emersion Design, construction managers Skanska USA, AV integrators ProCraft Audio, structural engineers Schafer, and MEP engineers CMTA – was tasked with creating a fresh vision for CPR that would not only provide their production staff with new, top-of-the-line facilities, but also to set a high standard of community engagement and environmental responsibility.
“Our new HQ needed to have an overarching emphasis on quality, responsibility, and transparency for our listeners,” explains CPR president, GM & CEO Richard Eiswerth. “It was about having a message of being forward-thinking in all aspects – the technology, the visibility to our listeners, and sustainability in terms of facility construction.
“It is a public space and we wanted that reflected in its design and interior feel. This is also the first modern mass timber building in Greater Cincinnati – and perhaps the first mass timber broadcast facility in the nation. We’re extremely proud of that and wanted that aspect to be front and centre as well.”
To start, WSDG utilised various expert techniques in acoustic isolation and treatment design to promote the proper sonic environments in all areas of the building – from a calm working atmosphere in the offices, to a lively but controlled atmosphere in the performance and shared community performance spaces.
“Emersion Designs’ extensive use of glass inside and out really epitomised an open design approach, and we sought to match that with a complementary acoustic atmosphere in each space,” says WSDG Partner, COO Joshua Morris. “Each ‘zone’ has its own unique sonic feel that is appropriate to how it is used and interacts perfectly with any needed AV integration – from the distributed AV of the office spaces to critical listening in the audio production spaces.”
“We really sought a more welcoming production space after our experience in our previous facility that was fairly contained and not very friendly to the public,” says CPR vice-president of engineering Don Danko. “WSDG built off of Emersion Designs’ concepts for doing so within the production spaces, and was able to create something with ProCraft that suited our needs perfectly.
“The idea is really to elevate the experience in these production areas,” adds Morris. “We sought to create a comfortable place for creativity that would allow the entire creative community around CPR – DJs, audio engineers, musicians, interviewees – to shine and sound their best.”
The heart of CPR is its two on-air studios, dual interview studios with corresponding control rooms, and its large performance studio. The large performance studio can be utilised for everything from large ensemble performances to rock bands, to film scoring, to film screenings. The studio also features a full production lighting setup for video.
Following in the footsteps of other ambitious public radio studios, CPR intends to utilise these capabilities to create a strong footprint of video streaming for all manner of music, theatre, and video content, supported from the adjacent Video Control Room. All rooms utilise ‘room in room’ construction for acoustic isolation in order to prevent sonic contamination between areas.
In addition to the audio production spaces, there are also separate video and immersive-capable audio control rooms that can be routed around the facility as well as be utilised to turn CPR’s public gathering spaces into additional recording areas.
“The entire atmosphere and integration between the functional areas and office spaces is completely seamless,” adds Eiswerth. “It’s been a very positive change for us all psychologically to be in such a welcoming space. It completely exceeded our expectations and the early response from everyone performing and recording in the production areas is the same – I can’t wait to come back here to record.”
Cincinnati Public Radio finally greeted its public with a Welcome Weekend 26-27 April, 2025. During this time, the new headquarters played host to more than 2,500 visitors with a variety of community-focused events, including keynote speakers from NPR and live musical acts.
The event has quickly set the stage for CPR’s future, as dozens of local partners have already begun utilising the new space to do more of the same. “The word is out now,” Eiswerth says. “Every aspect of the building is being used as intended and CPR is serving as the dynamic resource to the community that we always knew it could be. Our calendars are full of events with so many great partners – the Cincinnati Opera, Shakespeare Centre, Children’s Theatre, you name it. It’s everything we could have hoped for.”