The Better Public Broadcasting Association was organized in 1995 in Clinton, Oklahoma by a group of local radio broadcasters concerned about how local radio responded to emergency situations. This was precipitated by the Oklahoma City Bombing and the response of the Oklahoma News Network and its service to its affiliates in covering the disaster.
BPBA founders Dennis Burton and Jim Turvaville felt that the reaction to a tragedy such as the Oklahoma City Bombing was such that regional or local emergency response by broadcast facilities would not help the listening public. They began an association intended to bring some sense of local ownership to the airwaves and disseminate useful and meaningful information to the public, not only in the event of a real emergency but on a day by day and hour by hour basis to their service area.
The Better Public Broadcasting Association, Inc. was incorporated in the state of Oklahoma in 2006 and participated in the Non-commercial educational broadcasting filing window of 2007 as designated by the Federal Communications Commission to start serving small communities with true local radio programming and public service. Following that initial filing window in 2007, BPBA was awarded construction permits for 6 non-commercial educational broadcast facilities; another was purchased in 2009.
BPBA currently owns the following stations:
These stations are either already broadcasting or propose to broadcast a Top 40 format of Oldies from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s with the Station Position Phrase Playing the Classics
BPBA also owns the following stations:
These stations are either broadcasting or propose to broadcast a Gospel Music format.
As funds permit the stations are being built and licensed; some are still in the Construction Permit stage while others are operational. All are in existence to provide a unique local programming outlet to their communities, some of which are the only local radio facility licensed to those communities.