Media Advisory: Arizona Public Media breaks ground on new Paul & Alice Baker Center for Public Media

Jan. 18, 2024

Media Advisory: Arizona Public Media breaks ground on new Paul & Alice Baker Center for Public Media

What: Arizona Public Media will break ground on the new Paul & Alice Baker Center for Public Media, located at the University of Arizona Tech Park at the Bridges.
When: Tuesday, Jan. 23. Groundbreaking ceremony begins at 1 p.m.
Where: The University of Arizona Tech Park and the Bridges, located at the southwestern corner of East 36th Street and South Kino Parkway.
Media Availability: AZPM CEO Jack Gibson and/or AZPM COO Gene Robinson will be available after the ceremony for interviews.
Media RSVP: RSVP to Gary Bell, gbell@azpm.org.

TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona Public Media will soon break ground on the Paul & Alice Baker Center for Public Media, a new, state-of-the-art facility. Located within the University of Arizona Tech Park at the Bridges, the building will feature upgraded production and broadcast technology, improved community engagement spaces and new opportunities for increased original local content for and about Southern Arizona.

During the ceremony, AZPM CEO Jack Gibson will speak and be joined by University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins and JP Roczniak, president and CEO of the University of Arizona Foundation, as well as representatives from DPR Construction, the SmithGroup and Swaim Associates.

Arizona Public Media is currently located in the basement and sub-basement of UArizona's Modern Languages Building, and currently operates three television programs, four radio programs and a growing array of digital services, in addition to producing a variety of original local productions. The Paul & Alice Baker Center for Public Media will allow AZPM to better serve ever-changing community needs and interests, support the education and training of UArizona students, improve visibility and community access, and provide a sense of place for AZPM in the community.

The 61,500-square-foot building is designed specifically to meet current and future technical and broadcast requirements, including the replacement of much of AZPM's aging radio and television broadcast production infrastructure as it transitions television operations to 4K High Dynamic Range production and in preparation for the conversion to a new television broadcast standard.

AZPM is hosting a $65 million capital campaign to fund the project. Over the years, thanks to the generosity of AZPM donors and their estate gifts, a significant amount of funding has been secured. The public phase of the capital campaign launched in September 2023 to secure the remaining funding for the building.

The ceremony will be a closed event, open to the media and selected invitees only.

# # #

Media contacts:
Gary Bell
AZPM
520-621-0763
gbell@azpm.org

Logan Burtch-Buus
University Communications
520-609-1383
lburtchbuus@arizona.edu

The University of Arizona, a land-grant university with two independently accredited medical schools, is one of the nation's top public universities, according to U.S. News & World Report. Established in 1885, the university is widely recognized as a student-centric university and has been designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The university ranked in the top 20 in 2022 in research expenditures among all public universities, according to the National Science Foundation, and is a leading Research 1 institution with $824 million in annual research expenditures. The university advances the frontiers of interdisciplinary scholarship and entrepreneurial partnerships as a member of the Association of American Universities, the 71 leading public and private research universities in the U.S. and Canada. It benefits the state with an estimated economic impact of $4.1 billion annually.