What Is Nevada Public Radio and How Do You Listen?

Nevada Public Radio is Southern Nevada's NPR member organization, based in Las Vegas. It operates two radio stations — News 88.9 KNPR and Classical 89.7 KCNV — and publishes Desert Companion magazine. You can listen over the air on those frequencies or through live streams on knpr.org. If you're looking for NPR news, classical music, or local journalism in the Las Vegas area, this is the organization that provides all three.

What Nevada Public Radio actually is

Nevada Public Radio is the umbrella organization. Under it sit three distinct products:

The key distinction: KNPR and KCNV are two separate stations with different formats, not one station with alternating programming. If you want news and local affairs, you tune to 88.9. If you want classical music, you tune to 89.7.

How to listen

Over the air: News 88.9 KNPR on 88.9 FM and Classical 89.7 KCNV on 89.7 FM cover the Las Vegas and Southern Nevada area.

Online: Both stations offer live streams through knpr.org, so you can listen from a browser without a radio.

On demand: Individual segments and episodes are published with listen times — for example, local rundowns and national NPR stories appear as separate audio items you can play individually rather than catching them live.

Local programming worth knowing

State of Nevada

KNPR's local public affairs program. It's the station's main vehicle for Nevada-specific news and discussion, distinct from the national NPR feed.

Desert Companion

Nevada Public Radio's magazine, covering local stories, interviews, and features. It has its own editorial content separate from the radio broadcasts — the site lists pieces like "Three Questions: Isaac Ariail Reed" and "Road Less Traveled" under the Desert Companion label.

Mountain West News Bureau

Regional reporting shared across public radio stations in the Mountain West, including Nevada Public Radio. Stories cover western issues such as public lands, water, and wildlife — for example, reporting on federal hunting and fishing orders and on reservoir sediment.

Subscribing to Desert Companion

Desert Companion has a dedicated subscription page at knpr.org/subscribe-to-desert-companion. That's the entry point if you want the magazine rather than just the radio broadcasts. Note that the site's pricing signals point to a "subscribe" option for the magazine specifically — the radio streams themselves are presented as listenable content, while the magazine is the subscription product.

Quick way to decide what you want

• Want NPR news and local Las Vegas coverage? → News 88.9 KNPR
• Want classical music? → Classical 89.7 KCNV
• Want to read long-form local journalism? → Desert Companion (subscription)
• Want to listen from outside the broadcast area? → live streams on knpr.org
• Want a specific segment you missed? → on-demand audio items on the site, listed with their run times