Portales, NM –September 9, 2024–Eastern New Mexico University Board of Regents announced on Friday, September 6, 2024, the renaming of the University Broadcast Center to honor former Director of Broadcasting at KENW, Duane W. Ryan.
The dedication of the newly named Duane W. Ryan Broadcast Center will occur on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, as part of KENW's 50th anniversary celebration from 2-5 p.m. at the Broadcast Center on the campus of Eastern New Mexico University.
“I am pleased that the Board of Regents approved this naming. It is an important recognition of a man who dedicated a significant portion of his life to public broadcasting and ENMU,” said James Johnston, ENMU Chancellor. “His life’s work left ENMU and our region in a better place. Now the name Duane W. Ryan will remain synonymous with KENW.”
Duane W. Ryan, a champion of public broadcasting and a member of the Eastern New Mexico University community since 1967, passed away on April 6, 2023.
Ryan spent 55 years as the Director of Broadcasting at Eastern New Mexico University. He came to Eastern New Mexico University in 1967 as an Assistant Professor. It was his dream to bring PBS and NPR to Eastern New Mexico and West Texas to enrich the lives of citizens of this area.
Ryan helped to launch KENW public radio in 1968 and then started KENW-TV in 1974.
Throughout the decades of his leadership, Ryan created not just a broadcast center but a welcoming workplace that inspired faculty, staff, and students at Eastern New Mexico University. Countless ENMU students who passed through the broadcast center over the years have gone on to successful careers and cherish lifelong memories of Ryan’s guidance as they prepared for their professional lives.
Duane Ryan was elected to the New Mexico Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2015. His vision for KENW on the campus of Eastern New Mexico University from 1974 to the present forms an incredible legacy that reflects his life’s work. For more information on Eastern New Mexico University and KENW, visit www.enmu.edu/KENW.
