Most public radio stations are faced with a mini crisis — what to do about the time slot occupied by Talk of the Nation once TOTN goes off the air at the end of the month. Both WBUR’s Here and Now and WNYC’s The Takeaway are competing for the time slot on station schedules. Both are stressing the friendliness of their shows to inserts of local content. But WVXU in Cincinnati has seized the bull by the horns, seeing this decision as an opportunity rather than a crisis. Programmer Robin Gehl and GM Rich Eiswerth have decided to expand their program Cincinnati Edition to a daily. Says GM Eiswerth, “The recent decision by NPR to cancel Talk of the Nation provided the opportunity for us to add additional local programming, which has been our goal since taking over operation of WVXU almost 8 years ago. With the talent we have on our news and production team, we felt the time was right to add more local programming to our afternoon line-up.” Cincinnati Edition will air M-F at 2 pm., followed by an hour of The Takeaway.

Bravo, Cincinnati Public Radio, for a bold move to expand local content. Here’s the full story.