Dave Chappelle on investing in his Ohio town and backing its local public radio station

[0:00] For more than 25 years, comedian Dave Chappelle has called the small village of Yellow Springs, [0:05] Ohio home. [0:07] I recently traveled there to understand why he's invested millions of dollars into this [0:11] community and why he believes the local public media station is crucial to the town's future. [0:17] It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas. [0:20] DAVE CHAPPELL, Everybody who comes into town from this way, they get to see this new building. [0:25] JANE FERGUSON, Walk Through Yellow Springs, Ohio with Dave Chappelle, and it's clear how [0:29] much this small town means to one of the world's most famous comedians. [0:33] DAVE CHAPPELL, I think this was an unlikely pairing, but a powerful one. [0:38] JANE FERGUSON, I think this was an unlikely pairing, but a powerful one. [0:38] JANE FERGUSON, Born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area, Chappelle first started coming here [0:42] as a child. [0:43] His father, the late William Chappelle, was a professor at Antioch College in Yellow Springs. [0:48] WILLIAM CHAPPELL, My parents split up when I was very young, and my dad relocated here. [0:54] So I would spend parts of every year visiting him here. [0:59] And then in, like, say, like, 98, he fell really ill, and I would drive back and forth [1:06] from New York to check on him, and then ended up buying a house here. [1:11] You know, there's only, like, 3,800 people living in this town. [1:13] It's a small town, but it is a real community. [1:17] Everyone kind of knows everybody. [1:19] And I like that. [1:20] JANE FERGUSON, Chappelle and his wife Elaine have raised their three kids here. [1:23] Is it hard or weird to be Dave Chappelle in a town of 3,800 people? [1:28] I mean, you've raised your kids here, right? [1:30] Your family's here. [1:31] This is your home. [1:32] I don't think it's any harder than anything. [1:34] It's maybe easier in some ways. [1:35] Yeah? [1:36] People will tell me if my kids are messing up or anything. [1:39] They tell you that? [1:40] Oh, yeah. [1:41] I just saw your kid over there doing this and that. [1:43] It's just a small town community. [1:46] Not too many surprises. [1:49] So it's a good contrast for what the rest of my life is, and it keeps you humble. [1:54] These people don't care about any of the stuff I do. [1:56] I've been very busy in Ohio, and a lot of people say, what are you doing out there? [2:00] What Chappelle has always done is tell jokes. [2:02] The town that I've been living in for the last 25 years, I bought most of it. [2:12] I like it there. [2:13] Including in a 2025 Netflix special about how much property he now owns in Yellow Springs, [2:20] where more than 80 percent of residents are white. [2:23] If I was white and the people in this town were black, you know what they'd say? [2:27] They would say I was gentrifying the town. [2:33] But there's no word for what I'm doing to these people. [2:36] How much of it do you own now? [2:38] I got a lot of property. [2:41] Chappelle says many of his purchases started during the pandemic, as several businesses [2:45] in town struggled to survive. [2:47] So I just bought the buildings. [2:48] I weighed people's rent for a couple of years so they get back on their feet. [2:53] And the town moved on. [2:55] And that's like, you know, behind the scenes. [2:57] I don't really talk about that publicly, but that's why I did it. [3:00] It's not like I want to be a land baron in Ohio or far from it, but it was, you know, expediency. [3:06] It was just the right thing to do at the time. [3:08] I'm so glad that you bought that space. [3:10] It's all part of a larger effort, one he says could help protect this town's future by preserving [3:16] its past. [3:17] This is station WYSO, owned and operated by Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. [3:22] In 1958, the local NPR station WYSO, or WYSO, first went on the air from Antioch College. [3:30] The station called the small liberal arts college home until 2018, after a string of financial [3:36] troubles hit the school. [3:38] Facing an uncertain future, WYSO was nearly forced to move out of Yellow Springs. [3:42] LUKE DENIS, We didn't want to leave this place. [3:45] Our name WYSO stands for Yellow Springs, Ohio. [3:48] FACILITATOR LUKE DENIS is WYSO's general manager. [3:52] He says Chappelle offered a lifeline at a critical moment. [3:55] LUKE DENIS, He listens to our station and heard that we might have to leave this community [4:00] to find a new facility, and actually reached out to us and said, I'm thinking about buying [4:05] the old Union schoolhouse. [4:06] Do you think it could be renovated to suit your needs? [4:09] And then we could enter into a lease agreement. [4:11] LUKE DENIS, Chappelle spent about $15 million to save this 1870 schoolhouse, one of the first [4:17] integrated schools in the region, and renovate it for WYSO's needs. [4:22] In those summers you spent here with your dad and the time you spent here, did you listen [4:25] to WYSO? [4:26] ALL MY LIFE. [4:27] LUKE DENIS, Really? [4:28] ALL MY LIFE. [4:29] ALL MY LIFE. [4:30] Yeah, it's a big part of the local life here. [4:33] LUKE DENIS, Last week, after more than four years of construction, offices for his production [4:37] company upstairs, a separate entrance and wing for WYSO downstairs, Chappelle and local leaders [4:43] welcome them to their new home. [4:44] CHAPPELLE DENIS, It's hard to think of what's comparable in another community like WYSO is [4:49] for us, but, you know, that's our New York Knicks or our Golden State Warriors, that's [4:56] our team. [4:57] You know what I mean? [4:58] That's, you know, we're very proud of them. [5:00] MIDDAY MUSIC ON WYSO. [5:01] THERE ARE STATE OF THE ART STUDIOS, BEAUTIFULLY REDESIGNED SPACES, AND NODS TO THE STATION'S [5:07] LONG HISTORY. [5:08] WHAT DOES WYSO MEAN TO THIS COMMUNITY? [5:11] ALL MY LIFE. [5:12] IT MEANS LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL. [5:13] AND THE WAY THAT WE'VE COME BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO HEALTH AND STABILITY HAS BEEN TO JUST INVEST [5:18] REALLY BIG IN OUR LOCAL SERVICE. [5:20] THAT INCLUDES NINE LOCAL REPORTERS, COVERING 14 COUNTIES IN SOUTHWEST OHIO, REACHING ABOUT 65,000 [5:28] LISTENERS. [5:29] PEOPLE WITH INFORMATION, I THINK, IS WHAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO BE MORE CIVICALLY ENGAGED. [5:34] OHIO BORN AND RAISED, ADRIANA MARTINEZ-SMILEY COVERS THE ENVIRONMENT AND INDIGENOUS [5:39] AFFAIRS. [5:40] TO BE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS COMMUNITY IN THAT WAY, AS A JOURNALIST, WHICH I VIEW AS [5:48] BEING A PUBLIC SERVICE, IS SOMETHING THAT I WAS VERY EXCITED TO TAKE ON. [5:55] AND THIS IS 91.3 WYSO NEWS. [5:59] JERRI KENNY'S BEEN WITH THE STATION SINCE 1991. [6:02] FROM LOCAL VOLUNTEER TO LOCAL HOST OF ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. [6:06] JERRI KENNY, WHEN I FIRST STARTED LISTENING TO THIS RADIO STATION THERE WERE SO MANY PROGRAMS [6:11] AND VOICES THAT I HAD NOT HEARD BEFORE. [6:14] PROGRAMS LIKE THIS WAY OUT, WHICH WAS THE GAY AND LESBIAN NEWS MAGAZINE, WINGS, WOMEN'S [6:21] international news gathering service it became a really special experience for me to tune in but [6:27] this unlikely pairing as chappelle puts it raises some questions was there any hesitation or second [6:35] thought about you know a major celebrity basically stepping in to back you right now what is that [6:43] relationship is it a benefactor is it a landlord i'm glad you asked there was a lot of hesitation [6:49] because our independence is our most important asset and we've spent 68 years earning it and [6:57] you could destroy it in a moment right we are utterly independent from dave chappelle i ain't [7:03] doing trans jokes no more you know what i'm gonna do tonight tonight i'm doing all handicapped jokes [7:09] well they're not as organized as the gays that independence could include reporting on chappelle [7:17] himself no stranger to generating headlines from jokes about the transgender community [7:23] to his decision to perform at a comedy festival in saudi arabia last year [7:28] you told an audience in saudi arabia last year it's easier to talk there than it is in the u.s [7:34] right now is that true you feel that it was for me that night why do you say that because the king [7:40] said i can say whatever i want and i know i got a lot of criticism you did did that surprise you [7:46] i could no i didn't but they're mad about anything you know where is this clean money that everyone's [7:53] speaking of there's actual slave owners on my local currency so i don't i don't know whose money is [7:59] clean or dirty it's like i i go there with good intentions i do what i do and they pay me well for [8:04] it that's the extent of it and if they could have seen that crowd screaming like i was doing magic tricks [8:12] just for jokes it's like watching a baby taste sugar how satisfying is it if you can't say everything [8:18] you want to say and then you see a guy just saying anything man that's inspiring that's empowering yo [8:24] they need to know that that's like the last great thing we got in america and they're threatening that [8:30] recently in the news i've been getting a lot of grief again did you have to have conversations about [8:38] that or what that looked like how they maintain their editorial independence i don't know that we ever [8:45] really discussed it yeah but in my mind i'm just a landlord it's a church and state type thing i don't [8:52] want to tell them how to do anything that they do so if you for example say something that generates [8:58] headlines they can cover that the same way any other journalist would well i hope that be a little [9:03] nicer than most other journalists would be but but i also know i'm realistic i don't i can't control [9:09] that you know the more you empower institutions like pbs or like or like npr the more they can be [9:16] ours of of and for the people i think now more than ever has been proven that that's that's necessary [9:22] there has to be some baseline of truth and good journalism is is a godsend in a time like this so [9:29] i support it this is very exciting this 19th century schoolhouse has now assumed its new role in yellow [9:36] springs with an eye to the next generation in this corner of ohio it's not always easy but with a [9:43] good family and with good friends and good community i really do feel like the whole world is less [9:49] daunting and less scary and uh and and i only know what's going on because i listen to you guys in the [9:54] morning so so keep it positive would you and you can see more of our conversation with dave chappelle [10:01] on the next episode of our podcast settle in and find that on youtube or wherever you get your podcasts [10:08] support journalism you trust support pbs news donate now or even better start a monthly contribution today