My radio station tours resumed this week with a report on my trip to Bellevue College’s community-public radio station KBCS-FM in Bellevue, Washington. Although the station was launched by students who staged a protest in order to get the administration on board; these days there isn’t much of a student presence. It’s another example of the wide range of non-commercial stations on college campuses.
Where is the Longest running student radio station?
I’m also obsessing this week over another college radio “first” claim. A piece about the 70th anniversary of Kansas State University’s college radio station KSDB-FM includes an assertion that it may be the “longest running” student college radio station in the United States. The KSDB website delves into the station’s history, stating that it began as a carrier current AM station in March, 1949 and received its FCC license in November of that year, launching over FM in spring 1950.
The Kansas State Collegian writes
[KSDB Chief Operator Ian] Punnett said the student radio station, which went on the air for the first time in 1949, appears to be the longest running in the country. ‘As far as anybody can determine, KSDB-FM is the longest continuously running radio station on any college campus in America,’ Punnett said. ‘My guess is the world, but I don’t know how ever we could confirm the world. Putting radio stations on college campuses really was cutting edge back 70 years ago. That’s what we can verify. ”
While 70 years is a HUGE accomplishment for a college radio station, I don’t think that KSDB is the longest continuously running college radio station. As I wrote in March, WGRE at DePauw University claims to have launched in April, 1949 as perhaps the first 10 watt class D non-commercial educational college radio station, beating out KSDB as far as being an FCC licensed FM college radio station.
However, even earlier than that, University of Minnesota’s WLB launched over AM way back in the 1920s. Now known as KUOM or Radio K, the student-run radio station is still in existence. When I toured Radio K in 2015, I even got a T-shirt honoring the station’s 100 Year legacy (in a nod to radio experiments from 1912).
According to the Radio K website, in 1922, University of Minnesota “…received the first radio broadcasting license in the state of Minnesota on January 13, 1922 for the call sign WLB. The station is the 10th oldest station still on the air, beating out WHA at the University of Wisconsin Madison by a few hours. That also makes Radio K the oldest licensed non-commercial broadcast station in the country.”
Rebecca Toov, Collections Archivist at University of Minnesota Archives shared with me a painstakingly researched thesis about the history of KUOM. Andrew Marlow’s 1996 M.S. thesis, “9XI/WLB/KUOM: Pioneering Radio Station” is a college radio history nerd’s dream. In it he argues that KUOM is the “oldest educational radio broadcasting station still in existence.” Toov also revealed that, “An updated history of WLB/KUOM expanding on Marlow’s thesis is on our to-do list.” As a curious college radio historian, I can’t wait!
Note: Plenty of colleges were experimenting with radio broadcasts in the 1920s and earlier and I must note that Union College makes the claim of having the first college radio broadcast over station 2ADD October 14, 1920 (dig into the research here). While Union College station WRUC operates over FM today, radio activities on campus were not always licensed and did not always have a broadcast component. So, Union College is out of contention for the longest continuously operating college radio station, although it may have been one of the first broadcasts.
More College Radio News
Profiles of Stations and Staff
- At WHRB, Henna Hundal Clues Listeners In on Current Events and Trends (Harvard Gazette)
- Radio Station Visit #155: Public-Community Radio Station KBCS-FM at Bellevue College (Radio Survivor)
- May Music Director of the Month: Carly DeSanto, KMSC-AM Dragon Radio (NACC Chart)
- May Genre Music Director of the Month: Michael A. Murphy, WMEB Bangor, Maine (NACC Chart)
- Foothill College’s Boundary-Pushing Radio Station Turns 60 (Palo Alto Online)
- “Flesh-peeling Noise”: Foothill College’s KFJC Radio Station Celebrates 60 Years of Outsider Audio (The Six Fifty)
Funding, Infrastructure
- Student Choice Initiative Prompts Windsor’s CJAM to Cut Music Director Position (CBC News)
- UA Student Media Has to Find New Home after 15 Years (KOLD)
- Wruck Wrecks Radio at Public Radio Station KHSU (The Lumberjack)
Events
- WGSU Unveils Genny Fest 19 Music Lineup (Livingstone County News)
- KSDB-FM Kicks off Year-long 70th Anniversary Celebration (The Collegian)
Programming
- After Dad’s Death, Daughters Start Radio Show to Play His Music (Kare11.com)
- Marquette Student, Sister, Honor Late Father with ‘Dad Rock Radio’ (WTMJ)
History
- David Fricke’s Picks: Kinloch Nelson (Rolling Stone)
- K-State’s Student-run Radio Station KSDB Celebrates 70 Years on the Air (KSNT News)
- Old School College Radio Stories on Metal Injection Livecast (Metal Injection)
- Revisit the Original Punk Explosion with X (Houston Press)
Alumni
- Hey Internet DJ – Profile of KPISS (The Brooklyn Rail)
- One of Us: ABC News Producer Tom Giusto (The Ponte Vedra Reporter)
Awards and Accolades
- Nominations Open for Marconi Awards (Radio Ink)
- Winners in Tennessee AP College Awards for 2018 (Associate Press)
- WMOT Newscasters and MTSU Student Radio Reporters Win 12 AP Journalism Awards (WMOT)
- Texas AP Broadcasters Awards Presented (Charlotte Observer)
- Winners Announced in Indiana Associated Press Broadcasters Association Contest (WPTA)
- Rebel Radio Wins National Student Radio Award (University of Essex)
- Intercollegiate National Religious Broadcasters Announces Student Production Award Winners (NRB)
- Wilmington College Radio Station Manager Wins Lucas Leadership Award (Wilmington News Journal)
- NY State Broadcasters Association Names Winners of Excellence in Broadcasting (AllAccess)
