WKSU-FM
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| WKSU-FM | |
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| City of license | Kent, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Cleveland/Akron |
| Branding | 89.7 WKSU |
| Slogan | NPR. Classical. Other smart stuff. |
| First air date | October 2, 1950 |
| Frequency | 89.7 (MHz) |
| Format | Classical music |
| ERP | 14,500 watts |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | Kent State University |
| Owner | Kent State University |
| Website | www.wksu.org |
WKSU-FM is a non-commercial FM radio station at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio broadcasting at 89.7 MHz. It features NPR, APM and PRI programming, classical music, regional news and, on weekends, folk music.
WKSU serves the Akron radio market, but it can also be heard in most of the eastern half of the Cleveland market. The station also has repeaters in Thompson (89.1 WKSV), Wooster (89.3 WKRW), Norwalk (90.7 WNRK), New Philadelphia (91.5 WKRJ), W298BA Boardman, and W239AZ Ashland.
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[edit] History
WKSU got its start from modest beginnings in the 1950s. The staff consisted entirely of Kent State University students and was transmitted only within the confines of the campus. In 1949, The Kent State University Board of Trustees began to take notice of the station’s modest broadcasts, and soon gave KSU President George Bowman the go-ahead to apply for a 10-watt educational station. In April of 1950, the FCC gave the station permission to build a small transmitter attached to the roof of Kent Hall, and on October 2, 1950, WKSU was born. By November of that year, WKSU was broadcasting five hours a day, five days a week.
The 1960s brought about slow but steady growth for the fledgling station. The station’s music library was built up from private collections and the collections of its student employees, and its airtime expanded to 40 hours a week. WKSU began to become a presence in Northeast Ohio, with reports covering everything from election returns to football games.
The tragedy of May 4, 1970 was an opportunity for WKSU to prove it was a vital part of the University. The remainder of the 70s saw monumental changes for WKSU. The station was transitioning from a student to professional staff, thus the need for the station’s first fund drive. The drive raised $5,000. In April of 1974, the station became an affiliate of National Public Radio which was only a baby itself; it was formed just three years earlier. Then station manager John Perry said the change “wasn’t easy. In 1973 WKSU had only 7,500 watts of power, and we were not stereo. We broadcast only 85 hours a week, and programming was a grab bag of this and that scheduled around students’ class schedules and vacation times. The entire operating budget was $42,000, and our audience rating for an entire week was 1,200 listeners. We had a full-time staff of three.” [1]. Despite these setbacks, WKSU continued to grow and become a major media player in Northeast Ohio.
On January 22, 1980, the station reached a milestone when they hooked up with the satellite Westar I. This would allow WKSU to enjoy a greatly improved broadcast signal, in addition to recording NPR programs. From that day on, WKSU grew at a rapid pace. In July of 1980, the station expanded its signal to reach over a million potential listeners in Northeast Ohio thanks to a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration increasing its power to 50,000 watts.
Shortly after, the station’s new remote truck was purchased, allowing WKSU to record ore than 1,000 programs in Summit, Stark, Portage, Cuyahoga, Wayne and Trumbull counties. The station’s web site was launched in 1994, and began offering on-demand streaming starting in 1995. The station added its third repeater tower in 1997, broadcasting in Thompson from WKSV 89.1.
The past 10 years have seen rapid technological advances for the station, including three different live streams from WKSU.org. The station now broadcasts from its Kent location and via its four repeater towers and two translator stations.
[edit] Station facilties
WKSU operates out of a broadcast facility at the northeast corner of Loop Road and Summit Street in Kent. The facility was built in 1992, and brought together production and administrative offices for the first time in 18 years. The building cost $2.1 million and was funded entirely from private sources.
The station's offices were located everywhere from the cramped confines of Kent Hall to a restaurant on State Route 59 before moving to its present facility. WKSU also had its offices in Wright Hall, part of the Tri-Towers residence complex at the university. Around 1977, six floors of the residential building were turned into office space. In 1987, they were converted back to dormitories and WKSU had to move to another campus building [2].
WKSU's main newsroom is in Kent and the station maintains news bureaus in Cleveland and Canton.
[edit] Staff
[edit] Station Directors
- Al Bartholet, Executive Director/General Manager
- Deborah Frazier, Assistant General Manager
- Bernadine Zapytowski, Director of Business Affairs
- Vincent Duffy, Director of Programming and Operations
- Pam Anderson, Director of Major Gifts
- Dave Pignanelli, News Director
- Ron Bartlebaugh, Director of Engineering
- Bob Burford, Public Relations Director
- Leah Babb, Director of Communications
[edit] On Air Personalities
- Jim Blum, folk music host
- Sylvia Docking, afternoon classical music host
- Mark Pennell, morning/mid-day classical music host
- Jeff St. Clair, host/producer
- David Roden, assistant director of programming for music and cultural affairs
- Vivian Goodman, reporter/producer; local host of Fresh Air and All Things Considered
- Renita Jablonski, reporter/producer, Host of Morning Edition
[edit] Programming
- A Prairie Home Companion
- All Things Considered
- American Routes
- Car Talk
- Fresh Air
- Living on Earth
- Marketplace
- Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?
- Morning Edition
- On the Media
- The Thistle & Shamrock
- This American Life
- Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
- Weekend America
- Weekend Edition [3]
[edit] Kent State Folk Festival
The Kent State Folk Festival is the second oldest continuously produced folk festival on a college campus. Started in the 1960s by a group of Kent State students catching hold of the folk revival, the festival continues to preserve folk and heritage music through concerts, workshops and educational programs. Since 2000, WKSU has produced the Kent State Folk Festival, after more than 30 years of production by student campus organizations.
[edit] Folk Alley
FolkAlley.com offers live streaming folk music 24 hours a day and is produced by WKSU. Created in September of 2003, Folk Alley's web site is built and produced by the station. The Folk Alley playlist is created by senior host, Jim Blum and Folk Alley Music Director Linda Fahey. Folk Alley features singer/songwriter, Celtic, acoustic, Americana, traditional, and world sounds.
[edit] External links
- WKSU History and Timeline from Official Web Site
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WKSU-FM
- Aerial photo of WKSU-FM transmitter from Google Local
[edit] References
- ^ Zaidan, Abe. "WKSU: 1950-2000, A Golden Celebration" 2000.
- ^ Dyer, Bob. "Five Stations in Area are Making Their Moves." Akron Beacon Journal. 31 May, 1987: D2.
- ^ WKSU: Program Schedule. Retrieved 11 March, 2007.
| FM Radio Stations in the Akron, Ohio Market (Arbitron #74)
By Frequency: 88.1 | 88.9 | 89.7 | 91.3 | 94.9 | 97.5 | 98.1 | 100.1 By Callsign: WAPS | WKDD | WKSU | WNIR | WONE | WQMX | WSTB | WZIP |
| FM Radio Stations in the Cleveland, Ohio Market (Arbitron #26)
By Frequency: 88.3 | 88.7 | 89.1 | 89.3 | 89.7 | 90.3 | 91.1 | 91.5 | 92.3 | 93.1 | 95.5 | 96.1 | 96.5 | 97.1 | 98.5 | 99.5 | 100.7 | 102.1 | 103.3 | 104.1 | 104.7 | 104.9 | 105.7 | 106.5 | 107.3 | 107.9 By Callsign: WAKS | WBWC | WCLV | WCPN | WCRF | WCSB | WDOK | WENZ | WFHM | WGAR | WJCU | WKFM | WKHR | WKKY | WKSU/WKSV | WMJI | WMMS | WMVX | WNCX | WNWV | WNZN | WQAL | WREO | WRUW | WXRK | WZAK |
| FM Radio Stations in the Canton and Alliance, Ohio Market (Arbitron #128)
By Frequency: 88.7 | 89.3 | 89.5 | 90.9 | 91.1 | 91.5 | 92.5 | 91.9 | 94.1 | 95.3 | 95.9 | 99.9 | 101.7 | 104.5 | 106.9 By Callsign: WCWS | WHBC | WHOF | WKLM | WKRJ | WKRW | WNPQ | WOFN | WQKT | WRQK | WRMU | WTUZ | WZKL | W208AS | W220BP |
By Frequency: 89.1 | 89.5 | 90.7 | 92.1 | 94.5 | 95.3 | 96.1 | 96.9 | 97.7 | 99.1 | 99.9 | 100.9 | 102.7 | 103.7 | 104.7 | 104.9 | 105.7 | 106.1 | 107.3
By Callsign: WCKY | WCLV | WCPZ | WFRO | WGGN | WIOT | WLKR | WLRD | WKFM | WKKO | WMJI | WMJK | WNRK | WNZN | WNWV | WOHF | WVNS | WVNO | WXKR
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