WHRW (WHarpur Radio Workshop) is the student-run station at the State University of New York at Binghamton. At the time of the station's inception the school was known as Harpur College, an offshoot of Syracuse University. In 1961 a group of students built their own closed-circuit radio station known as WRAF which broadcast to two residence halls on campus. By 1966 they had changed calls to WHRW and moved to 90.5 FM with a transmitting power of 10 watts. While the carrier-current station had a no rock and roll policy, WHRW embraced a format-free broadcast schedule as well as left-leaning coverage of news and cultural events. As evidenced by the above sticker, SUNY-Binghamton's WHRW has maintained a proud freeform tradition for over 40 years.
91.5 FM WUPX (W Upper Peninsula Radio X) is the campus radio station for Northern Michigan University in Marquette. They began on the AM dial in 1970 as WBKX and later became a cable-only station. The switch to FM and their current call letters finally came in 1993. "The Pulse of the U.P." runs a freeform/variety format including Indie, Noise, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Metal and Classical among other other genres. Over 100 student volunteers keep WUPX on the air around the clock throughout the school term. A forthcoming automation system will allow them to operate 24-7 during summer and winter breaks.
KTUH is a student-run station broadcasting from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. They were that state's first non-commercial FM station and celebrated their 40th anniversary this past July. KTUH's coverage area has expanded in recent years with the addition of two translators at 89.9 and 91.3 FM.
The bottom sticker isn't really this ugly. The call letters and background have a nice chrome/mirrored look which my scanner is unable to pick up very well. Get your own KTUH decal here.
KCPR (KCal Poly Radio) is a volunteer-run, freeform station from the campus at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. KCPR's 2000-watt signal covers about a 50 mile radius around SLO. This site has some great station pictures from the mid-1970s, about seven years after KCPR first went on the air. It also mentions the beginnings of a certain curly-haired, accordion-playing parody artist who got his start at the station.
Now that Labor Day has come and gone, virtually every college student in the country has made their way back to campus to begin Fall classes. In this back-to-school spirit I've decided to post nothing but college radio stickers for the next seven days.
We'll begin with 89.7 FM KMNR from the University of Missouri-Rolla (now known as the Missouri University of Science and Technology.) KMNR began broadcasting in 1964 as KMSM before switching to their current call letters in the early 1970s. The 1850-watt free form station is staffed entirely by students. KMNR's brilliant product parody decals are some of the best radio stickers in existence.
ESPN (which used to stand for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) originally went on the air on this date in 1979. Since then, the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" has expanded into multiple cable channels, a magazine and a radio network while becoming the dominant network for sports on television. ESPN Radio was launched in 1992 and has hundreds of affiliate stations that use some or all of ESPN's programming.
KXTK serves the San Luis Obispo area and is licensed to Arroyo Grande, California.
KGCB is a Contemporary Christian station licensed to Prescott, Arizona. Along with three translators, KGCB now goes under the branding "Radio Shine."
Despite being landlocked and mostly desert, Arizona actually does have some lighthouses. The Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club has been building reduced-size replicas of famous lighthouses from the United States and Canada. Eighteen have been completed so far.
WSUI claims to be the oldest educational broadcasting station west of the Mississippi River. It began in 1919 as 9YA, an experimental station operating out of the Physics Building of the University of Iowa. They gained their full license in 1922 as WHAA and switched to their current call letters three years later. WSUI is licensed to Iowa City, Iowa.
WNYN was a satellite-fed Classic Rock station licensed to Athol, Massachusetts. WNYN became WXRG in 2008 and simulcasts an Adult Album Alternative format as "The River" with WXRV (Andover, MA) and WLKC (Campton, New Hampshire.) The WNYN call letters now belong to an Adult Hits station in Whitefield, New Hampshire known as "Free 99.1"
By now you've probably seen or heard about the video that purports to show Michael Jackson hopping out of a coroner's van. It's a hoax of course, made by the German broadcaster RTL to demonstrate how easy it is for the internet to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories. The grainy footage is convincingly amateurish but its briefness and lack of seeing Jackson from the front make it ultimately underwhelming. This didn't stop hoardes of hysterical Jacko fans from thinking that the King of Pop was alive while simultaneously proving RTL's assertions.
The Michael Jackson on this sticker refers to the English-born, Los Angeles-based talk show host. He worked at 1260 AM KGIL in LA for just under a year after a 30 year career at KABC. Both Jacksons have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame but Wacko's was innaccessible at the time of his death due to a movie premiere. Distraught fan's instead used the radio host's star around which to build memorials to their fallen pop idol.
KGIL is licensed to Beverly Hills, California. Just last month they dropped News/Talk and flipped to a mix of Oldies and Adult Standards as "Retro 1260."
89.7 FM KUMM is a 500-watt Alternative station from the University of Minnesota Morris. The call letters are derived from the school's name but the single sperm cell in their logo leaves little doubt about which "KUMM" they're referring to. With call letters like that it's a short leap to provocative station slogans such as "Sowing The Seeds Of New Music Since 1972" and "KUMM Is For Lovers." KUMM's website has shirts and stickers for sale so support college radio and pick one up here.
2QQ was a 70s & 80s Hits station from Palmerston North, New Zealand. This sticker is from around 1989 before they shifted to a more Contemporary Hit format and later became Classic Rock. 90.6 FM is currently part of the ZM Radio Network of CHR stations throughout New Zealand.
KFSG (named after the International Church of the FourSquare Gospel) was an Adult Contemporary Christian station in Los Angeles, California. KFSG started out at 1080 AM back in the 1920s before ending up at 96.3 FM around 1970. In 2001 KFSG moved again, this time to 93.5 FM where they dropped the music and went to Religious Talk. This lasted until 2003 when they were sold to the Spanish Broadcasting System. 96.3 FM is currently KXOL, a Rhythmic Latin station known as "Latino 96.3."
88.1 KAFM is a locally owned, operated and programmed community station licensed to Grand Junction, Colorado. Most of the station personnel are unpaid volunteers. KAFM celebrated their 10th anniversary in March of this year.
KLBJ 590 AM is a News/Talk station in Austin, Texas. It was once owned by the family of President Lyndon Baines Johnson who used his initials for the call letters.
WHRW (W Harpur Radio Workshop) is the student-run station at the State University of New York at Binghamton. At the time of the station's inception the school was known as Harpur College, an offshoot of Syracuse University. In 1961 a group of students built their own closed-circuit radio station known as WRAF which broadcast to two residence halls on campus. By 1966 they had changed calls to WHRW and moved to 90.5 FM with a transmitting power of 10 watts. While the carrier-current station had a no rock and roll policy, WHRW embraced a format-free broadcast schedule as well as left-leaning coverage of news and cultural events. As evidenced by the above sticker, SUNY-Binghamton's WHRW has maintained a proud freeform tradition for over 40 years.
