Sections taken from:

"Radio Control"

Written by: Cosmo Garvin

Once CSUS students had a licensed radio station on campus. But today, students are told the licenses are too valuable for them to use. To Chavez, that seems contrary to the very idea of “public” radio, particularly public radio licensed to a university, which is why he and his fellow students are starting to make noises about liberating a chunk of CPR’s public-radio territory. “Frankly, I think we ought to get [the classical station] KXPR,” Chavez explained. That’s not exactly music to the ears of Lazar.

And there’s something else troubling the Captain: the breach of CPR’s airspace by a competing power from the west. KQED launched its own Sacramento station--KQEI at 89.3 FM--threatening CPR’s future growth and possibly luring loyal listeners away.

Welcome to the public-radio business in the 21st century.

From 1970 to 1979, Sacramento State University had a college radio station. You remember college radio stations. Lots of universities used to have them, before they became NPR affiliates. Its call letters were KERS, and it occupied 88.9, the same frequency where you find CPR’s jazz and talk station KXJZ today.

Like many college radio stations in that era, the kids played weird music, and students hosted talk shows about black power or the joys of being gay. ...

This being Sacramento in the 1970s, some of the subject matter angered local residents, who complained that public money was being used to “promote the propaganda of homosexuals” (this from an actual letter sent in the summer of 1977 to the CSU chancellor’s office, one of many).

Still, newspaper accounts suggest that the university stood by its student broadcasters, for a while. In a March 1977 Sacramento Bee article, the KERS station manager was quoted as saying the station “had an obligation to provide programming other stations can’t or won’t do.”

But by the end of the year, that station manager had been replaced, and CSUS started the process of turning the student-run station into something much tamer and more lucrative: an NPR affiliate offering Morning Edition, All Things Considered and hours of classical music.

At first, students were promised that they would still be part of the day-to-day operations of the station. University press releases from then and now illustrate how the administration’s concept of public radio has changed over the years. The first example is from a 1977 CSUS announcement that KERS was bringing NPR programming: “The station will nevertheless carry large segments of locally oriented programs and serve as a training ground for CSUS students.” The campus would be one of the main sources of inspiration for the programming. “After all, the station does exist on a major university campus, and the yeasty ferment of ideas here obviously should find expression on KERS,” the press release says. It ends with this noble sentiment: “We can do things for unserved, or under-served public in the Sacramento area such as in-depth coverage of public affairs that commercial radio cannot do, because it doesn’t pay.”

Fast-forward 26 years. Gone is the yeasty ferment of ideas. Instead, a university profile of CPR from last year crows that “the dulcet tones of Capital Public Radio are a booming success.” The new profile does mention getting back to the “educational aspect of our mission,” but dwells more on CPR’s incredible growth over the last decade. And the notion of producing public radio that “doesn’t pay” now seems a little quaint. “Statistics show that the listeners are highly educated, community leaders with good incomes and affluent lifestyles,” the profile says. “This has made an excellent target market for various companies who support programming with underwriting.”

In 1979, KERS became KXPR and moved to an all-professional staff to program a mix of NPR, classical music and jazz that would appeal to those folks most likely to give money. Then, in 1991, KXJZ went on the air, giving listeners a mix of jazz and talk. In 1992, the network picked up a repeater station for its classical programming, KXSR in Groveland. ...

At the end of the spring semester, Chavez held a final KSSU staff meeting before the beginning of summer break. Though many on the staff were taking a couple of weeks off, some would return to help run the station over the summer. For the first time, Chavez explained, the station will be operating year round--part of his attempt to invigorate KSSU, even if no one will hear it.

There’s a lot of joking around between agenda items, and the students took a little time out to poke fun at CPR.

“It’s like this--this blob,” Chavez offered.

“Yeah, The Blob That Ate College Radio Stations,” someone chimed in.

“See it at the Tower, before it’s too late!” came a third, setting the whole group giggling.

In the shadow of the blob, students make the best of it, rocking what they like to call a “3,000 milliwatt” signal. That’s three watts, compared with KXJZ’s 50,000. Ironically, KSSU deejays get dozens of new records a week from record companies, especially new artists and independent music that typically finds college airplay long before crossing over to commercial stations, if it ever does. And the choices the deejays make feed the college-radio charts, just like at a real college station. But Chavez said he’d like to see a student station that does more than play “hot music.” For example, he’d like to work with the campus journalism department to produce news focusing on the campus and the broader community. “I envision a station with many different types of programming, something like [UC Davis station] KDVS or [Grass Valley community station] KVMR,” he explained. There’s been a resurgence of interest in student broadcasting, he said, partly because of CPR’s return to campus. But with no audience to speak of for KSSU, he wonders if the students’ self-started broadcast program can sustain itself.

“When I got here,” said Chavez, “nobody even knew where the [KSSU] transmitter was. It was kind of like an urban myth. People would joke that it was in a closet somewhere.” The transmitter is, indeed, locked in a tiny room on the third floor of Lassen Hall. You can see the unassuming antenna on top of Lassen Hall, rising perhaps 20 feet from the roof.

“It’s discouraging,” said Melissa Maxwell, a KSSU deejay who hosts a punk and indie music show called Damsels in Disorder. For example, Maxwell explained, she recently went to a local rock show and convinced one of the musicians to record a “drop” that would air during her show. “You know what it sounds like: 'This is Jeffrey from Shakedown, and you’re listening to KSSU,’” she explained. “He was really excited, you know, 'Where can I hear it?’ I was like, 'Yeah, well, you can come to the Sac State parking lot and listen.’ It was embarrassing.”

Like other KSSU broadcasters, Maxwell supports the idea of spinning off part of CPR for students. “I think we should get back the station they took away,” she explained.

Perhaps in response to this student agitation, CPR recently announced that it was reviving its long-neglected internship. And, in fact, one CSUS student has begun his internship already. He will be helping CPR with its marketing and fund-raising efforts.

But CPR brass say putting students on the air is out of the question.

“With a budget of over $5 million, it just wouldn’t be responsible. It would be a breach of our fiduciary duty,” said CPR Board Chairwoman Julia Jenness, an attorney with the law firm of Downey, Brand, Seymour and Rohwer. “It would be akin to putting students in charge of the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour,” she complained.

The similes come quickly to mind for Lazar, as well. “It would be like letting student interns anchor Channel 3,” he said.

October 4, 2004: Students Support College Radio

At Alex Gonzalez's presidential inauguration many Sac State students protested in the name of college radio. It's nice to see that students care about college radio and we look forward to serving them, even when they aren't sitting in the parking lot. Since we are the only college radio station on campus, we like to think that these students are supporting us. Thanks to all the students who love and support college radio. Keep up the good work! Full Length Story soon to come.