Any AM public/college stations out there?

[installLSC]

Are there any public radio stations (whether news, classical, or jazz) or college radio stations that are on the AM dial?

 

[raccoonradio]

1170 WFPB Falmouth MA UMass
820 WNYC public radio NYC
1370 WXXI Rochester NY Public

 

[FredLeonard]

AM public radio stations thrive in sparsely populated areas where stations need to cover regions and where terrain inteferes with FM reception. Several in the Midwest and Northwest are "heritage" former educational radio stations operated by land grant universities and originally started as part of their extension or continuing education services. Plus WNYC founded in 1922 by the City of New York as an educational station and operated by its Municipal Broadcasting Service.

KBRW, Barrow AK
KYUK, Bethel AK
KDLG, Dillingham AK
KIYU, Galena AK
KBBI, Homer AK
KOTZ, Kotzebue AK
KSKO, McGrath AK
KSDP, Sand Point AK
KCHU, Valdez AK
KUAZ, Tucson AZ - University of Arizona
KAWC, Yuma AZ
KPMO, Medocino CA
KMJC, Mt Shasta CA
KCLU, Santa Barbara CA
KJPR, Shasta Lake City CA
KSYC, Yreka CA
KCFC, Boulder CO
KVOO, Denver CO
KKPC, Pueblo CO
WHDD, Sharon CT
WSHU, Westport CT
WKGC, Panama City FL
WILL, Urbana IL - University of Illinois
WBAA, West Lafayette IN - Purdue
WOI, Ames IA - Iowa State
WSUI, Iowa City IA - University of Iowa
KRNI, Mason City IA
WFPB, Orleans MA
WBAS, West Yamouth MA
WNNZ, Westfield MA
WKAR, East Lansing MI - Michigan State
WGVU, Kentwood MI
WGVS, Muskegon MI
KOAZ, Magdalena NM
WAMC, Albany NY
WNYC, New York NY - Originally Municipal Broadcasting Service
WXXI, Rochester NY
WOUB, Athens OH
WVSG, Columbus OH - Ohio State
KAGI, Ashland OR
KSJK, Ashland OR
KOAC, Corvallis OR - Oregon State
KOPB, Eugene OR - University of Oregon
KRVM, Eugene OR
KTBR, Roseburg OR
KRNI, Providence RI
KPLN, Madison TN
KIHU, Tooele UT
WWVT, Christianburg, VA
KWSU, Pullman WA - Washingtion State
KUOW, Tumwater WA ("It's the water")
WVMR, Frost WV
WLBL, Auburndale WI
WHA, Madison WI - University of Wisconsin. Arguably the world's first radio station

 

[raccoonradio]

A very thorough list. I was almost going to include WBAS 1240 W Yarmouth MA which had been WBUR (AM) for some years then was sold and went ethnic but wasn't
sure if they were still non-comm or somehow got on as a commercial (which it had been, before the WBUR days) Had forgotten about WRNI Prov RI and WNNZ Westfield MA

Cape Cod's only 2 AM stations had been commercial--the 1170 had run Yankees games for a time while the 1240, the old WOCB, ran Red Sox and prob soft pop etc

 

[Avid Listener]

There used to be a great many college stations that used an AM carrier current system. They were extremely low powered but used campus building wiring as their antennas. As long as they conformed to FCC Part 15, they didn't need to be licensed. Since everyone in here loves lists, here is one.

Existing stations
Bulls Radio 1620 - University of South Florida, also heard on licensed WMNF-HD2[1]
KAMP-1570 at the University of Arizona[2]
KANM-1580 at Texas A&M University[3]
KASR-1330 Arizona State University[4]
KDUP-1580 at University of Portland, (Portland, Oregon) http://kdup.up.edu/
KCIZ 1650 at Mora High School, Mora, Minnesota[5]
KJACK 1680 - Northern Arizona University[6]
KLBC-1610 at Long Beach City College[7]
KMSC-1500 at Minnesota State University Moorhead
KRFH at Humboldt State University
KRIO 1660 at Rio Linda High School
K-ROCKS RadioOne AM Stereo 1670 and AM Stereo 710 in Casper Wyoming [8]
KSSU 1580 AM at California State University, Sacramento
KUR-1670/88.3 at Kutztown University[9]
KUTE-1620 University of Utah[10]
Radio SNHU 1620 at Southern New Hampshire University[11]
WALT-1610 at Davidson College[12]
WERW 1570 AM at Syracuse University
WEXP at La Salle University
WFVS 530 AM and recently LPFM at 100.5 at Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, Georgia (fiber-optic linked carrier current system)
WGCC 650 AM at Genesee Community College
The WIRE - 1710 AM at the University of Oklahoma
WMAX 540 at Mount Washington College in Manchester, New Hampshire
WNEC 91.7 FM at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire[13]
Wolfpack Radio-1700 at the University of Nevada[14]
WPPJ-670 Point Park College[15]
WPMD-1700 at Cerritos College[16]
WSIN-1590 at Southern Connecticut State University[17]
WSLU-1620/100.1] at Saint Leo University, St. Leo, Florida[18]
KSUB at Seattle University in conjunction with 8 mW low-power broadcasting and Internet radio[19]
WTBU 640 AM/89.3 FM at Boston University
Radio Laurier Macdonald 560 AM at Laurier Macdonald High School in St. Leonard, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Former stations
Brown Student Radio at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, on A.M. 600.
CHRW-FM at the University of Western Ontario started as a carrier current station at 610 kHz
K.C. AM at Colby College, now WMHB
KARL-AM at Carleton College, now KRLX
KAL at University of California, Berkeley - now KALX
KCC at Chabot College, Hayward, California - now KCRH 89.9
KCWS-AM at Central Washington State College - now KCWU-FM
KDVS, originally KCD at University of California, Davis
KFRH at Washington University in St. Louis - now KWUR-FM
KMPS-AM at University of Alaska Fairbanks - now KSUA-FM
KNAB at Chapman University, Orange, California - ceased carrier current in 1991, now internet-only station ChapmanRadio.com
KOWL at Rice University - now Rice Radio
KRLK 97.5 at Rio Linda High School, California - now KRIO 1660
KSU at Stanford University – now KZSU-FM
KSWC at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas - now at 100.3 FM
KUOK at the University of Kansas - now KJHK
WBMB at Baruch College, CUNY; started as a carrier current station at 590AM
WBSC on 640 AM at Bloomsburg State College (now Bloomsburg University) in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, but has merged with 91.1 FM WBUQ after that station signed on in 1985. For several years, both stations operated independent of one another prior to the merger.
WCAR 550 AM at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - now WXYC-FM 89.3
WCHP 650 AM at Central Michigan University at Mount Pleasant Michigan
WCUR as WSCS 640 AM, and WCUR 680 AM at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, but has since migrated to 91.7 FM, as well as online at wcur.org
WDBS 560 AM at Duke University - now WXDU-FM 88.7
WERU 710 AM/104.7 FM at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University - now WIKD-LP 102.5
WFAL 1610 AM at Bowling Green State University
WHAT 530 AM at Johns Hopkins University, later WHSR and now WJHU
WHEN 640 AM at the University of Delaware
WHEN at Western Illinois University - now WIUS-FM
WJHU at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
WJJX 640AM at the University of Michigan from 1952 to 1987, predecessor to (and previously using the call letters) WCBN now on FM 88.3[20] [21]
WJPZ at Syracuse University, now 89.1 FM
WKC at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois - now WVKC-FM
WKDU-FM 91.7, the student-run radio station of Drexel University formally WMAX (1958)[22]
WKDT 89.3 FM, the cadet radio station, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York
WLCR-AM 640 (originally WCDW-AM 830) operated by Summer campers at Camp Shaw-Mi-Del-Eca in Lewisburg, West Virginia.
WLKR AM Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan - Now WLSO 90.1 FM "The Sounds of Lake State"
WMTU-FM at Michigan Technological University; started as a carrier-current AM station
WMUC-FM at the University of Maryland, College Park; started in 1937 on 650 AM[23]
WNYU on 800 AM in New York University's dorms at its Lower Manhattan campus
WOCR-650, a "pirate" carrier current station in Ocean City, Maryland, in 1973
WOLF at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina - now WKNC
WPSM at Penn State's McKeesport campus (now Penn State Greater Allegheny) - now an internet station WMKP[24]
WQAD/WFQR/WIN/WIUS at Indiana University - now WIUX-LP
WRAF on 590 AM at Binghamton University - now WHRW
WRCR-AM Rockford College[25]
WRCT on 900 AM at Carnegie Mellon University - now WRCT-FM
WRIU Studio B, now only online, at the University of Rhode Island and licensed to Kingston, Rhode Island, on A.M. 580.
WRPS-730 AM at SUNY Potsdam (NY), now WAIH 90.3
WRLC-AM on 1110 and 1150 AM at Rutgers University, now WVPH-FM
WRUR-AM 1090 at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York - now WRUR-FM; see also campus radio
WSAC 710 AM at St. Anselm College, Goffstown, New Hampshire
WSGR (South Green Radio) at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio
WSOE on 1200 AM at the Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - now WMSE on 91.7 FM
WTGR 530 AM (1969) at Memphis State University in Memphis, Tennessee, now the University of Memphis - now WUMR on 91.7 FM
WUFI-540AM at Florida International University, now WRGP 88.1 & 95.3 FM[26]
WUVT 640 AM at Virginia Tech
WVAT (Voice of Alfred Tech) at SUNY, Alfred, New York - started broadcasting January 1965, now WETD-FM
WVAU on 610 AM at American University, Washington, D.C. (station is still present, but they no longer broadcast carrier current)
WVBU on 640 AM at Bucknell University later licensed to 90.5 MHz FM, carrier current turned off several years later
WVOF on 620 AM at Fairfield University, Connecticut
WVYC 640 AM at York College of Pennsylvania, sister station to FCC-licensed WVYC FM 99.7, also on the Internet
WXOU 88.3 FM at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan (licensed to Auburn Hills, Michigan)
WXPN and WQHS-730 at the University of Pennsylvania
WYBC/640 at Yale University[27]

Those lists are from Wikipedia. I noticed that WNFT from Slippery Rock is not included. I don't know how many other college carrier current stations are omitted.

 

[CTListener]

I was a student at Syracuse when WJPZ launched. It was pretty revolutionary for the mid-'70s -- a tightly formatted student-run Top 40 modeled on the great Drake-consulted AMs of the day. The first PD lived in my dorm and was a huge fan of Chicago's Super CFL. I think he might have "borrowed" a few names from CFL for the JPZ DJs to use. I do remember a student DJ who was given the air name of Bob Marx, which was the name of a midday jock on WAVZ in the PD's hometown of New Haven. I wonder if any other student AMs at the time were exposing students to "real radio" rather than just letting them play their own record collections.

 

[FredLeonard]

Many of the "heritage" former educational AM stations were reduced to daytime only (and still are) when the FCC decided educational radio wasn't that important and wanted to clear frequencies for the clear channel (small c) blow torches owned by influential broadcasters like National, Columbia, Tribune, Bambergers, Crosley...

Most of the heritage AMs were operated, as noted, by land-grant colleges and universities serving agricultural states. A staple part of their programming was farm reports (plus home ec programs for farm wives). Do any public radio stations in the heartland still emphasize farm shows?

Besides programming for agricultural audiences, educational stations had a lot of public affairs lectures by professors (just run down the hall to the history department and grab one) and classical music. When All Things Considered launched it was a dramatic change from anything these stations had been running.

Some public radio stations began as FM stations, back when almost nobody had FM radios or listened to FM radios. For example: WAMU in Washington started as a student station, put on the air by two students who later became "The Joy Boys of Radio" (Ed Walker and Willard Scott). WUNC in Chapel Hill started up with students included Carl Kasell and Charles Kuralt. WXPN in Philadelphia was a student station until the students almost got the license pulled and the University of Pennsylvania took their toys away and made it a public station. Often those stations reverted to carrier current AM before getting an LPFM non-commercial license and moving back to FM. The last Baby Boomers left college in the early-mid 80s and nobody younger than they paid attention to AM any way. Assuming very many students listed to student-operated college stations in the first place.

I wonder if any other student AMs at the time were exposing students to "real radio" rather than just letting them play their own record collections.

It's a sad commentary that you consider radio geeks doing bad imitations of professional radio as "exposing students to real radio." Students mostly expose themselves to "real radio" by listening to commercial stations instead of campus stations. But your comments gives great insight into the mindset of too many "broadcasters" who consider copying and avoiding originality a virtue. My hat's off to those who played their own collections. At least they were originals. Most probably feel flat but a few may have stumbled onto a winning formula. But the odds are never great for creativity. Plagiarism is safer.

 

[TheBigA]

This is an interesting thread, because as you say, most of these early AM stations were tied to colleges or universities, and what's happened in the last ten years is there has been a change in the basic mission of these colleges and universities in terms of the way they perceive their relationship to their community. Back in the day, extension divisions were for community outreach, ways to involve the community in campus activities, maybe attract recent military veterans to pursuing a degree part-time, show off the experts they had on staff who could help people with their gardens or other personal issues. Today the focus is on attracting research grants, monetizing those experts and resources within the university system. The campus radio station is then evaluated not in terms of the service it provides the community or the student body, but the revenues it could attract for the university. This is why you see many college FMs making deals with independent non-profit radio operators, who run the station for the university, absolving it of the costs and responsibilities. Not that there's anything wrong with this, but it's the story behind the story.

 

[FredLeonard]

BigA: Just to be clear, "campus station" generally means student operated stations - carrier current, LPFM - whose coverage is usually limited to the campus or the close in university community. The "educational stations" that eventually morphed into public radio stations and networks were full power AM or FM stations usually with regional coverage. They did not target a campus audience (although their studios were usually located on the campus and their staff were college or university employees plus some part-time student employees). Mostly,they were operated by the extension service (that's whom Hank Kimball of "Green Acres" worked for) and often later by the Continuing Education Service. At land grant schools, originally the primary purpose was to serve rural listeners - hence a lot of farm programs. Now, university-owned public radio stations are operated by either a separate broadcasting or media office, sometimes by the college of communication arts (specific names vary). These stations are expected to promote the institution and make money.

 

[TheBigA]

BigA: Just to be clear, "campus station" generally means student operated stations - carrier current, LPFM - whose coverage is usually limited to the campus or the close in university community. The "educational stations" that eventually morphed into public radio stations and networks were full power AM or FM stations usually with regional coverage.

Right. Most of the "campus stations" you talk about were funded by the student activity funds, while the "educational stations" were funded by the extension division or some other university department. However, some campus stations, funded by student activity funds, applied for and received FCC approval for more powerful FM licenses, and thus were able to reach beyond the campus. Some of these were originally AM closed carrier stations, like WJPZ at Syracuse University.

 

[JoshTheRadioDude]

Two of my college stations -- KTGG Spring Arbor, MI and WJKN Jackson, MI -- are AM daytimers. Both are Inspo in format, but they're student-run as part of the media program at Spring Arbor University. KTGG is notable for having received K-calls from the FCC in 1980 when someone at the Commission mistook the MI abbreviation for a state west of the river. WJKN was gifted to SAU in 2000 after the owner sold the transmitter site to a golf course developer (after years of struggling to find a profitable way of using the signal).

KTGG was, itself, an addition to the original non-com FM WSAE, and the school later used their ownership of WJKN to put WJKN-FM on the air... not coincidentally on the original WSAE frequency (which had since moved to the other end of the dial to allow for higher power).

 

[FredLeonard]

Right. Most of the "campus stations" you talk about were funded by the student activity funds, while the "educational stations" were funded by the extension division or some other university department. However, some campus stations, funded by student activity funds, applied for and received FCC approval for more powerful FM licenses, and thus were able to reach beyond the campus. Some of these were originally AM closed carrier stations, like WJPZ at Syracuse University.

Agreed. The key difference is student or campus stations were run by students and programming to the campus or university community. Educational stations and later public stations owned by universities are professionally staffed and managed and programmed for, well, the public (even before that designation was applied).

 

[TheBigA]

Agreed. The key difference is student or campus stations were run by students and programming to the campus or university community.

I don't know about that. The FCC rules are pretty clear that a licensee served the community, not just the university community. A station like WSOU, run by Seton Hall University students, isn't strictly aiming at the university community.

 

[Avid Listener]

Regardless of what rhetoric is included in official FCC documents, the idea of "serving the community" is just so much hot air. Stations serve whoever listens.

 

[FredLeonard]

Maybe "target" would be better than "serve" here.

 

[Avid Listener]

Maybe "target" would be better than "serve" here.

Use whatever word you want. The FCC won't do diddly-squat about it no matter how it's phrased.

 

[TheBigA]

Use whatever word you want. The FCC won't do diddly-squat about it no matter how it's phrased.

You may be right about the FCC. I'm just saying these students aren't necessarily aiming their programs strictly to the university community. They've established relationships with record labels, and the labels see them as introducing music that isn't being played at commercial stations.

Certainly that station at Georgia State wasn't aimed strictly at the university community. Of course now it's a different situation.

 

[KeithE4]

Regardless of what rhetoric is included in official FCC documents, the idea of "serving the community" is just so much hot air. Stations serve whoever pays.

Fixed.

 

[KeithE4]

There used to be a great many college stations that used an AM carrier current system. They were extremely low powered but used campus building wiring as their antennas. As long as they conformed to FCC Part 15, they didn't need to be licensed. Since everyone in here loves lists, here is one.

Existing stations
KASR-1330 Arizona State University[4]

They had changed their "callsign" to KASC back around 2006, since there's a licensed KASR. In any case, they have been off the air since last school year, AFAIK. I haven't heard them in over a year, and I work about 3 miles west of the ASU campus. They're usually quite audible in west Tempe and SE Phoenix.

There's supposed to be a move of KIKO 1340 from Globe to Apache Junction, piggybacked on KBSZ 1260 there (which required KASC to move from 1260 to 1330 in the first place, when that station moved from Wickenburg and 1250), but that has yet to happen. This would kill 1330, but that CP expires at the end of this month. I'll check again tomorrow.

Also, WIUS Bloomington IN, carrier-current on 620 from about 1962 to 1990, later a Part 15-er on 1570, became WIUX-LP 100.3, then moved to its current spot on 99.1 a few years back.

 

[Pebble]

*clears throat* Let's do the TOH ID.

"KUOM Minneapolis-St.Paul, 770--Radio K"