Iowa KWLC at Luther College to celebrate 100th anniversary

[Mark Roberts]

Though the actual anniversary of KWLC in Decorah isn't until December, the celebration has already started:

KWLC celebrates 100 years of broadcasting | Luther College

Luther College’s campus radio station, KWLC 1240 AM had its inaugural broadcast on Dec. 18, 1926.

www.luther.edu

KWLC is historic for another reason. It has one of the last remaining share-time operations on the AM band. KWLC shares time with KDEC, also in Decorah, at 1240 kHz. Until 2020, the stations operated from separate sites. The KDEC site was sold that year, and now the stations share the KWLC site on the Luther College campus.

I was in Decorah in 2013, and recorded a couple of the KDEC-to-KWLC handoffs. There was no corresponding KWLC-to-KDEC handoff: KWLC broadcast from 10 pm and 1 am weekdays (with more time on weekends, including all day on Sundays) but KDEC did not resume broadcasting after KWLC's sign-off until 6 am.

KDEC-KWLC.2013.09.03-2200-scoped.mp3

drive.google.com

KDEC-KWLC.2013.09.04-2200-scoped.mp3

drive.google.com

(These are scoped.)

H/T to northpine.com, which also reports that the station's current schedule is a little different from the schedule in 2013: "[KWLC] currently broadcasts weeknights from 10 p.m. to midnight, Saturdays from 4 p.m. to midnight, and Sundays from 7 a.m. to noon, sharing time with commercial station KDEC/1240 on the frequency. Additional hours of programming are offered on the KWLC livestream."

I recall that, a few years ago, Luther planned to give up the AM and establish an LPFM instead. There was an LPFM application filed with the FCC, but those plans otherwise didn't materialize.

Pretty amazing that such an operation has survived well into the 21st century.

 

[ted chittenden]

Though the actual anniversary of KWLC in Decorah isn't until December, the celebration has already started:

KWLC celebrates 100 years of broadcasting | Luther College

Luther College’s campus radio station, KWLC 1240 AM had its inaugural broadcast on Dec. 18, 1926.

www.luther.edu

KWLC is historic for another reason. It has one of the last remaining share-time operations on the AM band. KWLC shares time with KDEC, also in Decorah, at 1240 kHz. Until 2020, the stations operated from separate sites. The KDEC site was sold that year, and now the stations share the KWLC site on the Luther College campus.

I was in Decorah in 2013, and recorded a couple of the KDEC-to-KWLC handoffs. There was no corresponding KWLC-to-KDEC handoff: KWLC broadcast from 10 pm and 1 am weekdays (with more time on weekends, including all day on Sundays) but KDEC did not resume broadcasting after KWLC's sign-off until 6 am.

KDEC-KWLC.2013.09.03-2200-scoped.mp3

drive.google.com

KDEC-KWLC.2013.09.04-2200-scoped.mp3

drive.google.com

(These are scoped.)

H/T to northpine.com, which also reports that the station's current schedule is a little different from the schedule in 2013: "[KWLC] currently broadcasts weeknights from 10 p.m. to midnight, Saturdays from 4 p.m. to midnight, and Sundays from 7 a.m. to noon, sharing time with commercial station KDEC/1240 on the frequency. Additional hours of programming are offered on the KWLC livestream."

I recall that, a few years ago, Luther planned to give up the AM and establish an LPFM instead. There was an LPFM application filed with the FCC, but those plans otherwise didn't materialize.

Pretty amazing that such an operation has survived well into the 21st century.

Looking at the Decorah market, I've often wondered why, given that Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) didn't put up its full FM simulcasters until much later, KWLC never applied to move to any of the available non-commercial frequencies on the FM band.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Looking at the Decorah market, I've often wondered why, given that Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) didn't put up its full FM simulcasters until much later, KWLC never applied to move to any of the available non-commercial frequencies on the FM band.

Well, actually...

A Waterloo Courier article from May 11, 1973 mentions a federal grant given to the predecessor of MPR for the construction of a 100,000-watt FM station at 91.7 MHz, to be operated "in association with Luther College", with the transmitter located near Rushford, Minnesota. The article said, "While some KWLC programming may appear on the MER (Minnesota Educational Radio) network, the programming and broadcast hours of KWLC will continue in their present form".

This station is now KZSE. It went on the air late in 1974 or early in 1975 as KLSE. There's a notation in the FCC history card for the station, dated January 10, 1975, that says, "operate by RC (remote control) from Auditorium Bldg, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa". This arrangement evidently lasted until September, 1977, when the remote-control point was changed to KNXR-FM in Rochester, Minnesota, closer to Rushford.

But, wait, there's more!

MPR has a 100-watt FM station, KLCD, licensed to Decorah, operating on 89.5 MHz. It dates to 1977, with the license granted late in August. The main studio location for KLCD was given as the Auditorium Building at Luther College.

Whether any programming actually originated from the college appears to be an open question. A Waterloo Courier article about KLSE in December 1974 said, "Studios are at Luther College in Decorah, but it will be some time before locally originated broadcasts can be made from Decorah. Both new equipment and staff need to be added for local origination."

KLCD came into the picture, according to a Cedar Rapids Gazette article from July 24, 1977, because "the topography of KLSE's region...has caused sporadic reception of the station's signal in Decorah". In other words, Decorah was somewhat shadowed from the KLSE transmitter site. KLCD started out as a 10-watt station and then upgraded around 1981. This was another cooperative effort between the college and MPR. The description of KLCD indicates that it functioned mostly as a repeater, but with the capability to originate local programs.

To summarize, Luther actually worked with MPR to expand its network into the Decorah area.

 

[ted chittenden]

Well, actually...

A Waterloo Courier article from May 11, 1973 mentions a federal grant given to the predecessor of MPR for the construction of a 100,000-watt FM station at 91.7 MHz, to be operated "in association with Luther College", with the transmitter located near Rushford, Minnesota. The article said, "While some KWLC programming may appear on the MER (Minnesota Educational Radio) network, the programming and broadcast hours of KWLC will continue in their present form".

This station is now KZSE. It went on the air late in 1974 or early in 1975 as KLSE. There's a notation in the FCC history card for the station, dated January 10, 1975, that says, "operate by RC (remote control) from Auditorium Bldg, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa". This arrangement evidently lasted until September, 1977, when the remote-control point was changed to KNXR-FM in Rochester, Minnesota, closer to Rushford.

But, wait, there's more!

MPR has a 100-watt FM station, KLCD, licensed to Decorah, operating on 89.5 MHz. It dates to 1977, with the license granted late in August. The main studio location for KLCD was given as the Auditorium Building at Luther College.

Whether any programming actually originated from the college appears to be an open question. A Waterloo Courier article about KLSE in December 1974 said, "Studios are at Luther College in Decorah, but it will be some time before locally originated broadcasts can be made from Decorah. Both new equipment and staff need to be added for local origination."

KLCD came into the picture, according to a Cedar Rapids Gazette article from July 24, 1977, because "the topography of KLSE's region...has caused sporadic reception of the station's signal in Decorah". In other words, Decorah was somewhat shadowed from the KLSE transmitter site. KLCD started out as a 10-watt station and then upgraded around 1981. This was another cooperative effort between the college and MPR. The description of KLCD indicates that it functioned mostly as a repeater, but with the capability to originate local programs.

To summarize, Luther actually worked with MPR to expand its network into the Decorah area.

Thanks for the research. Not all of that was in an accessible format that I, as a blind person, could read.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Thanks for the research. Not all of that was in an accessible format that I, as a blind person, could read.

I try to be mindful of accessibility requirements, even if many other people aren't. I don't want you to be left out. That's why I quoted from the history cards, which can't even be reliably OCR'ed because some of them are not all that legible to start with. That's not the fault of the scanning; they were working documents, typewriter ribbons weren't always in the best condition, and there are strikeouts. The images of newspaper articles in the archive I subscribe to are better, but still not helpful for blind people, I imagine.

There is an archive of Decorah newspapers online, and it's free, but, at least today, it's not working. I would sure like to get a local perspective on Luther's relationship with Minnesota Public Radio. I will say this: Minnesota Public Radio was ahead of its time in many ways, especially in getting repeaters out there before the FM dial became totally trashed with redundant religious bots (exhibit A: Des Moines).

 

[ngriffin]

MPR had relationships with a number of colleges when they established stations, including St. John's (KSJN/KSJR), Luther (KLSE/KLCD), St. Scholastica (WSCD), Gustavus Adolhpus (KGAC), Concordia (KCCM), and Augustana of SD (KAUR).