KUGS

Last updated

KUGS
Frequency 89.3 MHz
BrandingKUGS 89.3
Programming
Format College radio
Ownership
Owner Western Washington University
History
First air date
January 29, 1974 (1974-01-29)
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 72017
Class A
ERP 810 watts
HAAT 137 meters (449 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
 48°44′8.5″N122°28′53.5″W / 48.735694°N 122.481528°W / 48.735694; -122.481528
Links
Public license information
Webcast Listen live
Website as.wwu.edu/kugs/
inside the main broadcasting studio, 2002 Kugsfm-bellingham-inside-2002.jpg
inside the main broadcasting studio, 2002

KUGS (89.3 FM) is a college radio station in Bellingham, Washington, United States, owned by Western Washington University (WWU). It is managed by WWU students and broadcasts from studios in the Viking Union on the WWU campus in Bellingham and a transmitter atop Sehome Hill.

Contents

KUGS was founded on January 29, 1974, as a 10-watt facility, upgrading in 1984 to 100 watts. It was one of the first radio stations in the United States to stream its programming online. Programming has traditionally been eclectic in nature with student DJs and staff.

History

Radio activity at the campus of what was then Western Washington College of Education and later Western Washington State College dated to the late 1930s, when a radio studio was built to accommodate a radio broadcasting class. [2] The idea of starting an FM station was first floated in 1964, when the university approved the speech department's proposal to establish one, [3] but there was no space on campus to accommodate the facility. [4] Later in the decade, a steering committee suggested launching a regional Class C radio station by 1970. [5]

In 1973, proposals for a radio station advanced significantly. Speech student Steve Mellroth was elected to the Associated Students student government on a platform of starting an FM station; in the sparsely attended special election, 97 percent of students surveyed voted yes to establishing one. [6] Western Washington State College applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 22 for a new noncommercial educational station to broadcast with 10 watts from the Ridgeway Kappa dormitory; the FCC granted the application on October 5. [7] Studios would be located in an office once used as storage in the Ridgeway dining hall, with a mix of music and taped educational programs. [8] Once the permit was obtained, work began with the goal of starting by Thanksgiving, [9] but delays in receiving equipment and being assigned call letters held up completion. [10]

KUGS went on the air on January 29, 1974. The call sign was assigned after other designations requested by Western were found to not be available. [11] By year's end, some 40 students comprised the KUGS staff, most of them journalism students interested in radio. [12] [13] Studios moved from Ridgeway to the Viking Union in 1979. [14]

Changes in FCC regulations led to a power increase as the commission pressured 10-watt educational stations to upgrade to at least 100 watts or face being bumped off their frequencies in the future. In December 1979, the Western Washington University board of trustees applied to increase power. [15] The road was eventually cleared for the upgrade in 1983, [16] in part because a proposed radio station across the border in Chilliwack, British Columbia, that would have interfered with KUGS ran out of money and remained unbuilt. [17] The upgrade became reality on January 18, 1984. [17]

In the late 1980s, the station also began broadcasting university athletic events, [18] complementing an eclectic lineup of specialty shows and local news. [19] In 1992, an attempt was made to install a more consistent rock format during daytime hours, but a community group opposed the change. Vandalism that August left the station unable to broadcast, but the groups opposed to the change denied any connection with the damage. [20]

In 1988, the transmitter was moved to Sehome Hill and the station began broadcasting in stereo. [21] This marked a move away from the original Ridgeway Kappa site, which created interference for telephone and television signals in the dormitory. A former KUGS station manager and longtime WWU employee remarked in 2003, "I like to say people had to wear tin foil on their heads to be able to talk on the phone." [22] This issue was mitigated when KUGS's signal was included on the local cable system for the first time in February 1996, due, in part, to pressure placed by station supporters on the Bellingham city council. [23]

KUGS celebrated its 21st anniversary in 1995, and repeated the anniversary for several more years thereafter by popular demand. [22] It had also matured considerably, becoming one of two "core reporters" to College Music Journal (alongside KCMU at the University of Washington), beginning 24-hour broadcasting in 1995, [24] and simultaneously becoming the second station in the United States to webcast its programming. [25] (It temporarily paused streaming in 2002 due to changes in copyright royalty regulations but resumed in 2006. [26] [27] ) Despite that, the Sehome Hill transmitter had its drawback: the tower was on the city side of the hill, blocking many WWU dormitories from clear reception. [28] Pacifica Radio Network programming, such as Democracy Now! , was added to the schedule in 1997. [29]

A potential interference problem arose in the late 1990s between KUGS and a proposed translator for KPLU-FM that would operate on 89.3 MHz at Port Angeles, southwest across the Salish Sea. KPLU's owner, Pacific Lutheran University, filed the proposal in 1998 because its existing translator there was endangered by a new CBC radio station, CBCV-FM, in Victoria, British Columbia. [30] A similar situation involving a transmitter for Northwest Public Radio at Port Angeles had severely reduced the coverage area of KSVR at Skagit Valley College. Associated Students allotted $15,000 for an engineering consultant to help KUGS work with Pacific Lutheran on reducing interference. [30] KUGS also filed for a power upgrade to 710 watts, and the Educational Media Foundation proposed a new station at Sequim, near Port Angeles. The proposals were addressed in 2003 as part of a larger series of settlement agreements made two years earlier involving Pacific Lutheran and the Educational Media Foundation; the latter withdrew its application, while KPLU and KUGS won their proposed facilities. [31]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellingham, Washington</span> City in Washington, United States

Bellingham is the county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies 21 miles (34 km) south of the U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, 52 miles (84 km) to the northwest and Seattle 90 miles (140 km) to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Washington University</span> Public university in Bellingham, Washington, US

Western Washington University is a public university in Bellingham, Washington, United States. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a private school of teaching for women founded in 1886. The university adopted its present name in 1977.

The Sehome Hill Arboretum is a public park in the Sehome neighborhood of Bellingham, Washington. It comprises 175.5 acres (71.0 ha) of second growth forest on Sehome Hill, adjacent to the campus of Western Washington University. Though called an arboretum, the hilly expanse atop Sehome Hill is not consciously planted as an exhibit of tree species, but naturally wooded and rich in the plant species typical of the region. The arboretum is jointly managed by both the university and the city. Its care is overseen by the Sehome Hill Arboretum Board of Governors, composed of city employees, university employees, university students, and city residents. The park offers students and city dwellers over 5 miles (8 km) of public trails for walking and running and, in some areas, bicycling. Unique features of the park include an 80-foot (24 m) wooden observation tower atop Sehome Hill, with aerial views of Bellingham Bay to the south. There is also a large tunnel, hand cut into rock in 1923, originally used for car traffic in the early 1900s. Its tall, thin shape shows its creation for cars like Model T Fords of the day. Cars are no longer allowed in the tunnel and it is part of a trail along which hikers can walk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WHIZ (AM)</span> Radio station in Zanesville, Ohio

WHIZ is a commercial radio station licensed to Zanesville, Ohio, featuring a full service format known as "AM 1240 The Voice". Owned by Marquee Broadcasting, this station is the local affiliate for ABC News Radio, the Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, Columbus Blue Jackets and Ohio State Buckeyes radio networks, in addition to carrying ESPN Radio and Westwood One programming. WHIZ's studios are located in a combined facility with WHIZ-TV, WHIZ-FM and WZVL on Downard Road in Zanesville, while the transmitter is located to the northeast of the city's downtown. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WHIZ is relayed over low-power Zanesville translator W272EE and is available online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBAA</span> Radio station in Indiana, United States

WBAA and WBAA-FM (101.3 FM) are jointly operated non-commercial educational radio stations licensed to West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, both serving the Lafayette metro area and the Indianapolis area with public radio formats. The stations were founded by Purdue University, but in 2022, 100 years after WBAA's start, ownership was transferred to Metropolitan Indianapolis Public Media, Inc. (MIPM), which also owns WFYI radio and television in Indianapolis. Both stations originate from studios in the Edward C. Elliott Hall of Music on the Purdue campus, with transmitter sites south of Lafayette at the Throckmorton Purdue Agricultural Center.

WKSU is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Kent, Ohio, featuring a public radio format. Owned by Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media, WKSU's primary signal encompasses the Akron metro area, Greater Cleveland and much of Northeast Ohio as the regional affiliate for National Public Radio (NPR), American Public Media, Public Radio Exchange and the BBC World Service. The station's reach is extended into the Canton, Mansfield, Lorain, Ashtabula, Sandusky, New Philadelphia and Wooster areas via a network of five full-power repeaters, two low-power translators, and one on-channel booster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KNKX</span> Public radio station in Tacoma, Washington

KNKX (88.5 MHz) is a public radio station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States. A member of National Public Radio (NPR), it airs a jazz and news format for the Seattle metropolitan area. The station is owned by Pacific Public Media, a community-based non-profit organization. It operates from studios in downtown Seattle and downtown Tacoma. KNKX broadcasts from West Tiger Mountain in the Issaquah Alps with a power of 68,000 watts.

KNKL is a contemporary Christian music radio station in Tremonton, Utah, United States. The station is owned and operated by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and broadcasts EMF's K-Love programming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KVNU</span> Radio station in Logan, Utah

KVNU is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Logan, Utah. It is owned by the Cache Valley Media Group and airs a talk radio format, serving the Logan metropolitan area. KVNU also broadcasts Utah State Aggies sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sehome High School</span> Public high school in Bellingham, Washington, United States

Sehome High School (SHS) is a public high school in Bellingham, Washington. Sehome is one of four high schools operated by Bellingham Public Schools, and primarily serves students from southern Bellingham. 1,179 students were enrolled for the 2023–2024 school year. Sehome competes as the Sehome Mariners in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Northwest Conference (2A).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBUL-FM</span> Radio station in Lexington, Kentucky

WBUL-FM is one of four country music radio stations serving the Lexington, Kentucky radio market. The station broadcasts with an ERP of 100,000 watts, with a nearly 100-mile broadcasting radius. The station is heard as far south as London, as far east as Grayson, as far north as Cincinnati and as far west as Louisville. iHeartMedia, Inc. currently owns the station. WBUL-FM was the third station to begin broadcasting HD Radio in Lexington after WUKY and WKQQ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sehome, Bellingham, Washington</span> Neighborhood in Whatcom, Washington, United States

Sehome is a neighborhood in Bellingham, Washington, United States. It was the first town on Bellingham Bay and was founded in May 1858 by coal mine manager Edmund C. Fitzhugh, who named the settlement for his father-in-law, S'Klallam chief Sehome. The townsite was originally owned by the Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railroad, which operated the Bellingham Bay Coal Mine until it closed in 1878. The town of Sehome was amalgamated in 1891 with three other settlements into New Whatcom, which was later renamed to Bellingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WZIP</span> Radio station in Akron, Ohio

WZIP is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Akron, Ohio, carrying a college radio–programmed rhythmic CHR format known as "Z88". Owned by the University of Akron, the station serves the Akron metro area. WZIP's studios are located in Kolbe Hall on the University of Akron campus, while the station transmitter resides in Copley Township. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WZIP is available online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KGMI</span> Radio station in Bellingham, Washington

KGMI is a commercial radio station licensed to Bellingham, Washington. The station is owned and operated by Saga Broadcasting, dba Cascade Radio Group. It airs a news/talk radio format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WKQQ</span> Radio station in Winchester–Lexington, Kentucky

WKQQ is a radio station licensed to the city of Winchester, Kentucky, serving Lexington and the greater Central Kentucky area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and airs a classic rock format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WAQI</span> Spanish-language news/talk radio station in Miami

WAQI is a commercial radio station licensed to Miami, Florida, United States, featuring a Spanish-language talk format known as Radio Mambí. Owned by Latino Media Network and formerly operated by Uforia Audio Network, the radio division of TelevisaUnivision, under a transitional agreement, the station broadcasts with 50,000 watts and serves as South Florida's designated primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System, one of three in the state. The studios are located at Univision's Miami headquarters, and the transmitter is located at the intersection of U.S. 41 and Florida State Road 997, near the edge of the Everglades.

WRIG is a radio station broadcasting a sports format licensed to Schofield, Wisconsin, United States, and serving the Wausau area. The station is currently owned by Midwest Communications and features programming from Fox Sports Radio. It is also broadcast on FM translator W230BU at 93.9 MHz.

WSAU is an AM radio station broadcasting a conservative talk format serving Wausau, Wisconsin, United States, area, and simulcast on WSAU-FM (99.9) in Stevens Point. The station is owned by Wausau-based Midwest Communications, with studios on Scott Street. The WSAU transmitter is located along County Highway X in Kronenwetter, Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KARI (AM)</span> Christian radio station in Blaine, Washington

KARI is a commercial AM radio station in Blaine, Washington, United States, and serving Vancouver, British Columbia, and Northwest Washington state. It broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format and is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting.

KNHS was a high school radio station at North High School in Torrance, California, United States.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for KUGS". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ "Equipment Arriving For Radio Station". WWCollegian. June 23, 1939. p. 1. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  3. ↑ "FM Station Gets Okay". The Collegian. January 17, 1964. p. 1. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  4. ↑ Stolpe, John (May 15, 1964). "Old House, Maybe?: Radio Station Hits Snag—Needs Campus Studios". The Collegian. p. 2.
  5. ↑ "Radio station set for future". Western Front. May 27, 1969. p. 3. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Student government election draws low voter turnout". Western Front. February 2, 1973. p. 1. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  7. ↑ "FCC History Cards for KUGS". Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  8. ↑ Marcus, Wendy (August 2, 1973). "Student FM radio station possible by Thanksgiving". Western Front. p. 3. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Nov. 23 predicted as FM starting date". Western Front. October 12, 1973. p. 5. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  10. ↑ "FM station delayed until Winter quarter". Western Front. October 26, 1973. p. 3. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  11. ↑ "College's FM station goes on the air". The Bellingham Herald. January 30, 1974. p. 2. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "KUGS makes waves after clearing static". Western Front. February 1, 1974. p. 1. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  13. ↑ Hagberg, Puckel (October 18, 1974). "Variety of music, good news emphasized on student radio". Western Front. p. 5. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  14. ↑ Ballenger, Sara (January 15, 1999). "KUGS to celebrate 25th birthday". The Western Front. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  15. ↑ Allen, Teresa (January 12, 1980). "10 watts to 100 watts: Student station may get boost". The Bellingham Herald. p. 1C. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "KUGS to get boost". The Bellingham Herald. March 26, 1983. p. 8A. Retrieved September 4, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 "KUGS gets 100 watts". Western Front. January 27, 1984. p. 3.
  18. ↑ Schwarz, Henry (January 29, 1988). "KUGS covers games". Western Front. p. 4.
  19. ↑ "Campus radio station offers ragtime to heavy metal". The Bellingham Herald. November 12, 1986. p. 4C. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ Donaldson, Jim (August 21, 1992). "Vandals stop the music at KUGS radio". The Bellingham Herald. p. B1, B2. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 2, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ Christensen, Sarita (November 1, 1988). "KUGS to switch on stereo in December". The Western Front. p. 1.
  22. 1 2 Shelly, Kim (July 29, 2003). "Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music: Talk of KUGS's 30th anniversary inspires reflection". The Western Front. p. 4.
  23. ↑ "KUGS now on cable 24 hours". The Western Front. February 9, 1996. p. 3.
  24. ↑ McQuaide, Mike (January 14, 1996). "Constant KUGS: 24-hour broadcast keeps station up all night". The Bellingham Herald. p. C1, C2. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ McQuaide, Mike (January 14, 1996). "On-line link amplifies KUGS radio worldwide". The Bellingham Herald. p. C2. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  26. ↑ Stasiek, Tony (June 13, 2002). "Web radio unplugged: Copyright rules chase KUGS off the Internet". The Bellingham Herald. p. C1, C4. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ Query, Shawn (April 4, 2006). "KUGS DJs spin on Web". The Western Front. pp. 1, 5.
  28. ↑ McQuaide, Mike (January 14, 1996). "Cable connection could expand campus radio's turf". The Bellingham Herald. p. C2. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  29. ↑ McQuaide, Mike (April 13, 1998). "In service to the community: Arts award winners give of time, talent". The Bellingham Herald. p. C1, C3. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  30. 1 2 Howser, Colin E. (November 24, 1998). "KUGS signal area in danger". The Western Front. pp. 1, 5.
  31. ↑ Doyle, Peter (August 7, 2003). "In re: MX Group 980811". Federal Communications Commission . Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.

48°44′10″N122°28′52″W / 48.7362°N 122.4810°W / 48.7362; -122.4810

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.