WKSU-FM
Encyclopedia
WKSU-FM — branded 89.7 WKSU — is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Kent, Ohio
and owned by Kent State University
. The station features NPR, APM
and PRI
programming, classical music, regional news
and, on weekends, folk music
.
WKSU serves the Akron
radio market, but it can also be heard in most of the eastern half of the Cleveland
market. The station also has repeaters in Thompson
(89.1 WKSV), Wooster
(89.3 WKRW), Norwalk
(90.7 WNRK), New Philadelphia
(91.5 WKRJ), Boardman
(107.5 W298BA), and Ashland
(95.7 W238AZ). WKSU 89.7 and the 4 full-power repeater stations are broadcast in HD Radio, with HD1, HD2 - Folk Alley, HD3 - Classical, and HD4 - The WKSU News Channel.
gave the station permission to build a small transmitter
attached to the roof of Kent Hall, and on October 2, 1950, WKSU was born. The signal was transmitted only within the confines of the campus. By November of that year, WKSU was broadcasting five hours a day, five days a week.
The 1960s brought about slow but steady growth for the fledgling station. The station’s music library was built up from private collections and the collections of its student employees, and its airtime expanded to 40 hours a week. WKSU began to become a presence in Northeast Ohio, with reports covering everything from election returns to football games.
The tragedy of the Kent State shootings
on May 4, 1970 was an opportunity for WKSU to prove it was a vital part of the University.
By 1973, according to a former general manager, WKSU had only 7,500 watts of power, and was not yet broadcasting in stereo
. The station was only on the air for 85 hours a week, and programming was created by students, and scheduled around their class and vacation times. The entire operating budget was $42,000, and their audience rating for an entire week was 1,200 listeners. The station had a full-time staff of three.” . Despite these setbacks, WKSU continued to grow and become a major media player in Northeast Ohio.
The remainder of the decade saw monumental changes for WKSU. The station was transitioning from a student to professional staff, thus the need for the station’s first fund drive. The drive raised $5,000. In April 1974
, the station became an affiliate of the young National Public Radio. For the better part of a decade, it doubled as Cleveland's NPR station as well until WCPN
signed on in 1984. It still has significant listenership in Cleveland itself.
On January 22, 1980, the station reached a milestone when they hooked up with the satellite Westar I. This would allow WKSU to enjoy a greatly improved broadcast signal, in addition to recording NPR programs. From that day on, WKSU grew at a rapid pace. In July 1980, the station expanded its signal to reach over a million potential listeners in Northeast Ohio thanks to a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
increasing its power to 50,000 watts.
Shortly after, the station’s new remote truck was purchased, allowing WKSU to record more than 1,000 programs in Summit
, Stark
, Portage
, Cuyahoga
, Wayne
and Trumbull
counties. The station’s web site was launched in 1994, and began offering on-demand streaming starting in 1995. The station added its third repeater tower in 1997, broadcasting in Thompson from WKSV 89.1.
The past 10 years have seen rapid technological advances for the station, including three different live streams from WKSU.org. The station now broadcasts from its Kent location and via its four repeater towers and two translator stations.
The station's offices were located everywhere from the cramped confines of Kent Hall to a restaurant on State Route 59 before moving to its present facility. WKSU also had its offices in Wright Hall, part of the Tri-Towers residence complex at the university. Around 1977, six floors of the residential building were turned into office space. In 1987, they were converted back to dormitories and WKSU had to move to another campus building .
WKSU's main newsroom
is in Kent and the station maintains news bureaus in Cleveland and Canton
. WKSU is in the process of establishing a news bureau in downtown Akron
, sharing space with public television station WNEO/WEAO
45/49, and commercial NBC
affiliate WKYC Cleveland
. http://www.wksu.org/about/press/article.php?release=96
The Kent State Festival typically features several performances by both legendary and up-and-coming folk artists. Recent performers include Bob Dylan, Donavan, Avett Brothers, Judy Collins and Arlo Guthrie. The festival also includes a segment entitled 'Round Town with dozens of folk musicians simultaneously performing in dozens of venues throughout Kent.
The Kent State Folk Festival will celebrate its 45th year in 2011. Featured artists will include Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame as well as the Grammy-Award winning trio Carolina Chocolate Drops.
and Folk Alley Music Director Linda Fahey. Folk Alley features singer/songwriter, Celtic, acoustic, Americana, traditional, and world sounds.
Since July 10, 2008, Folk Alley's programming stream has been aired as a subchannel on WKSU's HD Radio
over-air feed. Folk Alley currently has more than 105,000 registered listeners.
Folk Alley features Open Mic, a place for developing and under-exposed singers, songwriters and musicians to post their music to share with Folk Alley listeners. Folk Alley's Open Mic opens the stage to up-and-coming artists - presenting new music to thousands of folk music lovers. Musicians are encouraged to choose their best work and upload it on the Folk Alley Open Mic website (www.folkalley.com/openmic/). All songs must be original works or a traditional song that is part of the public domain.
Kent, Ohio
Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeastern Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 27,906 at the 2000 United States Census and 28,904 in the 2010 Census...
and owned by Kent State University
Kent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
. The station features NPR, APM
American Public Media
American Public Media is the second largest producer of public radio programs in the United States of America after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and operates radio stations in Minnesota, California, and Florida. Its station brands are Minnesota Public Radio,...
and PRI
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
programming, classical music, regional news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
and, on weekends, folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
.
WKSU serves the Akron
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
radio market, but it can also be heard in most of the eastern half of the Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
market. The station also has repeaters in Thompson
Thompson Township, Geauga County, Ohio
Thompson Township is one of the sixteen townships of Geauga County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 2,383 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the northeastern corner of the county, it borders the following townships:...
(89.1 WKSV), Wooster
Wooster, Ohio
Wooster is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Wayne County. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio approximately SSW of Cleveland and SW of Akron. Wooster is noted as the location of The College of Wooster...
(89.3 WKRW), Norwalk
Norwalk, Ohio
At the 2000 census, there were 16,238 people, 6,377 households and 4,234 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,950.3 per square mile . There were 6,687 housing units at an average density of 803.1 per square mile...
(90.7 WNRK), New Philadelphia
New Philadelphia, Ohio
New Philadelphia is a city in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States, 71 miles south of Cleveland on the Tuscarawas River. It was first incorporated in 1808. Coal and clay are found in the vicinity...
(91.5 WKRJ), Boardman
Boardman, Ohio
Boardman is a census-designated place in Boardman Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, just south of Youngstown. Boardman is considered to be a moderately affluent community and is one of two major retail hubs in the greater Youngstown area...
(107.5 W298BA), and Ashland
Ashland, Ohio
Ashland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Ashland County. The population was 21,249 at the 2000 census. It is the center of the Ashland Micropolitan Statistical Area...
(95.7 W238AZ). WKSU 89.7 and the 4 full-power repeater stations are broadcast in HD Radio, with HD1, HD2 - Folk Alley, HD3 - Classical, and HD4 - The WKSU News Channel.
History
The origins of WKSU started in 1941 with the Kent State University Radio Workshop, which presented 40 different programs over several local commercial stations. In 1949, The Kent State University Board of Trustees began to take notice of the station’s modest broadcasts, and soon gave KSU President George Bowman the go-ahead to apply for a 10-watt educational station. In April 1950, the FCCFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
gave the station permission to build a small transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
attached to the roof of Kent Hall, and on October 2, 1950, WKSU was born. The signal was transmitted only within the confines of the campus. By November of that year, WKSU was broadcasting five hours a day, five days a week.
The 1960s brought about slow but steady growth for the fledgling station. The station’s music library was built up from private collections and the collections of its student employees, and its airtime expanded to 40 hours a week. WKSU began to become a presence in Northeast Ohio, with reports covering everything from election returns to football games.
The tragedy of the Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...
on May 4, 1970 was an opportunity for WKSU to prove it was a vital part of the University.
By 1973, according to a former general manager, WKSU had only 7,500 watts of power, and was not yet broadcasting in stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
. The station was only on the air for 85 hours a week, and programming was created by students, and scheduled around their class and vacation times. The entire operating budget was $42,000, and their audience rating for an entire week was 1,200 listeners. The station had a full-time staff of three.” . Despite these setbacks, WKSU continued to grow and become a major media player in Northeast Ohio.
The remainder of the decade saw monumental changes for WKSU. The station was transitioning from a student to professional staff, thus the need for the station’s first fund drive. The drive raised $5,000. In April 1974
1974 in radio
The year 1974 in radio involved some significant events.-Debuts:*January 6 - CBS Radio Mystery Theater debuts and is broadcast on 218 stations.* February 19 - BRMB begins broadcasting to the Birmingham area...
, the station became an affiliate of the young National Public Radio. For the better part of a decade, it doubled as Cleveland's NPR station as well until WCPN
WCPN
WCPN — branded 90.3 WCPN — is a public radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, and serving the serving Greater Cleveland area....
signed on in 1984. It still has significant listenership in Cleveland itself.
On January 22, 1980, the station reached a milestone when they hooked up with the satellite Westar I. This would allow WKSU to enjoy a greatly improved broadcast signal, in addition to recording NPR programs. From that day on, WKSU grew at a rapid pace. In July 1980, the station expanded its signal to reach over a million potential listeners in Northeast Ohio thanks to a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that serves as the President's principal adviser on telecommunications policies pertaining to the United States' economic and technological advancement and to regulation of the...
increasing its power to 50,000 watts.
Shortly after, the station’s new remote truck was purchased, allowing WKSU to record more than 1,000 programs in Summit
Summit County, Ohio
Summit County is an urban county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 542,899. In the 2010 Census the population was 541,781. Its county seat is Akron...
, Stark
Stark County, Ohio
Stark County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 375,586. It is included in the Canton-Massillon, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, Portage
Portage County, Ohio
Portage County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 152,061 at the 2000 Census and 161,419 at the 2010 Census. Its county seat is Ravenna. Portage County is named for the portage between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers...
, Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Cuyahoga County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. It is the most populous county in Ohio; as of the 2010 census, the population was 1,280,122. Its county seat is Cleveland. Cuyahoga County is part of Greater Cleveland, a metropolitan area, and Northeast Ohio, a...
, Wayne
Wayne County, Ohio
Wayne County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States, and is named for General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. As of the 2010 census, the population was 114,520. Its county seat is Wooster....
and Trumbull
Trumbull County, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 225,116 people, 89,020 households, and 61,690 families residing in the county. The population density was 365 people per square mile . There were 95,117 housing units at an average density of 154 per square mile...
counties. The station’s web site was launched in 1994, and began offering on-demand streaming starting in 1995. The station added its third repeater tower in 1997, broadcasting in Thompson from WKSV 89.1.
The past 10 years have seen rapid technological advances for the station, including three different live streams from WKSU.org. The station now broadcasts from its Kent location and via its four repeater towers and two translator stations.
Station facilities
WKSU operates out of a broadcast facility at the northeast corner of Loop Road and Summit Street in Kent. The facility was built in 1992, and brought together production and administrative offices for the first time in 18 years. The building cost $2.1 million and was funded entirely from private sources.The station's offices were located everywhere from the cramped confines of Kent Hall to a restaurant on State Route 59 before moving to its present facility. WKSU also had its offices in Wright Hall, part of the Tri-Towers residence complex at the university. Around 1977, six floors of the residential building were turned into office space. In 1987, they were converted back to dormitories and WKSU had to move to another campus building .
WKSU's main newsroom
Newsroom
A newsroom is the place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, along with other staffers—work to gather news to be published in a newspaper or magazine or broadcast on television, cable or radio...
is in Kent and the station maintains news bureaus in Cleveland and Canton
Canton, Ohio
Canton is the county seat of Stark County in northeastern Ohio, approximately south of Akron and south of Cleveland.The City of Caton is the largest incorporated area within the Canton-Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. WKSU is in the process of establishing a news bureau in downtown Akron
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
, sharing space with public television station WNEO/WEAO
WNEO
WNEO and WEAO are Public Broadcasting Service member public television stations in northeastern Ohio, simulcasting together as Western Reserve PBS...
45/49, and commercial NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WKYC Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. http://www.wksu.org/about/press/article.php?release=96
Kent State Folk Festival
The Kent State Folk Festival is the second oldest continuously produced folk festival on a college campus. Started in the 1960s by a group of Kent State students catching hold of the folk revival, the festival continues to preserve folk and heritage music through concerts, workshops and educational programs. Since 2000, WKSU has produced the Kent State Folk Festival, after more than 30 years of production by student campus organizations.The Kent State Festival typically features several performances by both legendary and up-and-coming folk artists. Recent performers include Bob Dylan, Donavan, Avett Brothers, Judy Collins and Arlo Guthrie. The festival also includes a segment entitled 'Round Town with dozens of folk musicians simultaneously performing in dozens of venues throughout Kent.
The Kent State Folk Festival will celebrate its 45th year in 2011. Featured artists will include Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame as well as the Grammy-Award winning trio Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Folk Alley
FolkAlley.com offers live streaming folk music 24 hours a day and is produced by WKSU. Created in September 2003, Folk Alley's web site is built and produced by the station. The Folk Alley playlist is created by senior host, Jim BlumJim Blum
Jim Blum is a folk music DJ on WKSU-FM in Kent, Ohio, where he has produced shows for over 25 years in addition to producing shows for Internet radio Folk Alley since its inception in 2003. Blum is also heavily involved with the Kent State Folk Festival....
and Folk Alley Music Director Linda Fahey. Folk Alley features singer/songwriter, Celtic, acoustic, Americana, traditional, and world sounds.
Since July 10, 2008, Folk Alley's programming stream has been aired as a subchannel on WKSU's HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
over-air feed. Folk Alley currently has more than 105,000 registered listeners.
Folk Alley features Open Mic, a place for developing and under-exposed singers, songwriters and musicians to post their music to share with Folk Alley listeners. Folk Alley's Open Mic opens the stage to up-and-coming artists - presenting new music to thousands of folk music lovers. Musicians are encouraged to choose their best work and upload it on the Folk Alley Open Mic website (www.folkalley.com/openmic/). All songs must be original works or a traditional song that is part of the public domain.
External links
- WKSU-FM