KUOM (770 AM) – branded Radio K – is a daytime-only, non-commercial educational college/alternative rock radio station licensed to serve Minneapolis, Minnesota. Owned by the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, the station is operated by both faculty and students. Studios are located at the Rarig Center on the University of Minnesota campus.
KUOM's AM signal operates with a non-directional antenna located on the St. Paul/Falcon Heights campus. Due to its low frequency of 770 kHz, combined with the region's flat terrain and excellent soil conductivity, the station's AM coverage is comparable to that of a full-power FM station. Its signal can be heard throughout the Twin Cities area, with grade B coverage in St. Cloud and Mankato. However, the AM operation is licensed to broadcast only during daylight hours, in order to protect WABC in New York City at night. Therefore, its hours of operation vary from month to month, reflecting local sunrise and sunset times, with the day's sign on and signoff changing from month to month; signoff, for example, ranges from 4:30 p.m. in winter to 9:00 p.m. in summer. KUOM extends its reach, and adds nighttime service, with two FM translators and one limited-reach FM station that allow KUOM's programming to be heard 24 hours a day. KUOM is also available online.
The university traces its radio activities back more than 100 years, starting with experimental work in 1912, followed by radiotelegraph broadcasts begun in 1920, and radiotelephone broadcasts of market reports inaugurated in February 1921. KUOM's first license as a broadcasting station, originally WLB, was granted on January 13, 1922. This was Minnesota's first broadcasting station, making KUOM one of the oldest surviving radio stations in North America.
Programming
Programs include a wide variety of Independent and Alternative music, and feature specialty shows dedicated to Metal, Hip hop, Jazz, R&B, Electronic, Punk, Folk, and World Music. The station specializes in promoting local musicians and produces local shows, including the award-winning Off The Record. Music submissions are filtered through a large group of volunteer reviewers and DJs.
A news program called Access Minnesota began in 2004 and is carried on several dozen radio stations across the state. Focusing on politics and the media, the program is produced by Radio K and the Minnesota Broadcasters Association.
History
WX2 and 9XI
Originally called "wireless telegraphy," radio experimentation at the University of Minnesota began in 1912, conducted by Professor Franklin Springer, using spark transmitters that could only send the dots-and-dashes of Morse code. In January 1916, it was reported that as a "first in the northwest," the College of Engineering was planning to transmit the progress of that night's basketball game between the University of Minnesota and the visiting University of Iowa team.
In late 1919, following the end of World War I, the university was authorized to establish a "War Department Training and Rehabilitation School" station, with the call sign WX2. This was followed in early 1920 by the issuance of an experimental radio license, with the call sign 9XI. These operations were under the oversight of electrical engineering professor C. M. Jansky Jr., the older brother of Karl Jansky.
In 1920 a one-kilowatt spark transmitter was installed. In addition to communicating with amateur and other university stations, 9XI, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, transmitted market and weather reports by radiotelegraph. The development of vacuum tube transmitters, capable of audio transmissions, would lead to further advances, and over time 9XI began including broadcasts for general audiences. On February 2, 1921, the station inaugurated audio transmissions, as part of its nightly 8:30 p.m. broadcasts of market reports. In the fall of 1921, the station gave "a running account of a Minnesota football game through notes brought to the station's studios by a relay of students from the sidelines at the field." December saw the beginning of a daily noon broadcast of livestock prices. These transmissions initially originated from the electrical engineering building on the Minneapolis campus, where a transmitter was installed on the roof.