KUOM (770 AM) – branded Radio K - Real College Radio – is a daytime-only, non-commercial, college radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Owned by the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, the station is operated by students and faculty. It mainly airs alternative rock with other genres of music. The studios are in Rarig Center on the University of Minnesota campus.
KUOM is a member of AMPERS, the Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations. It receives funding from a number of sources, including donations from listeners. Approximately 40% of the station's funding comes from listener support, while the rest is provided by the state and federal governments, along with the University of Minnesota.
KUOM's AM signal operates at 5,000 watts with a non-directional antenna. Its transmitter tower is on the St. Paul - Falcon Heights campus. Due to its low frequency of 770 kHz, combined with the region's excellent soil conductivity,"Map of Effective Ground Conductivity in the United States for AM Broadcast Stations" (FCC.gov) 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 as far as St. Cloud and Mankato. However, the AM operation is licensed to broadcast only during daylight hours to avoid interfering with Class A WABC in New York City at night. Therefore, its hours of operation vary from month to month, reflecting local sunrise and sunset times. Sign off, 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.
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. It 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.
The station's programming has been recognized as the "best radio station of the Twin Cities" in 2010, 2013, and 2015 by City Pages editors. Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber also commonly cites the station's influence as having been an integral factor in his decision to start an online publication dedicated to the coverage of independent music.
History 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.
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."Radio history at the U of M" by Rebecca Toov, January 13, 2016 (continuum.umn.edu) 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."Wireless to Flash Minnesota-Iowa Basketball Score", Minneapolis Tribune, January 21, 1916, page 13.
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."New Stations: War Department Training and Rehabilitation Schools", Radio Service Bulletin, December 1, 1919, page 5. This was followed in early 1920 by the issuance of an experimental radio license, with the call sign 9XI."New Stations: Special Land Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, April 1, 1920, page 5. The "9" in 9XI's call sign indicated that the station was located in the ninth Radio Inspection district, while the "X" signified that the station was operating under an Experimental license.The same equipment was used for both station operations. A photograph of the 9XI-WX2 transmitting equipment is included at the "Radio history at the U of M" webpage. These operations were under the oversight of electrical engineering professor C. M. Jansky Jr., the older brother of Karl Jansky.C. M. Jansky had previously been at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he had worked at its experimental station 9XM.
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.Radio Education Pioneering in the Mid-west by Albert A. Reed, 1942, page 74. 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."'U' Wireless Station Has Market Service", Minneapolis Tribune, February 6, 1921, page 35. 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."The First Quarter-century of American Broadcasting by E. P. J. Shurick, 1946, page 115. December saw the beginning of a daily noon broadcast of livestock prices."Live Stock Prices by Wireless at 'U'", Minneapolis Tribune, December 4, 1921, page 1. These transmissions initially originated from the electrical engineering building on the Minneapolis campus, where a transmitter was installed on the roof.
WLB / KUOM Initially there were no formal standards for radio stations making broadcasts intended for the general public. However, effective December 1, 1921, the United States Department of Commerce, which supervised radio at this time, issued a regulation requiring that stations making broadcasts intended for the general public now had to operate under a "Limited Commercial" license.""Amendments to Regulations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10. On January 13, 1922 the university was issued its new license, which was given the randomly assigned call letters WLB, and authorized the use of both broadcasting wavelengths: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports". This was the first broadcasting station license issued in the state of Minnesota. WHA, operated by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, was issued its first license on the same day, making WLB and WHA the first two broadcasting licenses issued to educational institutions, and early examples of college radio stations."New Stations: Commercial Land Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, February 1, 1922, page 2. At this time there was no differentiation between commercial and non-commercial broadcasting stations. The licenses were not time-stamped, however WLB's Limited Commercial license serial number was #275, and WHA's was #276. Other Midwestern universities also doing early telegraph and radio experiments include the University of Iowa's WSUI and Iowa State University's WOI, both started in 1911, and St. Louis University's WEW in 1912. WHA began its experiments in 1915.
In February 1922, when a heavy snowstorm knocked out newswire services in the region, the Minneapolis Tribune asked the station's operators to help retrieve the day's news through a roundabout series of amateur radio relays.
Beginning in 1927FCC History Cards: KUOM (image #2), "Broadcasting Station License Record: Card #1". the station operated with a secondary call sign of "WGMS", for "Gold Medal (Flour) Station",Requested Broadcast Calls of the 1920s by Jeff Miller which was used when station WCCO employed WLB's transmitter. (At the time, WCCO was also using its own facilities at 720 kHz, 740 kHz and 810 kHz.)FCC History Cards: WCCO (image #3), "Construction Permit and License Record" (back of "Broadcasting Station License Record: Card #1")"United States Broadcasting Stations", White's Radio Log, Fall and Winter Issue, 1930, page 3. On May 15, 1933, after the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) requested that stations using only one of their assigned call letters drop those that were no longer in regular use, WGMS was eliminated and the station reverted to just WLB."Double Call Letters Are Being Eliminated", Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, June 25, 1933, Part 4, page 6.
On November 11, 1928, a major reassignment of station transmitting frequencies took place, under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40. WLB began operating on 1250 kHz, but a shortage of available assignments meant it had to share this frequency with three other stations: St. Olaf College's WCAL in Northfield, Minnesota; Carlton College's KFMX; and the Rosedale Hospital's WRHM, which in 1934 changed its callsign to WTCN (now WWTC). WLB, WCAL and KFMX were operated by educational institutions, while WTCN was a commercial station which aggressively sought to expand its operating hours at the expense of the other three stations."University of Minnesota", Education's Own Stations by S. E. Frost, Jr., pp. 215–218.
KFMX surrendered its license in 1933, which reduced the number of stations sharing time. WLB's facilities were moved to Eddy Hall in 1936. In 1938 WLB and WCAL made peace with WTCN by agreeing to move to 760 kHz, where the stations were restricted to daytime-only transmissions, with WLB to receive rds of the available hours."WTCN Goes Full Time: College Stations Improve", Broadcasting, May 15, 1938, page 36. In 1941, as part of the frequency shifts resulting from implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, WLB and WCAL moved from 760 to 770 kHz. In 1991, The University of Minnesota made an agreement with St. Olaf in which WCAL was provided land for an improved FM tower near Rosemount, Minnesota in exchange for fulltime use of the AM frequency.
WLB's programming was expanded to include lectures, concerts, and football games. In the 1930s and 1940s, the station broadcast a considerable amount of educational material and was used for distance learning—a practice that continued into the 1990s. On June 1, 1945, WLB's call sign was changed to KUOM, to stand for University of Minnesota."Radio K Through the Years" When WLB was first licensed in 1922, the dividing line for eastern "W" call letters and western "K" call signs ran along the western borders of the Dakotas. In January 1923 the boundary was shifted to the Mississippi River, which moved Minneapolis into the "K" call letters region.
A polio epidemic in 1946 that resulted in temporary school closings and the cancellation of the Minnesota State Fair led the station to create programming for children who were homebound. Those programs, along with others broadcast in the 1940s, were recognized for their importance and led to several awards being given to the station.