KVSC celebrates 50 years
KVSC began its operations as a 10 watt, Class D broadcast facility with its first broadcast May 10, 1967, at 88.5 on the dial.
The celebration was planned by Station Manager Jo McMullen, who has served as station manager since the early 1990s and served before that as a student volunteer at the station.
The celebration will began June 9 alumni reunion at the Red Carpet Event Center.
Consisting of days of open houses, studio tours, concerts and a reunion, the celebration included the return of KVSC and St. Cloud State alumni to the airwaves.
The open houses gave long-term listeners as well as KVSC alumni a chance to see the studios and how the operation runs.
Concerts on June 9 and 10 featured the type of music KVSC plays. The June 9 concert featured Nooky Jones performing funk and soul followed by jazz and R&B of Davina & the Vagabonds.
The June 10 show was folk and Americana with Dead Man Winter with the Cactus Blossoms. The Saturday show was sold out.
Several St. Cloud State alumni and community members with ties to KVSC came back for the celebration, McMullen said.
There were spaces for them to sit down and have conversations about their memories working and volunteering at KVSC. McMullen said she was excited to see the KVSC alumni coming back and seeing the changes at KVSC studios and hearing their memories.
“You want to do it right,” she said. “You want to tip your hat and recognize the work of so many students over five decades. You want to recognize the work of volunteers and of course the community.”
Faculty coordinator Garry Hawkins and KVSC’s general manager Andrew Marlow in the KVSC studios in May 1967. Photo courtesy of St. Cloud State University Archives
KVSC’s beginning
St. Cloud State’s first foray into radio began in 1960 when students formed a Radio Guild. The guild would pre-produce programming in the university studios and it would be aired on WJON’s Sunday evening campus show.
Students pushed for a station of their own, so they could do programming outside of the Sunday evening WJON slot.
When KVSC began the station was the “Voice of St. Cloud” and was run exclusively by student volunteers under an adviser from the speech department and funded by the department and student fees.
Andy Marlow was KVSC’s first general manager. Together with adviser E. Scott Bryce, Marlow and the Radio Guild students did all the work to get the station going.
The students ran wires through the steam tunnels to the antenna on Sherburne Hall, set up the studio and developed programming. They neglected their classroom duties, but they got the station up and running with block programming every evening, Marlow said.
“Often times you learn a lot more doing things like building a radio station than you do in the classroom,” said Marlow, who went on to a career in radio working as a public affairs producer, program director and later station manager at the University of Minnesota’s Radio K.
After arriving on campus in 1967 for freshman orientation, one of the first moves of Philip Nelson was to head straight to Stewart Hall to find the station and see it for himself.
“The whole concept of having our very own college radio station run by students was a wonderfully amazing addition to my college program of studies,” he said.
Nelson served at KVSC until 1969 learning the basics of radio production including working the equipment, programming and announcing on the air.
The highlight of his time at KVSC was an interview with the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary after their Twin Cities concert.
He attended the concert and then sat down with each member of the trio collecting more than three hours of interviews for a three-part series.
“The interviews were very intellectual and somewhat political,” Nelson said. “I was impressed by their candor and distinctly individual opinions.”
KVSC has had a lot of changes through the years. The station went on the air as a 10 watt educational station reaching only within the St. Cloud city limits.
“You want to tip your hat and recognize the work of so many students over five decades. You want to recognize the work of volunteers and of course the community.”
— Jo McMullen, KVSC station manager
KVSC moved to 88.1 FM Feb. 8, 1983, to allow for increased station power. In September 1992, the station increased its operating power to 16,500 watts, covering a 70 mile broadcast radius with a potential listening audience of almost 2 million listeners.
The station has continued to evolve. In 1994 the station moved to broadcasting 24 hours a day and added a website in 1995 and began streaming online in 1999.
Today KVSC partners with UTVS to simultaneously broadcast live on radio and TV news, sports, Trivia Weekend and live bands.
“We’re celebrating the people who have been involved in that growth,” McMullen said.
Marlow marvels at the 24 hour programming and powerful reach of the station he helped start.
“It’s quite impressive what it has become,” he said, adding that he’s also amazed at the support St. Cloud State has developed for KVSC.
Marlow returned to KVSC for the 50th anniversary celebration and returned to the airwaves to disc jockey as an alumni guest with his old on-air friend Merle T. Pulley.
“It’s a remarkable thing,” Marlow said before the anniversary. “So many folks from that first group are still around and coming back for the festivities. I’m looking forward to getting together with those folks again.”
KVSC history
- 1960 St. Cloud State students form a Radio Guild
- 1967 St. Cloud State University debuts its public radio station, KVSC, at 88.5 FM
- 1980 Trivia Contest debuts
- 1983 KVSC officially moved down the dial to 88.1 FM
- 1984 Format changes to a Top 40 “hit” radio station
- 1985 The format changes again to feature alternative programming and specialty shows
- 1992 KVSC increases its operating power from 1,300 watts to 16,500 watts
- 1994 KVSC begins broadcasting 24 hours a day
- 1995 KVSC.org launches its website
- 1999 Live Internet broadcasts begin
- 2003 Digital audio system installed in studios
- 2009 KVSC receives its first Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Legacy grant
- 2014 HD Transmitter installed, signal is now analog and HD plus new digital channels 2-4
- 2016 The Monday Night Live music performance show celebrates 25 years on the air
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