KANM
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
KANM is the student-run radio station of Texas A&M University. It operates at 1690 AM, a low-power unlicensed station, on campus television cable channel 88, as well as serving several audio streams on the World Wide Web.
KANM began in 1973 as Student Government Radio 89.1 FM Cable in the back of a barber shop off campus next to Midwest Cable's head-end. At the time, cable FM technology had risen in popularity as a cheap way to start a small radio station. The station primarily consisted of Top 40 music of the era.
In the early 1980s, KANM was given its own office space on campus at The Pavilion, and was given a small budget with which to purchase new equipment and music. In 1992, the radio station moved again, this time to the John C. Koldus Building.
In 1991, a serious attempt to acquire an FM license was made by the station. A group of KANM students and university staff - led by Eric Truax, a graduate student - formed an independent nonprofit entity, Brazos Educational Radio, to protect the proposed new broadcast station from control by the Texas A&M Board of Regents. In 1992, the group filed the paperwork for a position on the FM spectrum in College Station. During this time the board of directors of Brazos Educational Radio consisted of Truax, Beth Weissinger, Mark McCann, Janina Hurtado and Heidi Halstead. All were KANM DJs and held positions as station staff.
However, friction developed between newer student members - who wanted only student participation - and the earlier members who favored both student and community participation. A series of meetings was held in 1993 and 1994 in which the student organization KANM was offered the opportunity to manage the proposed hybrid student/community radio station, but the new KANM student management rejected the offer. Brazos Educational Radio and the old KANM management were forced off campus. The Federal Communications Commission granted them a permit to broadcast in 1994 and it went on the air off-campus in March of 1995 as KEOS 89.1 FM, with a mix of Texas A&M students, staff and community members.
KANM has since come full circle, as it replaced the barber shop on campus in 1998 at the Memorial Student Center. It began broadcasting as a 10-watt license-free AM station in 2004.
