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WKNC (88.1 FM), North Carolina State University's student-run radio station, is a college radio station in the United States. Broadcasting with an effective radiated power of 25,000 watts [1], its signal covers a large portion of North Carolina. The station is entirely student-run and operated, from the DJs up through the station manager and technicians. Its primary weekday format is rock, with various general rock starting around 5:00AM on weekday mornings and continuing throughout the daytime into the early evening. weekday evenings and late-nights are filled by various local talkshows, Afterhours (various forms of electronic/techno music) and the Underground (hip hop), respectively. It also features specialty shows including the Local Beat (music local to North Carolina), The Video Game Revolution (Video game music), Sports Revolution, Chainsaw Rock (heavy metal), latin, bluegrass, Geet Bazaar (music from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and others), world music, a cappella, punk rock, and 80's rock/pop. Most of the station's programming is also webcasted.
The station also carries all of NCSU's women's basketball and men's baseball games and occasionally partners with other athletics and campus programs to cover other significant events on and off campus.
[edit] History
- 1922 - First licensed as WLAC by communications department faculty and students; it was the second radio station in North Carolina.
- 1923 - WLAC signed off due to financial troubles.
- 1944 - A group of engineering students establish WOLF (the mascot of NCSU is the Wolfpack) as a carrier current station for on-campus listeners.
- 1945 - The station's call letters were changed to WNCS (W-North Carolina State) and the station was recognized by the Student Publications Authority. With university support, a permanent home for the station was established on campus.
- 1947 - The call letters were changed, again, to WVWP (W-Voice of the Wolf Pack) as the station experimented with broadcasting sporting events.
- 1948 - The station broadcast all home basketball games.
- 1952 - The FCC shut the station down for over-radiation of its signal.
- 1954 - WVWP returned to the airways.
- 1958 - A final call letter change from WVWP to WKNC, 580 AM.
- October, 1966 - WKNC 580AM became WKNC 88.1FM through a decision to expand the station's coverage. (As a carrier current station, WKNC could only be heard on-campus in three of the residence halls.) KNC went on air with a 10 watt transmitter and its combination of folk, jazz, and classical could be heard in most of the surrounding city.
- 1972 - The station moved into studios in the University Student Center, and a guyed 30 foot antenna tower was built atop the University's library.
- 1974 - Transmitter power was increased to 1,000 watts. Format changed to a progressive rock style, but continued to feature top-40, jazz, and soul.
- early 1980s - The station moved into a hard rock/heavy metal format and gained praise as one of the top college stations in the nation.
- 1984 - Effective Radiated Power increase to 3,000 watts (approximately a 40 mile radius of coverage). Guyed tower replaced with 80 foot self-supporting tower.
- 1991 - WKNC moved into its current home atop the Student Center Annex (later named the Witherspoon Student Center).
- 1990s - Transmission power was increased to 10,000 watts.
- 1997 - WKNC began its webcast and can now be heard all around the globe
- late 1990s & early 2000s - The format changed from a hard rock format to a wider blend of music, focusing on independent and non-top-40 artists.
- 2003 - Power was increased to 25,000 watts, making WKNC one of the most powerful college radio stations in America.
[edit] References
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North Carolina college radio stations |
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WAKE (Wake Forest University) • WDCC (Central Carolina Community College) • WKNC (North Carolina State University) • WQFS (Guilford College) • WSGE (Gaston College) • WSIF (Wilkes Community College) • WSOE (Elon University) • WUAG (University of North Carolina-Greensboro) • WUAW (Central Carolina Community College) • WXDU (Duke University) • WXYC (University of North Carolina) • WZMB (East Carolina University) •
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