KLCZ

KLCZ (88.9 FM) is a student operated college station broadcasting a freeform format. KLCZ has sampled from a variety of often very different genres recently. Licensed to Lewiston, Idaho, USA, the radio station serves the Lewiston area. The station is currently owned by Lewis–Clark State College.^[1]

History

The station was assigned the calls KLHS on 1980-02-15. On 2007-02-01, the station changed its call sign to the current KLCZ.^[2]

In the late 1990s a group of students started investigating the process of starting a college radio station. The group was formally recognized through Lewis-Clark State College Student Activities as “The Radio Club.” These individuals conducted regular meetings and fundraisers to save enough money to make their dream a reality. In the fall of 2002 the ASLCSC assisted the radio station through financial contributions for equipment. The Student Union Building Board also authorized the dedication of room SUB 205 to be used to house a radio station. Discussions began in 2002 by the ASLCSC Student Body President and Lewiston High School regarding sharing the high school’s station KLHS 88.9 FM.

In time, it was decided that Lewis-Clark State College would have greater involvement and ultimately be a better fit for the 88.9 FM frequencies. The Radio Club then purchased the license and the older equipment from Lewiston High School. It was recognized that the equipment was quite antiquated and new equipment was needed. Mike Ripley and the Idaho State Broadcasters Association saw the station’s need and offered to help by loaning the Radio Club funds to purchase a new transmitter and antenna. This loan agreement stated that the Radio Club would need to pay back half the loan over the course of 5 years and if the station was successful in staying on the air over these five years, the remainder of the loan would be a gift from the ISBA. To this day, KLCZ has successfully repaid half of their loan and continues to air 24 hours a day.

After working with field engineers and an FCC attorney over the course of a year the transmitter and antenna were relocated to the LCSC Natural Science Building. The station had a deadline by the FCC of when it had to be relocated and back on the air and in October 2006 the station was turned on for the first time at its new location, just in time. A couple months after the new station was on the air, new call letters were established and the station is now known as, “KLCZ 88.9FM Lewiston!”

References

External links

• The official KLCZ website
• KLCZ history
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KLCZ
• Radio-Locator information on KLCZ
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for KLCZ