KSDT Radio

KSDT
Broadcast area UCSD campus FM cable
Slogan Fiercely Independent College Radio
Frequency off air—online only
First air date June 1968
Format Eclectic
Owner UCSD
Webcast Listen Live
Website KSDT

KSDT is an online college radio station which refers to itself as "fiercely independent college radio". Its facilities are located on the campus of the University of California San Diego, in La Jolla.

It broadcasts on the internet over iTunes Radio (under College Radio) and from its homepage.[1]

Organization

KSDT Radio in July 2008

KSDT is a student-run radio station. Its staff, consisting of a general manager, operations manager, head engineer, programming director, promotions director, and its core staff of music directors are all required by KSDT's charter to be students at UCSD. Oversight is provided by the Associated Students (AS) and UCSD administration.

The majority of the organization's staff and budget is devoted to providing a public service to the surrounding communities by playing music and hosting programming not normally heard elsewhere; usually taking the form of music shows featuring independent and underground music from a variety of genres. While so-called indie rock music and its many subgenres are consistently found being broadcast from KSDT along with electronic music, other genres such as jazz, blues, heavy metal, experimental, hip hop, world, and others often have considerably less airtime devoted to them. This is indicative not of any preference of music directors, but more on the makeup of its completely volunteer DJ staff and the communities they represent.

KSDT does feature an open-door policy to accepting volunteer DJs. Any member of the community, student or not, can sign up to take the required 4 training classes and 1 two-hour hands-on training (basically DJing with someone more experienced there to help). After that, any open time slot can be filled with a new show featuring a new DJ. Despite this open-door policy, only a few non-student DJs can be heard on KSDT.

KSDT also has a recording studio, which runs under the responsibility of the Head Engineer. Mainly used for live broadcast performances of visiting bands, it has been used to record demos for local bands, booked over longer periods of time to record full albums or EPs, and also to create and archive station identifications.

History

Founded in the 1960s, KSDT originally was an AM radio and FM cable radio station broadcasting on the UCSD campus. Throughout its history, KSDT has tried multiple times to obtain a terrestrial FM radio signal but failed due to strict Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadcasting laws. It continues to pursue this goal.[2][3][4][5]

As a public service college radio station, the format was largely musical, with some community access programming. Commercial-free, it received funding from the University.

In 1999 it moved to become an internet radio station. In 2000 and 2001, it split with its "sister station" SRTV (student-run television).

Its current mission statement in part "strives to promote independent music not available from other sources and works to help the San Diego Community as well."[1]

The recording studio on its premises was used to record and broadcast live many independent bands such as aMiniature, Rookie Card, Skeletor, The Locust, Estradasphere, Dressy Bessy, The Robot Ate Me, Creedle, Sub Society, Milestone, etc.

Artists such as Lemmy from Motörhead, Björk, The Flaming Lips, The Meat Puppets, Screaming Trees, Mogwai, Fugazi, and others have recorded station identifications for KSDT in the past.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "official KSDT page". Retrieved 2007-08-03. strives to promote independent music not available from other sources and works to help the San Diego Community as well.
  2. ↑ "Why KSDT Can't Be Picked Up On a Normal FM Radio". Archived from the original on December 31, 1996. Retrieved 2009-11-15. Why KSDT Can't Be Picked Up On A Normal FM Radio
  3. ↑ "A Partial History of KSDT". Archived from the original on December 31, 1996. Retrieved 2009-11-15. A Partial History
  4. ↑ "http://www.ucsdguardian.org/focus/ksdts-hunt-for-a-new-wave/". Retrieved 2009-11-16. KSDT's Hunt for a New Wave
  5. ↑ "KSDT Radio Plans to File for $100K AM Tower". Retrieved 2012-01-13.

External links

Coordinates: 32°52′30″N 117°14′21″W / 32.87500°N 117.23917°W