KJHK
Encyclopedia
KJHK 90.7 FM is a campus radio
station, located in Lawrence, Kansas
at the University of Kansas
. On December 3, 1994, the station became one of the first radio stations to broadcast a live and continuous stream over internet radio
. It currently broadcasts at 2600 watts, with a broadcast area covering Lawrence, parts of Topeka
, and Kansas City
. The station is overseen by the KU Memorial Unions, but is completely run by KU students.
station on 630 AM. In 1956, it changed its calls to KUOK. Wilt Chamberlain
hosted his own show on the station during his days as a KU student.
By the 1970s, the popularity of the station was outgrowing its limited range and on October 5, 1975 the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) gave final permission to broadcast at 90.7 megahertz, and granted the station the new call letters "KJHK". On October 15, 1975, Steve Doocy
played the first song at 12:25 P.M., broadcasting at 9.9 watts. In 1978 a bored staffer wrote a fake news report claiming a nuclear reactor
explosion destroyed Waterloo, Iowa
killing 15,000 people. Another staffer found the report and read it on air. The news was picked up by other organizations causing panic and was mentioned that night on the CBS Evening News
by Walter Cronkite
on how a single radio station "blowed up" Waterloo. The writer of the story was suspended for one semester before being promoted to news director the next fall.
!" multiple times after the KU men's basketball title game against Oklahoma
. This led the school administration to remove music with expletives. The administration also prevented Ku Klux Klan
members to come on the air for a show on race citing security issues. Angry students protested what they saw as a censoring of free speech with some going as far as to make anonymous death threats.
, LCD Soundsystem
and Chuck D
of Public Enemy. Later that year the police were again called to KJ because an amputee, with his severed foot in a bucket of formaldehyde, came to hang out at the station.
Campus radio
Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...
station, located in Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
. On December 3, 1994, the station became one of the first radio stations to broadcast a live and continuous stream over internet radio
Internet radio
Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...
. It currently broadcasts at 2600 watts, with a broadcast area covering Lawrence, parts of Topeka
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
, and Kansas City
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...
. The station is overseen by the KU Memorial Unions, but is completely run by KU students.
1950s-1970s
KJHK's roots go back to 1952, when KDGU signed on as a carrier currentCarrier current
Carrier current is a method of low power AM radio transmission that uses the AC electrical system of a building to propagate a medium frequency, AM signal to a relatively small area, such as a building or a group of buildings...
station on 630 AM. In 1956, it changed its calls to KUOK. Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; he also played for the Harlem Globetrotters prior to playing in the NBA...
hosted his own show on the station during his days as a KU student.
By the 1970s, the popularity of the station was outgrowing its limited range and on October 5, 1975 the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) gave final permission to broadcast at 90.7 megahertz, and granted the station the new call letters "KJHK". On October 15, 1975, Steve Doocy
Steve Doocy
Stephen James "Steve" Doocy is an American network-television personality on the Fox News Channel, journalist, and a best selling author.-Early life:...
played the first song at 12:25 P.M., broadcasting at 9.9 watts. In 1978 a bored staffer wrote a fake news report claiming a nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
explosion destroyed Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the population decreased by 0.5% to 68,406. Waterloo is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the more populous of the two...
killing 15,000 people. Another staffer found the report and read it on air. The news was picked up by other organizations causing panic and was mentioned that night on the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
by Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
on how a single radio station "blowed up" Waterloo. The writer of the story was suspended for one semester before being promoted to news director the next fall.
1980s
In 1987, KJHK was granted a power increase to 100 watts. In 1988 the FCC fined the station after an excited DJ said "Fuck you Billy TubbsBilly Tubbs
Billy Tubbs is a former men's college basketball coach. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native has been the head coach of his alma mater Lamar University , the University of Oklahoma and Texas Christian University .Tubbs was known for his high scoring offense and full-court press defense.Tubbs achieved many...
!" multiple times after the KU men's basketball title game against Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
. This led the school administration to remove music with expletives. The administration also prevented Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
members to come on the air for a show on race citing security issues. Angry students protested what they saw as a censoring of free speech with some going as far as to make anonymous death threats.
1990s
On December 3, 1994, the station became one of the first in the nation to broadcast a live, 24-hour signal on the internet. In 1995 KJHK changed its tagline from "The Sound Alternative", which it started using in 1976, to "The Hawk", because of alternative's association with top 40 music. In 2000, it reverted back to "The Sound Alternative". The station increased its signal to 2600 watts in 1998.2000s
In 2003, after 28 years of supervision, the William Allen White School of Journalism decided that it could no longer support the station's operational budget. Fortunately for the station and the Lawrence community, KU Memorial Unions agreed in 2004 to take up oversight of the station. KJHK today is funded in-part by the KU Student Senate Media Fee as well as through donations by local businesses and private individuals. In 2005 KJHK celebrated its 30th anniversary by bringing a diverse group of artists to Lawrence such as Mates of StateMates of State
Mates of State are an American indie pop duo, active since 1997. The group is composed of the husband-and-wife team of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel .Over the course of the band's fourteen year career, they've released three EPs and six full-length, studio...
, LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem was a prominent American dance-punk band from New York City. It was fronted by American singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy, co-founder of record label DFA Records...
and Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
of Public Enemy. Later that year the police were again called to KJ because an amputee, with his severed foot in a bucket of formaldehyde, came to hang out at the station.
KJHK today
The station currently has over 150 student volunteers, and continues with independent music as its charter and format. On May 5, 2010, KJHK moved from its longtime home, "The Shack", to newly constructed studios in the Kansas Union.Awards and achievements
- KJHK students have been annually recognized with several awards for its technical and creative merits from the Kansas Association of BroadcastersKansas Association of BroadcastersThe Kansas Association of Broadcasters is a group supporting broadcasters in Kansas, United States, primarily through lobbying and coordination.-Mission:...
.
- Winner of CMJ'sCollege Music JournalCollege Music Journal, commonly known as CMJ, is a music events/publishing company which hosts an annual festival in New York City, the CMJ Music Marathon, as well as a weekly magazine of and for the music industry and college radio stations in the United States and Canada. It publishes top 30...
2006 "Most Improved Station."
- Nominated for the 2007 PLUG AwardPLUG Independent Music AwardsThe PLUG Independent Music Awards, or just PLUG Awards, began in 2001 as a "cartel" of music lovers ranging from DJs and managers to indie retailers and fans.*This event is not in any way associated with the .-2008:...
for "Best College/Non-Commercial Radio Station Of The Year."
- On June 8, 2007, KJHK was reportedly the first Kansas radio station to produce a live remote radio broadcast using the Broadcast Reliable Internet Codec. The station transmitted broadcast-quality audio over a Wi-Fi network at Clinton Lake State Park during the 2007 Wakarusa Music and Camping FestivalWakarusa Music and Camping FestivalWakarusa Music and Camping Festival is a four-day music festival held in early June at Mulberry Mountain near Ozark, Arkansas. The festival has been held annually since 2004....
.
- This was the first confirmed station to play the band Flight of the ConchordsFlight of the ConchordsFlight of the Conchords are a New Zealand-based comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an American television series, which premiered in 2007 on HBO, also called Flight of the Conchords.They were named...
on July 17.
- KJHK was recently designated the 15th best college radio station in the country, according to the Princeton Review.