|
“Less talk, more music…”
That is the mantra of hundreds of classical music enthusiasts who
listen to KCSC 90.1 FM, Oklahoma’s only 24-hour classical music
radio station, located on the University of Central Oklahoma campus.
One of Oklahoma’s five public radio stations, KCSC stays true to
public radio standards to keep itself non-commercial, a standard its
listeners like. In April of 2006, the station pondered its past as it
celebrated its 40th anniversary.
KCSC is committed to playing a wide range of music from early
classical to more contemporary forms, offerings that general manager
Brad Ferguson said “fits the mission of a university to heighten
cultural experiences in the community.”
“It befits a university, as a preserver of culture, to project an
image of high art and the timeless music of genius that classical
music brings to its listeners, said Ferguson. “The music cultivates
an air of respect and reverence, not just for the composer, but to
many, it inspires contemplation of a greater universe.”
KCSC and its repeater station KBCW in McAlester are listed by
Radio-Locator, a large Internet radio database, as the top two most
listened to Oklahoma stations. This would include listeners from
throughout the state to a growing number of loyal listeners who
listen via the Internet.
While other radio stations have changed ownership and formats over
the years, KCSC has remained steadfast to its roots, its focus on
classical music. “This station was originally
established as a classical format station though some experiments
have crept in from time to time,” Ferguson said.
What began in 1966 as a student-operated station focused on
broadcast training transformed over the years into one of about 26
stations nationwide that plays classical music 24 hours a day.
Professionals gradually replaced student broadcasters and by the
mid-1980’s the station became a member of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting and Public Radio International, was selected for the
1995 Governor’s Arts Award, and by the late 1990’s became one of a
crowd of antennae owners in Oklahoma City’s antenna farm.
KCSC’s reach today, including KBCW, extends north to Enid and
Stillwater, east to Okmulgee, Sallisaw and Poteau, south to
Smithville, Atoka and Ada, and west to Chickasha and Weatherford.
Listeners driving north on Interstate 35 swear they don’t lose
Mozart or Beethoven until they are somewhere in Kansas. But it
wasn’t always that way.
Long-time opera announcer Clyde Martin, KCSC’s earliest current
staff member, claims the station’s “reach” all had to do with the
weather.
In the days of a 30-watt signal, Martin, who was hired in 1969 to
announce and emcee opera programming, said “I’d get calls where
people said ‘your station is collapsing’ and I’d say ‘where do you
live?’ and they’d say ‘southwest Oklahoma City.’” “And I’d say
‘that’s your problem,’” he said. “The funny thing was that on cloudy
days the signal was strong and on bright, sunny days some people
couldn’t hear us.”
UCO’s professor of theater Dr. Don Bristow, originally hired in 1966
as an instructor and KCSC’s first station manager, said the initial
studio, located in the former Arts and Humanities building, was
“small with a turntable, a 10-watt transmitter, and an antenna of
top of the building. The format was some classical, some
middle-of-the-road pop, and CSC football games,” Bristow said.
“Max did the play-by-play and I was the color commentator,” he
added. Max Davis, chairman of CSC’s speech department,
deserves credit as KCSC’s creator.
After countless calls from radio stations across the state needing
trained graduates, Davis set a goal in 1963 to create an educational
FM program that would operate between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. from the
CSC campus. News, interviews, and mostly classical music would be
the format.
He told the Oklahoma City Times in 1964 that he “wanted to go first
class” and sought a system that would extend about 60 miles. To
achieve this, Davis knew he needed to raise $35,000. It would
take another two years before Davis met that goal, thanks to a
$25,000 contribution from CSC alum Homer Johnson, who was the
largest contributor to the university at that time.
The final stipulation was for the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) to grant authority for KCSC to broadcast, and on April 4,
1966, with FCC authorization, KCSC officially signed on the air at 4
p.m. from the Homer L. Johnson studios.
On that day, with reach just slightly surpassing the CSC campus,
listeners heard programs that included “Candlelight and Silver,”
“Broadway Remembered,” “The Art of the Violin, Organ, and Piano,” a
U.S. Army program, “What’s Happening Coed?,” waltz favorites, an
evening concert, and news, weather and sports.
Davis described the first broadcast as “little more than a glorified
megaphone.” Some of the early programming was “live” and some
was delayed tape-recordings. News was provided over the teletype by
United Press International.
From there, the station was transformed to a 30-watt broadcast that
was intermittently interrupted by vibrations in the building.
Davis told the Edmond Sun “we kept having a rumble at various times
of the day and then it dawned on me that that was when classes let
out.”
Martin said in the early days the large music library that exists
today did not exist and he would bring in his own LP’s to play as
did students during their air shifts. “I’d come in on
Saturdays, open the place up, turn everything on and we’d play the
Metropolitan Opera and then I’d turn everything off and leave,” he
said.
When CSC became a university (CSU) in 1971, attempts were made to
change the station’s call letters to KCSU but Colorado State
University already had the letters. Also during the 1970’s,
the station was moved to CSU’s Communication building, its location
today. The format included contemporary, classical,
easy-listening music, and news.
Oral Communications professor Jack Deskin ran the station for
several years during this decade and Deskin lauded the fact that
many of CSU’s broadcast students moved on to professional radio and
television broadcasting positions in Oklahoma City.
One of the highlights in 1978 was a $100,000 grant by the Kerr
Foundation to CSU to be used to increase the broadcasting capability
of KCSC. The grant was awarded to buy equipment that would
boost the power at the station to 100,000 watts and to build a
400-foot broadcasting tower to replace the existing 170-foot
structure on the Edmond campus. The project was completed and in
1978 KCSC’s airwaves stretched south to Norman, north to Stillwater,
west to Weatherford and east to Shawnee.
Dr. Mike Dunn, general manager in 1978, told CSU’s student
newspaper, The Vista, “what began as a training tool for students
gradually evolved into a public relations tool for CSU.”
In 1979, the station expanded to an 85% classical music format.
Ironically, KCSC was the first public radio station to play jazz
which it broadcast late at night.
During Dunn’s management, the station held its first fund drive in
1981 and by the following year, KCSC had the means to acquire a
satellite dish which improved sound quality and expanded its ability
to add new programming that included the San Francisco Opera, the
Cincinnati Symphony, and live interviews and performances by
classical music celebrities.
Dunn began adding more professionals to his student staff and it was
in 1983 when Ferguson was hired as a part-time announcer. Long-time
KCSC announcer Kent Anderson was also working at that time as a
student announcer.
In 1984, KCSC began operating 24 hours a day. An Edmond Sun report
stated that same year the station became the best funded
non-commercial radio station in the state and the second best in
fundraising in the nation for markets of its size. The format
by 1984 was all classical except for some jazz, a little radio drama
and comedy, and Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Keillor’s show was so popular, KCSC began hosting annual picnics
which it held at the Oklahoma City Zoo and the National Cowboy Hall
of Fame.
Ferguson, who became program director in 1984, said “statistically
the KCSC audience was made up primarily of the 50+ age group,” a
marker that remains the same today.
Shows produced by the station at that time included “The Morning
Concert,” “Go For Baroque,” and “Clyde Martin’s Opera.” The station
also offered “Jazz After Hours” on Friday and Saturday evenings,
Irish and Scottish folk music, and Indian and Vietnamese music.
In 1985, the station became a member of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting and National Public Radio. Programming began to include
shows like “Business Times,” NPR’s “The Morning Edition,” “All
Things Considered,” and “Monitoraudio,” a program produced by The
Christian Science Monitor.
Ferguson said KCSC and Norman’s KGOU station, which both served the
Oklahoma City area, put their heads together and the stations agreed
that KCSC would primarily provide the classical music format and
KGOU would provide the news/talk/jazz format. In this way, the
two stations discontinued overlapping and duplicating formats, and
better served the community.
By 1991, Ferguson became general manager of the station and KCSC’s
listening audience grew to about 40,000 listeners per week and was
1,200 members strong. The station’s relationship with
Oklahoma’s arts community strengthened as the station began to
broadcast performances by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Canterbury
Choral Society and the Oklahoma City Chamber Music series.Public service announcements publicizing Oklahoma arts
organizations’ events became an important part of KCSC’s overall
mission.
Periodically, public radio stations face funding cuts and
competition with other non-profits for dollars as happened in 1995
when Ferguson said CPB and UCO both made budget cuts that affected
the station. The CPB’s federal matching grant funds the
station about 20% of the amount raised during fund drives. The
University provided about 10% of KCSC’s annual budget.
Fundraising made Ferguson even more uneasy that year in light of the
Alfred P. Murrah federal building bombing, a year when donations
were focused on understandably different community needs.
Money raised during fund drives, which are now scheduled each spring
and fall, is spent on salaries, program expenses, compact discs, the
purchase and maintenance of equipment, and everything else it takes
to operate a station.
By 1995, KCSC’s weekly audience was reported at 60,700 from that
year’s Arbitron ratings. According to Anderson, program
director in 1995, “our share of the Oklahoma City market exceeded
that of public radio stations in larger markets, like Seattle,
Boston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.”
A highlight that same year was when KCSC became the recipient of the
Governor’s Arts Award for its support of the arts in Oklahoma and
achievements in contributing to the cultural climate of the state.
Two one-hour weekly programs produced and written by KCSC
personnel—Barbara Hendrickson’s “Filmscapes” and Nan O’Neill and
Lane Whitesell’s “Bravo Baroque”—were nationally syndicated in the
late 1990’s.
“Bravo Baroque” ran for eight years and "Filmscapes" ran
for five years. Hendrickson went on to produce a shorter version of
her film music-focused program called “Filmscapes Intermission.”
The end of the millennium gave way to the construction of KCSC’s new
radio tower which joined the vast neighborhood of antennas just east
of Broadway Extension at Britton Road. After several legal
struggles, the new tower—funded by donations from Sarkey’s
Foundation, Kirkpatrick Foundation, individuals, and a grant from
the Dept. of Commerce—was built twice as tall as the former antenna
giving KCSC a clearer signal and greater coverage.
Wanda Bass, President of First National Bank of McAlester and patron
of the arts and education, opened a new door for public radio when
she called Ferguson about starting a classical station in the
McAlester area. In 1999, with financial assistance from Bass
and the Dept. of Commerce, a repeater station, KBCW, 91.9, began
airing on Aug. 27, extending KCSC’s classical music programming
throughout southeast Oklahoma.
Another special hand extended to KCSC in the winter of 2001 was that
of Forrest Johnson, a classical music fan and long-time listener who
donated the bulk of his estate, $272,000, to the station, the single
largest donation KCSC had ever received.
“I had been told about the donation the year before by the attorney
attending the estate that the amount would be $60,000 or $70,000,”
Ferguson said. “You could have knocked me over with a feather when
they told me the amount was $272,000.”
KCSC then established an endowment called the KCSC-FM Classical
Radio Foundation, and UCO President Roger Webb gave the station
permission to set up a separate 501c3 foundation that fall.
All in all, the staff who run KCSC are dedicated and judging on
their longevity at the station, have no interest in leaving.
Ferguson greets listeners at 6 a.m. and plays shorter and lighter
pieces of music and as the day moves on the music played becomes
longer and heavier in the early afternoon returning to lighter fare
again in the late afternoon.
KCSC’s other announcers include Teresa Brekke, Dave “the voice”
Stanton, Tory Troutman, Ralph Wise, Martin, and Whitesell. Except
for Brekke, all of the other announcers began working at the station
between 1969 and 1988.
Anderson, who later left the station to pursue writing goals, was
one of those many students who mastered the airwaves at KCSC. He
left KCSC after graduation but returned as a professional staff
member in 1991. Hendrickson, who joined the staff in 1997, was
promoted to Operations Manager/Membership Director and
Susan Clark was hired as Development Director in 2003.
All of these individuals have one goal and that is to do their part
in providing the best in classical music programming and to continue
KCSC’s strong support of the Oklahoma arts community.
There are many major cities and states in the country where
classical music fans have to search far and wide to find Bach and
Brahms on their radio dial.
Oklahoma is not one of those places.
|
