Robert Gavin formed the first radio club in September 1935. They placed their own 50-watt crystal transmitter in a second floor room at St. Margaret’s Hall. In response to Boise’s new student radio, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) assigned them the amateur station letters W7EVV. The club made short-wave contacts as far as Argentina, Hawaii, Mexico, Japan, and Australia. However, Boise Junior College did not offer any formal radio instruction until 1940.
Once the campus moved to its current site, the Radio Club was renamed KBJC and installed in the war-surplus building known as T-1. For better range, a student poked wires through the air ducts in the dormitories and the transmitter signal reached three hundred feet. Interest in the radio club diminished and the club became inactive between the years 1937-47.
Student radio returned officially the fall of 1964. A car rally that spring raised enough money for equipment and an improved station near the Subal Theater.
KBSU
KBJC was renamed KBSU in 1974 when Boise Junior College received university status. KBSU set itself apart from other radio stations in Boise by being the only local live FM station. They playing a variety of music and educational programs.
In 1973, the Student Radio Association successfully secured funding and space for a 10-watt radio transmitter. KBSU had a radius limited to the Boise State campus. Students curated all content. The station started reaching a wider audience in 1981 when the station’s wattage increased from ten to three thousand. ASBSU managed the radio station and its funding until 1985. At that point, station management transferred to the Communications Department, who hired a new station director. Later, the channel also began partnering with NPR.
As the control and content of the channel became less student-oriented, a petition emerged to have the $2 student fee rescinded. Discontent grew, and, in 1998 the Boise State Broadcasting Coalition emerged to reclaim KBSU as a student organization. Boise State compromised and gave students 12 hours per week of air time between 8 and 10 PM. However, because the broadcast was played on an AM radio wave after dark, the channel volume was turned down and difficult to hear in areas with bad reception.
University Pulse
Circumstances changed in 2003 when Boise State President Bob Kustra signed a resolution to give Student Radio access to the money generated by the $2 fee. That fall, students renamed student radio “University Pulse,” which aired on Sundays between noon and midnight. After more funding cuts and relinquished air time, University Pulse began streaming exclusively online, where it can currently be listened to on their website University Pulse, SoundCloud, or RadioFX.
Sources
The Arbiter: October 4, 1973. May 2, 1974. January 18, 1988. April 1, 1998. September 30, 1998. September 27, 2000. February 7, 2005. August 17, 2005.
FOCUS: March 1985.
Written by Rachel Taylor, Summer 2019 intern