35000 Watts :: The Story of College Radio
A film about a radio revolution
When radio stations refer to wattage (as in “100,000 watts of rock ‘n’ roll!”), they are referring to the broadcast “power” of an FM or AM radio station. More specifically, they are referencing the effective radiated power of the station, and it generally represents the station’s signal strength.…
First, this is only true in the United States, as other countries have different systems for assigning call letters (also known as call signs) to broadcast stations. When the US government began regulating the radio airwaves by licensing stations, they chose to assign each station west of the Mississippi River a four-letter combination beginning with K, while east of the Mississippi, the call letters would start with a W.
We’re excited to announce that our next round of interviews will be shot next week in Los Angeles, and we have a pretty impressive line-up scheduled. We will be talking to experts on college radio history, as well as several artists who were pioneers of the college radio movement.…
As we dive into the world of college radio broadcasting, one term which comes up over and over is “carrier current”. What exactly is carrier current and why is it important to college radio history? Let’s take a look.
Carrier current broadcasting is a way to transmit a radio signal through the electrical wiring of a building (or in the case of a college campus, several connected buildings).…
Today is World College Radio Day, so it is the perfect time to reflect on college radio and its importance in the media landscape. It might seem as though radio is an antiquated medium, but there is a reason every automobile still comes with one installed.…
When talking about college radio history, one of the first (and most common) questions is: what was the first college radio station in the United States? And while that may seem like a relatively straightforward, easy-to-answer question, it turns out that it isn’t that simple.…
The final interview of our three-day shoot in Dallas, TX was with three gentlemen from the band Tabula Rasa: lead vocalist Robert E. Boggs, bassist Owen Kinser and drummer Jason LaMarca. I really enjoyed interviewing all three at once, because the interplay and camaraderie between them was still very evident.…
Our first interview of day three in Dallas gave me another chance to meet a member of one of KTXT’s favorite regional bands! I sat down with Mike Graff of Course of Empire (and currently in Halls of the Machine) and we had a wonderful conversation about his time in college radio at KSMU in Dallas, as well as his experiences in Course of Empire.…
One thing that was clear from early on in my interview with John Dufilho is that he is truly an advocate for college radio. With his involvement in multiple bands who were championed almost exclusively by college stations (Deathray Davies, Apples in Stereo, Clifffs), it was obvious that he was grateful for the attention and airplay his bands received.…
I was so happy to sit down with a couple of members of one my favorite Dallas bands from the early 90s, George Reagan and Tony Barsotti of Hagfish. I interviewed Hagfish during my time at KTXT-FM, and they were one of the most fun and enjoyable interviews that I’ve ever done.…