KRLX
From CarlWiki
KRLX is the official student-run radio station of Carleton College. It broadcasts on 88.1 FM throughout Rice County, and streams worldwide from www.krlx.org. KRLX's broadcast tower is on the roof of Willis Hall.
KRLX's official slogan is "It's better on the bottom!", a reference to the station's basement headquarters and low broadcast frequency.
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History
KRLX is the third radio station operated out of Carleton College. The original station, KFMX, operated from January 1924 to January 1933. Its high cost of operation ($1,200/year, or over $16,000 in 2005 dollars) eventually led to its discontinuation. KFMX was broadcast out of the Music Hall.
In 1948, students with technical experience from their service in World War II led an effort to create a new AM station using the cheaper carrier-current broadcasting method (which meant the station could only be heard on campus). In just nine weeks, these veterans and 157 student volunteers purchased and built the necessary transmitter equipment, and KARL went on the air on April 14, 1948.[1][2]
By the mid 1960s, a movement was underway to upgrade to an FM broadcast station, ever since it was discovered that the costs to upgrade KARL's aging AM transmitter equipment would be nearly as expensive as going FM. Getting to the point of building and licensing the new station took much longer than the nine-week startup time required for KARL-AM.
In Spring Term 1973, the effort to create an FM station began in earnest. Junior Jim Stiles '74, then KARL's station manager, enlisted the aid of alum Larry Cohn, a Washington-DC based attorney with Cohen and Dippel, which specialized in communications law. Cohn donated his services free of charge to guide the station through the piles of FCC paperwork required.[3] In the early part of Fall Term 1973, Stiles was hopeful that the necessary paperwork and equipment would be ready for the new station to be on the air by the end of the term.[4]An FM transmitter was purchased with delivery expected in December 1973, but did not actually arrive until the end of March, 1974. When it did arrive, it was found to be defective; however, tinkering by Dan Rider (chief engineer for Minnesota Public Radio and Carleton students eventually get the transmitter working and KRLX began broadcasting soon afterward.[3]
Call Sign
FCC rules require that FM radio stations have unique call signs. A station in California was already using KARL-FM, necessitating a change from the existing AM call letters. KRLS was the second choice, but that, too was in use. Stiles ran a contest for a few weeks to name the station. As he recalls,
- "There wasn't really going to be a prize for the winner, apart from the satisfaction of naming the new radio station. It turned out the most popular entry was KMOO, the voice of... Well, you can fill in the blank. Cows, colleges, and contentment. Even back then, it was a popular slogan. There would have been images of cows on everything associated with the station, and on the hour, every hour... Enough said. Using my dictatorial powers at the time, I decreed that the call sign would be KRLX. This, because it was close to KRLS which we really wanted, but also in honor of the first (in the 1920's) radio station at Carleton which was called KFMX (for FM Experimental) and was located in Laird Hall. The uproar from the prospective DJ's was almost immediate. KRLX was simply hard to pronounce."
As an additional justification for the "hard to pronounce" call letters, it was noted that if one pronounces the X as "ten" (from the Roman numeral), KRLX is "KaRL-ten," a rough phonetic approximation of "Carleton." [5]
Leadership
2007
- Station Manager: Thomas Schmidt
- Program Director: Greg Hunter
- Compliance Director: Mary Henke-Haney
- Station Secretary: Nathan Riemer
- Promotions Director: Rob Thomas
- Features Director: Madeline Schaefer
- News Director: Brandon Walker
- Music Director: Hibah Hussain
- Music Director: Sarah Nienaber
- IT Engineer: David Selassie
- RF / Audio Engineer: Matthew (Ollie) Moltaji
- Record Librarian Manager: John Olmsted
- New Media Director: Gracie Young
2006
- Station Manager: Adam Carr
- Program Director: Thomas Schmidt
- Compliance Director: Mary Henke-Haney
- Station Secretary: Mathias Bell
- Promotions Director: Elizabeth May
- Producer: Terin Mayer (fall 2006: Madeline Scheafer)
- News Director: Rob Thomas (fall 2006: Brandon Walker)
- Music Director: Hibah Hussain (fall 2006: Maureen Burns)
- Music Director: Sarah Nienaber (fall 2006: Greg Hunter)
- IT Engineer: David Selassie
- RF / Audio Engineer: Matthew (Ollie) Moltaji (Fall 2006: Jason Hallen)
- Record Librarian Manager: Nick Ver Steegh (winter 2006: John Olmsted)
- New Media Director: Gracie Young (fall 2006: Jason Lee)
2005
- Station Manager: Cameron Nordholm
- Program Director: Adam Carr
- Compliance Director: Clinton Peterson
- Business Manager: Mathias "Ring My" Bell
- Promotions: Scott "Hindu Enforcer" Vignos
- Producer: Terin Mayer
- News Director: Morgan Weiland
- Music Director: Dana Reinoos
- Music Director: Sarah Nienaber
- Music Director: Thomas Schmidt
- RF / Audio Engineer: Matthew (Ollie) Moltaji
- IT Engineer: Henry Gross
- Record Library Manager: Katie Zerwas
- Record Librarian: Nick Ver Steegh
- Record Librarian: Hibah Hussain
- Record Librarian: Elizabeth May
2004
- Station Manager: Cameron Nordholm
- Compliance & Program Director: Andy Slabaugh
- Business Manager: Scott Vignos
- Public Relations:
- Secretary: Sarah Moody
- Producer: Glen Friedman
- News Director: Morgan Weiland
- Music Director: Dana Reinoos
- Music Director: Madeline Gorman
- Music Director: Katie Gately
- Engineer: Lucas Koski
- Engineer: Chris Petit
- Record Librarian: Marley Glassroth
- Record Librarian: Nick Ver Steegh
- Record Librarian: Micah Lemons
- Record Librarian: Jack McGrath
2003
- Station Manager: Jeremy Gantz
- Compliance & Program Director: Andy Slabaugh
- Business Manager: Scott Vignos
- Public Relations:
- Secretary: Sarah Moody
- Producer: Cameron Nordholm
- News Director:
- Music Director: Katie Gately
- Music Director: Madeline Gorman
- Music Director: Brian Swann
- Engineer: Kartik Sampath
- Engineer: Chris Petit
- Record Librarian: Jack McGrath
- Record Librarian: Marley Glassroth
- Record Librarian: Roxanne Moreno
References
- ↑ KARL to Hit Air Waves April 7; Select Station Heads. The Carletonian. 21 February 1948: Page 8.
- ↑ KARL-25 Years of Progressive Broadcasting. The Carletonian. 12 April 1973: Page 4.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 KRLX Caught in Red Tape. The Carletonian. 25 April 1974: Page 4.
- ↑ KARL's FM Switch Delayed. The Carletonian. 27 September 1973: Page 2.
- ↑ "NNB, KARL, KRLX-AM, and Tunnels." Cobwebs Caucus conference, item 11:15. (Requires NetID.)
External links
- KRLX Radio - Official site
- KRLX - Article on Wikipedia
- KRLX Wiki - Contains public information about KRLX, including its budget, board of directors, and information for DJs.
