Radio K
From Minnewiki
KUOM, more commonly known as Radio K, is an influential college radio station from the University of Minnesota. It has three transmitters:
- 770 AM (original site, operational during daylight hours)
- 106.5 FM (KUOM-FM, operational overnight and days when St. Louis Park schools are not in session)
- and 100.7 FM (translator W264BR, operational continuously)
A major supporter of local music, Radio K was the only station playing significant amounts of local indie rock and hip hop through the 1990s.
KUOM has a long history, and was the first station in Minnesota to receive a broadcast license, on January 13, 1922. The original call sign was WLB, though it changed to KUOM by 1945. Broadcast times were even more restrictive than today, as the day was usually split between broadcasting WLB/KUOM and St. Olaf College's WCAL in Northfield. WCAL eventually began broadcasting on FM at 89.3 MHz and made an agreement with the university where they would cease transmission on the AM band if land was made available for a more powerful FM transmitter.
WLB and KUOM broadcast a large amount of educational programming, but changed to a college music format on October 1, 1993 due to a merger with the U of M's student radio station WMMR.
