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WKMS
GETS STARTED
In
1948, with Murray's AM radio station WNBS on the air, Murray
State hired Charles Henry Stamps (AB from Murray, MA from Northwestern)
to teach radio and use an hour per day of time given by WNBS
that was called "The Thoroughbred Hour." Studios were
built in 302 Wilson Hall. The program continued more or less
the same, albeit there were personnel changes, through 1964.
Ray Mofield, who had been teaching radio-TV at Southern Illinois
University, earned his doctorate from that school in 1964 and
was hired by Murray State as executive assistant to President
Ralph Woods. Among his projects, Dr. Woods directed Mofield
to plan a department of communications, staff it, teach for
it, and start WKMS.
The Murray State University Board of Regents voted to establish
the department of communications in the spring of 1965 and it
went into operation that fall. $15,000 was put in the budget
to plan radio. WKMS went on the air May 11, 1970. Student volunteers
operated the facility with faculty oversight and broadcasting
ceased over breaks. The Wilson Hall station comprised two rooms
and a wire machine out in the third floor hallway. Planning
was delayed while Kentucky Educational Television decided where
to locate its western Kentucky transmitter. When Channel 21
was assigned to Murray/Mayfield, Mofield obtained permission
from KET for WKMS to share its new tower at Farmington, 10 miles
from Murray. Murray State applied to the Federal Communications
Commission in 1968 for a public radio license. They requested
91.7 MHz, but ultimately received permission in 1969 to broadcast
at 91.3 FM.
Initially the station was run by the Department of Communications
with Mofield serving as general manager and Thomas Morgan as
station manager. The station broadcast 8 hours a day with 13,000
watts of power with a coverage area restricted to western Kentucky.
At first there were only two employees with assistance from
students and volunteers. Shortly after its going on the air,
WKMS affiliated with National Public Radio and began receiving
funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This affiliation
required that the size of the permanent staff increase as well
as the number of broadcast hours.
Dr. Ray Mofield and other faculty of Murray State recruited
about a million dollars to build Price Doyle Fine Arts Building,
which opened in the fall of 1971. Dr. Harry Sparks was then
president of Murray State. The radio station had run from 302
Wilson to that time when new studios were installed and WAX-31
on 949 mc was moved to Fine Arts. At that time the radio station
was also converted to stereo from 450 feet at the Farmington
site (which had been purchased with funds contributed by Ashland
Oil for KET in 1968). Later, an opportunity came to move the
station to LBL at the 600 foot level when Dr. Constantine Curris
was president of Murray State.
*Thank you to Dr. Robert McGaughey of Murray State University
for providing these personal notes from the archives of Dr.
Ray Mofield on the early history of WKMS.
Jay Landers was the first student program director for the newly
equipped station. At that time a student "Board" shared
supervisory duties and rotated tasks so that everyone could
experience different phases of broadcasting. Live broadcasts
highlighted the station's early programming, including two a
week from the music department concert halls when classes were
in session. Meetings of the University Regents were broadcast
using phone lines, as was play by play for games at the field
house. The station also presented Murray city council meetings
live.
In 1973 WKMS provided the only radio source in Western Kentucky
for the Watergate Hearings. When Ralph Nader came to campus,
WKMS put him on the air, live. By 1976, 91.3 FM was broadcasting
19 hours a day and had a full time professional staff of five.
J.D. Williams was acting station manager until the hire of Alan
Frank as station manager in September of 1976.
In 1979 the station received a $150,000 facilities grant from
the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to increase
power and upgrade studio facilities. Bruce Smith had become
station manager in 1978. During his tenure, on March 30 at 5
p.m. the station dedicated its power boost to its present 100,000
watts and moved the transmitter to its present site in LBL.
WKMS
History Highlights:
Grant
Funding for WKMS Activities over the Years:
WKMS
Facilities:
WKMS
Physical Plant - Murray State Campus:
WKMS
Long-term and Short-term Goals
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