...while KULV took to the airwaves
Campus Times
February 21, 1997
When you are driving down the street, listening to your favorite radio
station, do you ever stop to wonder how it first began? The ideal thought
is that somebody with a lot of money and great ideas bought all the equipment,
built the station and from there it was a success.
KULV began 20 years ago, with three men in a basement. Sophomore Marshall
Miranda and juniors Larry Ahren and Mike Maloney were interested in communications,
especially radio, but La Verne College (at the time) had no such curriculum
or majors that suited their interests.
After receiving a small amount of money from the school, Miranda, Ahren
and Maloney purchased turntables, a cassette player, and a mixer and set
up KLVC, 550 AM in the basement of Miller Hall.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, KULV is still alive, and a success.
A birthday bash, planned by program director Rob Strauss and promotions
director Julie McDougall, is being held at Chaparral Lanes in San Dimas,
Sunday, beginning at 9 p.m.
KLVC was a closed station that was ran through electrical currents,
from Miller Hall to Davenport Dining Hall from 4 to 8 p.m. It played various
types of music, although mostly rock and roll and comedy shows. With a lot
of support from ULV, though not many listeners, this continued for a few
years until the Supertents were built.
Gary Johnson, director of radio and television, and Bob Miller, production
manager, were hired by the college to build a facility that was applicable
to house a radio station.
Johnson was told he would be building the radio studio directly under
the basketball court, and thought it would never work.
The budget Johnson and Miller received to build the radio room was close
to $25,000 and when he began, there was "not even a screwdriver to
use.
"I remember pulling up a table and having to scramble for a telephone.
I had nothing, no tools to work with, and I was supposed to be making it
into an environment that could conduct a radio station," said Johnson.
Johnson described his experience of building the studio as "kind
of a struggle." His goal was to create a four-year radio program.
Studio A was built and KLVC was heard in the dorms and dining hall,
although there were technical problems which made the reception unclear.
Johnson then designed a curriculum and began teaching technical courses.
KLVC then began a class in which the students were expected to take
a 30 minute airshow at a time. The first students to take this class and
go on air were Robin Campbell, Dave Downey, Eric Johnson, Agnes Leung, Cory
Rytterager and Debbie Wallace. The students did not have a format, but were
expected to play music and do their own show.
La Verne College eventually became a University, and KLVC was changed
to KULV.
KULV has come a long way from three men experimenting in a basement.
"I expected it [KULV] would last. Everyone held a lot of interest
in it. It belonged to the college, and we could say and do what we wanted,"
said Miranda.
Said Johnson, "I'm proud to know that KULV is still there and operated.
I didn't think it would last, I was always fearful of the money aspect."
"I think that there are two reasons that KULV has lasted. One,
because students come to ULV to study broadcasting. It is an interest, and
radio station is used as a learning program. Two, because of the listeners.
The student body sees KULV as something sort of exciting because they have
their own radio station that caters to their own personal needs," said
Mike Laponis, associate professor of communications and station manager.
Chaparral Lanes has donated several lanes to KULV for promotional purposes,
and there will be plenty of music, lasers, fog, blacklights and night bowling.
The entire KULV staff, and former alumni staff is invited to attend.
KULV is also giving away free tickets to come celebrate by allowing listeners
to phone in to the station every hour when announced.
For future plans, KULV has discussed trying to change the station to
FM in the Oaks, Brandt, Stu-Han, Davenport and the Student Center.