About KANM

KANM Part One: The 70s By Mike Edwards

On Monday October 7th 1993, John Herndon walked in to the tiny cramped room and sat down. Several people were peering around the entrance to the room, all trying to catch a glimpse of John inside as he checked the maze of wiring under and above the table. He was careful to avoid knocking over equipment or disconnecting anything while he moved about. Satisfied that all systems were go, he chose a record from one small rack and placed it on one of the two turntables to his left. He glanced at his watch, one minute to go. John adjusted the microphone and shuffled several papers on the desk. He smiled back at the faces staring at him from the doorway, took a deep breath, and flipped a switch. “This is Student Government Radio, 107.5FM, and we’re on the air…”

KANM Student Radio is 20 years old this Fall. In 1973, John Herndon and Steve Wakefield combined to bring student radio to Texas A&M. Wakefield, the Chairman of TAMU Student Services at the time, worked with Herndon and other A&M students to start an entirely student-run station which would bring music and news to subscribers of the Midwest Video cable company.

The idea was approved by Student Government in the spring, so the applications were taken from students to volunteer for DJ and staff positions in September to prepare for an October on-air date. Herndon became the station’s first Managing and Program Director. A studio, facilities, utilities, and equipment were donated by Bob Reese of Midwest. The idea for SGR was originated at a meeting of the Student Senate.

Jim Cunningham, then campus projects committee chairman, said that the station was “intended to fill the void Bryan-College Station has in musical format,” and the station has remained an “alternative” to other radio programming ever since. Programming initially included music and news five or six nights a week from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m. SGR ran a five-minute news spot every hour. Herndon said, “We will run a professional operation. This will not be a bunch of students just playing records and having a good time. We hope to produce features of student interest.” At the same time, however, he realized the importance of keeping the interest of listeners, so he emphasized that SGR existed “to serve students and we will program what they want to hear.”

Factors such as licensing cost, equipment cost, maintenance and staffing were considered before it was decided to make SGR an FM cablecasting station, and the station has remained so ever since. In early 1974, SGR moved next door from the cramped quarters at Midwest studios to a back room in Bill Moon’s barbershop at the Ridgecrest Shopping Center located at 3605 S. Texas Avenue in Bryan. The “studio” was larger, and egg crates from Sbisa dining hall were used as sound buffers along each wall. Having overcome stereo generator problems and armed with better sound and two turntables, cablecasting resumed in mid-February.

Programming consisted primarily of progressive rock with some jazz and classical music. Students were urged to volunteer as DJs and news reporters for the station, and management was looking ahead. At the point, management wished to pursue an “open-air” license to become an FM broadcast radio station. Two short months later, the station almost closed shop forever.

Numerous equipment failures, academic pressure, and lack of funds all contributed to the collapse of the station in mid-April. Assistant manager Darrell Brogdon walked in to the studio and found a note from a DJ that read “The equipment is shot and I’m going home.” The Student Senate had not been paid back a $400 loan, and costs were mounting. All but two staff members submitted a resignation, but the station continued to broadcast on a reduced schedule. New life was injected into the station when, on June 12th, a former DJ from New Jersey was named as the new Manager and Program Director. Joe Fulford held an organizational meeting that set precedents for management and programming, and SGR survived the summer. In September, talk again turned to open air transmission.

At first, it seemed that approval to broadcast an FM signal would be easy. It was discovered that Texas A&M owned an FM license (Ed: perhaps this should read that A&M had applied for a license), and SGR could use it to make the switch from cablecasting. The FCC did give a license to A&M College in 1922 for WTAW (“Watch the Aggies Win”). The first broadcast on this 1000 watt commercial station was a turkey-day game between A&M and UT. However, the Department of Electrical Engineering managed WTAW until 1958 when the FCC license was sold by A&M to a local company. So, estimates were made and strategy was discussed to obtain another license. The newly-formed Radio Board recommended pursuing an open-air license and made policy regarding station by-laws and guidelines in preparation for broadcasting. On September 26th, realistic estimates placed the total cost of the license, transmitter, and broadcasting facilities at around $24,000.

Beginning in the fall of 1974, SGR received funding from the TAMU student government. Fifteen DJs played mostly rock and country, and special programming, such as interview shows, were planned. Jim James became the station manager and worked hard to convince University officials that an open air radio station was a good idea. At that time, TAMU was one of the few universities in Texas without a campus radio station since the sale of WTAW. James said of the station’s staff and DJs, “we have got about the finest people you fill find anywhere.” More importantly, people were listening. SGR received music requests and gave away albums as promotions.

Because of the prohibitive cost of becoming an open air facility, SGR opened a dialog with local FM radio stations to “buy” airtime. Negotiations with KORA-FM and KTAM-FM broke off in May 1975 because university administration would not express support for the idea, and James resigned. The station stayed on-air throughout the summer and reorganized in August under new station manager Scott Sherman.

Sherman would oversee many changes and improvements. The frequency was moved to 89.1 FM cable, the station was given the call letters KANM, and programming was expanded to 24 hours per day. The station would play country, jazz, classical, and non-Top 40 rock, and on-air advertisements of local businesses would pay the monthly bills. Newscasts were performed three times per day as phone calls by journalism students from the newsroom of The Battalion, the student newspaper. $2000 left over from the Student Government budget bought new equipment and rewired the station. For the first time, KANM looked much like the station that exists today.

In 1976, station manager Phil Williams built on Sherman’s work and stepped up efforts to become financially independent. Many students now became involved with the station, and electrical engineering students designed and built a new master switchboard. Improvements included a cartridge player, acoustical tiles, a reel-to-reel tape player, new station furniture, and more music. The room at Bill Moon’s barber shop off campus finally looked more like a radio station. However, KANM would receive two big blows that threw a wrench into any future plans.

On campus, University officials sought and received approval from the FCC for a new open air radio station, and christened it KAMU-FM. FCC rules prevent any university from having more than one licensed broadcasting station (Ed: this is not true or, at least, not true anymore), and KAMU-FM began broadcasting on March 30, 1977. Today KAMU is managed by TAMU staff members and plays mostly classical and jazz music with news and entertainment. In addition, the SG radio board was disbanded, and Student Government considered foreclosing on a $6000 debt owed by KANM unless the station became self-supporting. Student radio had been loaned money for operations with the expectation that the load would be paid back, and financial independence would be the first step to repaying the debt. If the station did not find ways to cut monthly expenses by December, all equipment would be sold for repayment. Station manager Hoyt Thomas and the student radio board discussed methods to reduce costs, such as moving on-campus to avoid rent, instituting dues for DJs, and relying on advertising from local merchants.

KANM moved to a new location in the Briarwood Apartments complex on Highway 30 in December 1977 and stayed on the air until August 1978 when equipment problems and a bad cable signal once again caused problems. KANM then remained on the air from October until December, when a minor explosion damaged the broadcast board. Then, a DJ was caught taking furniture from a Briarwood storage room and the entire station was politely asked to leave. The search for new facilities lasted several weeks. Station manager Todd Gross moved the station into his apartment temporarily to keep it going until, in February of 1979, KANM moved into Lounge B between Moore and Crocker halls on the north side of the TAMU campus. The station had been off the air for one full year, but preparations were made for its return. KANM switched from monophonic to stereo sound and slid up the radio dial to 99.9 FM. One of Gross’ last acts at the end of the decade before KANM finally returned to the cablewaves in October 1979 was to burn all of the station’s disco records. The studios have moved from Lounge B, but they have remained on campus each time and student radio has become a symbol of perseverance and a tradition at TAMU.