A.S. plans new station

By Matthew L. Green, On-line Forty-Niner

August 6,1998

KBCH Radio, the new radio station of Associated Students Inc., will be broadcasting at Cal State Long Beach around the end of November, said Fred Sanchez, assistant director of A.S.I.

The station will broadcast over the Internet, on AM airwaves and on cable TV.

The radio dial number of the station has not been determined, Sanchez said. The AM station is expected to reach the entire campus, though not outside of it, Sanchez said.

In September the station will set up in the University Student Union, where the station plans to broadcast from 6 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Saturday, Sanchez said.

The initial start-up cost for the station is about $56,000, Sanchez said. Its annual operation costs will be about $8,000.

To pay for these costs, the station will hold fund-raisers, broadcast advertisements and public-service announcements, and start a subscription newsletter about the station.

The station will play various styles of music, from hip-hop to heavy metal, Sanchez said. It also plans to feature programs on public affairs, news, campus events, radio theater and talk radio.

"The station is an alternative [to commercial radio]," said Sanchez. "If you hear it on commercial radio, you're not going to hear it here."

"College radio is where new music breaks," said Ken Borgers, industry representative for KBCH and acting program director at KLON. "It has what KROQ will be playing in six months."

Before becoming a department of A.S.I., KBCH was a radio club for students of the film and electronic arts department for three years, said Michael Soultanian, general manager of KBCH and a CSULB student. Many students involved with that club are now volunteers at the new KBCH.

But unlike the previous KBCH, the A.S.I.-run KBCH is not a laboratory class for students, Sanchez said.