MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1999

Campus radio flourishing

By Tina Dhamija

On-line Forty-Niner

A busy day always goes by faster when you whistle while you work.

Campus radio stations have been at Cal State Long Beach for years to give students and faculty harmonic relief during their busy days.

The history of radio at CSULB stems back over 20 years, said Dr. Michael Pounds, chair of CSULB's film electronic arts department

In 1974, the first campus radio station popped up under the name of KSUL.

KSUL was student run and on seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

The station was broadcast live from campus, with a transmitter set-up in downtown Long Beach and featured a wide array of music genres and programs.

By the early 1980s, KSUL was having trouble fitting the standards of the Federation Communications Commission (FCC), financially with such a limited listenership, Pounds said. In 1981, a local jazz station, KLON, came to KSUL's rescue.

KLON's roots go back all the way to the 1950s, but the station did not make it to CSULB until 30 years later, said KLON's News Director Nick Roman. KLON, was broadcast from the Long Beach City College campus before it came to CSULB and is well-known for its jazz music programming.

Since KLON's stay at CSULB began, its listenership and musical programming has grown and strengthed , Roman said. Now, the station serves over a 60-mile radius of listenership and features more jazz music during the week, as well as, afternoon blues programming over the weekends.

KLON is broadcast from Faculty Office building, FO-1.

KLON is not a student-run station, but has student involvement in other areas of news and membership, said Roman.

The student radio stations on campus are KBEACH, located on the bottom floor of the University Student Union building and KBCH, broadcast from the University Telecommunications building.

Although the station names may seem similar, the actual stations are not the same.

KBCH began on the air in 1995 as a cable broadcast radio station, said Dr. Pounds, who heads the station.

As a cable-radio station, KBCH was and has been broadcast five to seven days a week over TV airwaves by means of cable television.

KBCH's broadcasting is part of CSULB's film and electronic media program for students. The students who work with KBCH are a part of an instructional program for their majors, said Pounds.

Currently, the music genres of the station vary upon semesters and student interest and can be found on local cable television.

Future plans, said Pounds, will be broadcasting KBCH on the Internet.

CSULB's other student-run station KBEACH, is broadcast live from the USU. Station manager, Mike Soultanian, started broadcasting KBEACH over the Internet as an off-shoot of KBCH last year.

Since then, the station has been picking up listenership on and off campus and is student run through the efforts of volunteers.

KBEACH features music programming that includes all aspects of popular music, from 1980s pop to hip-hop and punk rock.

It can be found on the Internet at www.kbeach.org, or 1350 AM.