When I was a student at Chico State I DJ’d and later ran the student-run radio station,KCSC, for two years. It was the best experience and I can attribute much of professional achievement to the time I spent at KCSC.
Here is the first of two student-made documentaries I recently rediscovered. This is from 2005.
A great chronicle of KCSC’s long history. Interview and story by Steve Metzger, one of my all-time favorite teachers.
The student-run radio station has endured—and thrived—for more than half a century
Chico State students returning to campus for the spring semester in January 1963 were met, for the first time, with their very own radio station, right on campus. Of course, the original technology, including a handmade transmitter, was rather primitive, and the sound quality of the shows, broadcast only to the Trinity Hall Student Activities Center and Dining Hall each afternoon from 3 to 7 pm, was reportedly horrendous—due in no small part to the original operating budget of $51.51. Still, it was theirs, and it offered a musical alternative to the hits of the day, including “Soldier Boy,” “Roses Are Red (My Love),” and “I Will Follow Him.”
Actually, KCSC is 12 years older than that, having first gone on the air in 1951, when, as part of the school’s speech and drama department, it broadcast old-time radio dramas over the campus public-address system. But it was not until the early 1960s that it began its long and storied history as a student-run alternative music station and home for scores of self-described misfits, many of whom went on to hugely successful careers in and out of broadcasting and entertainment. Its history includes continual haggling with the Associated Students for funding, a rivalry with the “other” campus station (KCHO), and various physical moves. More recently, the station has moved to Internet-only broadcasting, which provides reception from Memphis to Moscow. The station is also enjoying a restored relationship with the University.
Read the complete story here
Also, check out the Inside Chico story on KCSC.
I was on Cash Cab!
About a year after moving to New York, myself and three friends hailed a cab on our way to a comedy club in Greenwich Village. I like to think we did pretty well for ourselves.
How did we do?
