February 9, 2010
Eugene's first FM radio station celebrates its 60Th year
By Tom Adams
EUGENE - 60 years ago, a new era began in Pacific Northwest broadcasting.
Public radio KRVM of Eugene hit the airwaves as the first FM station in the Northwest.
Station managers and volunteers celebrate its past, and look forward to a digital future.
Before iPods, before downloaded music and before television swept the nation, you had radio. FM radio was in its infancy, but the Eugene School District in 1947 took a bold step. The rest is history.
Welcome to Eugene's broadcasting laboratory, the incubator for many of the people you hear and see on the airwaves.
KRVM, 91.9 FM, hit the air December 6Th, 1947.
Former station manager Bob Rathman says, "It was a very bold move by the school district at that point to get our license for a radio station and to put one on the air."
Music, public affairs, news; it's all been done at the "V". Rathman knows virtually all the people in the scrapbooks.
"This is Wendy and this is Dale; you're kidding; no."
The old black and white photos show Wendy Ray and the future "Uncle Fuzzy," both of KUGN morning show fame. And look who this is--our own Jodi Unruh.
Rathman explains, "We weren't trying to train disc jockeys. We were trying to get them aware of mass communications."
1947 to 2007. What a legacy, and even in this age of iPods and satellite radio, KRVM broadcasters envision a bright future for local public radio.
That future is open to students like Jessica, who is visually impaired and is reading a station promo with the use of a braille pad.
KRVM employee Adam Huizenga works with Jessica in the studio and says, "It's so rewarding to get a student who isn't quite sure and then they just get it. One day they'll say, oh...I get it."
Station managers say they're ready to compete with iPods and other audio high-technology. KRVM plans to go digital next year. Current station G-M Randy Larson explains, "With the new digital channels coming, we'll be able to offer much greater band-width and information from public affairs programs from the city."
Still, it's a crowded public radio market in Eugene-Springfield with six stations now and Oregon Public Broadcasting set to purchase KOPT AM-1600 to add to its network. Associate Dean Alan Stavitsky of the University of Oregon's School of Journalism wonders, "How much traffic can this market bear, both in terms of listenership and in terms of audience support?"
Rathman has little concern that there may be too much public radio.
"I think public radio is going to be around a while. I don't think it's going anywhere in a hurry," says the former G-M.
Manager Randy Larson says they've applied for a grant to pay for the conversion to digital, again set for 2008.