History of KPSU

According to Don Nasca, the Project Coordinator of Project KPSU and first ever Station Manager, a PSU "Popular Music Board" of students came together to start a college radio station for PSU in 1992. Aided by a Student Advisor named Sharon Brabanac, students founded a non-funded student organization called "The Friends of KPSU."

In 1993, The Friends of KPSU received written support from the editor of the PSU Vanguard Newspaper in the form of a letter to the Incidental Fee Committee, and by February, the IFC allotted $8,000 for the hiring of Nasca as Project Coordinator, along with $1,000 to held fund a plan for development. Nasca was an MBA student at the time with a history in business and radio, so he seemed perfect for the job. He conducted lots of research about what it would take to get on the air, and recruited volunteer Joanne Lau who worked late nights trying to get things up and rolling.

By 1994, Nasca and other volunteers were in talks about renting airtime from KBPS, an AM station owned by Portland Public Schools which was low on funding at the time. After obstacles ranging from protests by the IFC and PSU president to space issues, KPSU was finally given space to broadcast in the sub-basement of Smith Memorial Student Union, a place the station remains to this day. In October, the first radio program aired, hosted by Nasca. In the following years, the budget for KPSU grew slightly, and the college student group continued to lease airtime from KBPS until late June, 2010.

As reported by Casey Jarman in this Willamette Week article, on June 25, it was announced that KPSU would no longer air on 1450 AM KBPS, as it had for the last 15 years, due to an on-air incident involving a discussion of sodomy. Even though this conversation took place during "safe harbor hours," that is, after 10 p.m. at night, the General Manager of KBPS, Bill Cooper, was personally offended and decided to take drastic measures in what was a very big controversy at the time. Throughout the time Bill Cooper oversaw the broadcasting of KPSU on KBPS, he dictated that shows' content had to be school-age appropriate, something which clashed with the values of the station as a free-form usage of free speech, but KPSU needed a signal badly enough to abide.

Since this incident, KPSU has been broadcasting online only, at KPSU.org, with the exception of a very weak FM signal, which really only covers part of the PSU campus itself.