KSPC 88.7 FM

KSPC first signed on to the FM (frequency modulation) band with 10 watts on February 12, 1956. The effort to establish a licensed FM broadcast station was initiated in 1955 by Pomona College students Ronald McDonald (Pomona ’57) and Terry Drinkwater (Pomona ’58). Edward Smith (Pomona ’58), Charles Waite (Pomona ’59) and Fred Wolf (Pomona ’58) were soon to join the effort and took on key roles in engineering and programming. Prior to KSPC’s inception there had been an AM carrier current radio station at Pomona College, call letters KPCR (“Pomona College Radio”). KPCR was taken off the air by the FCC for operating with too strong of an unlicensed signal, and it was then suggested that filing for an FM license would be the only legal way for students to continue broadcasting.

In the early days of FM broadcasting there were very few other FM radio stations in the area. KSPC was actually the 37th station to sign on to the FM band for the entire state of California. When the station’s power was later upgraded to 1000 watts it was reportedly heard in Santa Barbara, San Diego and all over the Los Angeles basin, owing in large part at that time to significantly less interference from other FM stations than are present today.

KSPC was licensed as a non-commercial, educational radio station from the beginning. During the first dedicatory broadcast of KSPC it was stated that the purpose of the station was to provide “a desirable type of programming not readily available in this area.” The first programming schedule was a mixture of classical, news, public affairs and shows borne from student’s personal musical collections. Over the years, the students and community volunteers that have kept KSPC’s airwaves full of music and talk programming have upheld the programming ideals on which the station was founded. To this day you are unlikely to hear the variety of programming available on KSPC from other Los Angeles radio stations.