Community Profile

This community is for:

X Announcing events by KDVS
X Any LISTENERS of KDVS 90.3 FM or online
X Davis community members and radio volunteers/djs

Your moderator, fannymcgee, does not speak for KDVS, KDVS sponsors or the University of California, Davis. Feels free to raise any concerns with Ms. McGee at fanny_mcgee@yahoo.com

History of KDVS (From the website)

Educational, noncommercial, public service radio has been in operation since broadcasting's beginning, and educational institutions, in particular, were pioneers in the development of radio broadcasting. WHA, licensed to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, began its experimental operation in 1919 as 9XM. Its present call letters were assigned on January 13, 1922. By 1925, there were 171 educational institutions with radio stations. When Congress passed the Communications Act of 1934, it directed the newly-created Federal Communications Commission to study a proposal to set aside a portion of the broadcast spectrum for noncommercial utilization. In 1945, after considerable debate, the FCC set aside 20 channels between 88 and 92 megahertz for this purpose. Since that time, educational, noncommercial radio has served as an alternative to commercial broadcasting, providing the public with cultural, educational, and entertaining programming.
The station now known as KDVS was formed by the students of the now-defunct Beckett-Hughes dormitories in late 1963. KCD began operations on February 1, 1964, broadcasting from the laundry room of all-male Beckett Hall. Although this situation could have resulted in the exclusion of women, arrangements were made to accommodate female staff. Initially, the KCD signal was carried by "carrier current" on the AC phone lines and could be received on 880 AM by residents of certain dormitories. The first words ever broadcasted on KCD were, "Watson! Come here! I need a quarter!"

In 1966, the ASUCD and KCD staff reached an agreement which would allow KCD to apply for an FM broadcast license. Operations were then moved to the station's present location in basement of the then newly-constructed Memorial Union. On October 18, 1967, when the FCC granted the UC Regents a Class D, noncommercial, educational FM broadcast license, KCD became KDVS. The initial broadcast at 10 watts on 91.5 megahertz took place on January 2, 1968. These mono signals were reported have been received from as far away as Woodland, California.

KCD was initially challenging and independent. Its programming was diverse and it aired music which was distinctive from that of commercial stations, featuring, for example, a public affairs program that dealt with issues of poverty, student power, racism and the Vietnam War. KDVS gained a maverick reputation, airing interviews with Angela Davis and a live call-in show with Governor Ronald Reagan on April 14, 1969. In late 1969, KDVS aired its inaugural sports broadcast. Additionally, KDVS covered the all-day Vietnam War Moratorium protest and sarcastically ran an Alsatian for the 1969 Homecoming Queen.

On September 30, 1971, the station upgraded its signal by going to FM stereo. Commercials could be aired on the carrier current but were banned from the FM channel. In the mid 70's, KDVS confronted a growing conservatism which threatened the station's effort to provide an alternative to commercial broadcasters. Some students held that a more mainstream format would increase student listenership, basing their arguments on a controversial survey that showed only about 20 percent of students listened to KDVS. They failed to note that the station had higher ratings than all but one commercial station.

In April of 1977, KDVS went from ten to 5000 watts, and saw an even further increase in 1999 to 9,200 watts. This wattage gain greatly increased its listenership. In June of 1983, an outsider became general manager, took the station off-air for the entire summer, and during tried to make KDVS block-programmed and top 40. A year later, a new general manager began to reshape the station towards the alternative format that it had originally had.

Shockingly, in the fall of 1986, the KDVS staff posed nude for the center photo of the program guide. The news hit the Associated Press wire and the station attracted national coverage. A stamp disclaiming that the opinions expressed in the guide were not necessarily those of the UC Regents was mandated by the administration before distribution.

Since the beginning of the 90's, KDVS has been plagued with budget cuts enacted by ASUCD. Between 1993 and 1995, the station's operating budget was reduced by $6,000 and its reserve fund allocations by $7,000. Such cuts in funding forced a turn to our listeners for support, and the 1993-1994 academic year saw the first full-scale KDVS on-air fundraiser.

In an attempt to make KDVS' broadcast schedule clearer and more understandable to its listeners without compromising creative integrity, the station adopted a magazine-format program guide in the winter of 1994. The program guide is now known as KDViations.

To this day, KDVS continues its original mission: to provide the university with a laboratory for learning broadcast, production and managerial skills, and to provide its listening audience with diverse, challenging, noncommercial, freeform radio.

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