In the next few days, we at KZSM will bring True Community Radio to your FM dial at 104.1 FM. As we complete this process, we will look back on the history of community radio in San Marcos in this column and the next one.
The memorable ancestor of community radio in San Marcos is KIND radio, an unlicensed low-frequency station that began operations in 1997.
They provided talk and entertainment 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Their program hosts came from San Marcos and the surrounding area and were responsible for their own broadcasts. The court ruling that kept the unlicensed station on the air was eventually overturned, and KIND went off the air in 2000.
KIND co-founder Joe Ptak recalled the openness and variety of KIND’s programming. “What we had was one playing field, and everybody got to play on the same field. The diversity of our community is what made KIND radio so special.”
KZSM 104.1 carries on that legacy with programming that expresses the diversity and creativity of our community.
KIND radio not only gave the community a voice, they also cared for it during the Halloween flood of 1998.
The staff cleared out the flooded station, picked the cables out of the water, and fielded constant phone calls, broadcasting continual reports to warn people and direct them to safety.
Made aware of the need for communication in emergencies, the City of San Marcos filed a radio station application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1998.
As the city’s web site explains, “many things changed from the time of application and issuance,” and it was 2010 before the license for a new low power radio station was approved, and 2011 before KZOS, 103.1, began broadcasting.
FCC regulations require a station to broadcast, so KZOS played a continuous music stream, planning to broadcast emergency communications and eventually city council meetings.
The inevitable changes in city priorities and personnel apparently derailed those plans.
In November of last year, the San Marcos City Council voted for the transfer of the city’s low-power FM Radio Station License and related transmission equipment to KZSM.
With over five years of experience live-streaming community-based programming as KZSM.org, we are ready to take on the responsibility entrusted to us by the city and carry out the legacy of KIND radio to keep our community informed, entertained, and safe.
Stay tuned.
