KCOU 88.1 FM is a noncommercial station run entirely by University of Missouri students. The station serves as an outlet for the newest in music from numerous genres, the latest in campus/community news, Mizzou sports, programs devoted to many different forms of music otherwise ignored by most commercial radio stations in the Midwest (an eclectic mix of genres including, but not limited to, hip hop, punk rock, alt country, techno, blues, funk, ska, indie rock and reggae), and – most importantly – the voice of students. KCOU also facilitates programming on campus and around Columbia, and assists/partners with other organizations to enhance their efforts to reach our audience or assist in reaching goals of mutual interest. Any current Mizzou student can apply to join the staff and, after successful completion of our training program, can begin broadcasting almost immediately. We are for students by students, independent of race, sex, lifestyle or culture. KCOU is your station, your voice.
How to Get Involved
Every semester we invite all interested students, regardless of their academic major/focus, to get involved at KCOU. We hold informational sessions where they can learn more about the station and conduct a comprehensive training program to provide new staff members with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed at KCOU. This past year we welcomed over 90 new student staff members to KCOU, who joined our veteran staff to bring you the best in new music, Mizzou news & sports, engaging talk shows, exciting events, great contests, and lots more!
If you are interested in getting involved in KCOU, send an email to signmeup@kcou.fm for more information on how to go about that. Keep in mind that there are also a number ways to work at KCOU beyond just DJ’ing – like news, sports, promotions, audio production, and underwriting/advertising/development!
Station History
It had to start somewhere…
KCOU’s past stretches all the way back to 1961 when KLOP began broadcasting from a broom closet in Cramer Hall. KLOP became KCCS, which became KCOU. The station as it is now started on Oct. 31, 1973, and was the first station in the country with an all-student executive staff. As the 1980s approached, KCOU carved a niche in the airwaves by playing the newest types of music, a mission that has not just survived to this day but has forever been embedded in the very fabric of the station. For a more expansive history of the early days of KCOU, see this site.
Big things
As the years progressed, KCOU grew and continued to explore the boundaries of music. In 1989, the College Music Journal, the major publication and charting source for all of college radio, named KCOU “Best College Radio Station of the Year.” We were an early champion of Uncle Tupelo (for the unfamiliar – if you’ve ever heard of Wilco or Son Volt – they were the result of UT breaking up in 1994) and mentioned in the liner notes for No Depression, their first studio album, in 1990. In fact, UT played a KCOU benefit show at the Blue Note that same year. In one of the most epic moments in college radio history (literally, it is mentioned in some broadcast textbooks), KCOU reunited the band Big Star for a campus show in 1993. They had not played together for 20 years prior to that. Music critics referred to it as a “minor miracle” (see also http://go.kcou.fm/bigstar and Wikipedia’s entry on the band for more info).
The Dark Times
Five months later, KCOU was shut down due to questions concerning the financial management and friction between the station and the Residence Halls Association. RHA fired the entire staff and turned KCOU into KEJJ “The Edge.” This was the station’s one big attempt with a Top 40 format, and it failed quickly. Troubles erupted again in 1997 when RHA began negotiations with KBIA to sell KCOU. KBIA wanted to use the station to broadcast more classical music, effectively killing the station, but the student body and the Columbia community rallied around KCOU like never before and saved the station. In November 1997, the Missouri Students Association, Mizzou’s student government, interceded on behalf of its constituents and purchased KCOU from RHA for $80,000. KCOU approved of the deal based on promises MSA made, including the selection process for the station’s general manager. The general manager was to be selected by the KCOU staff and was to have complete artistic control with no interference from any outside organization. MSA also provides an annual budget and other organizational support for the ongoing operation of KCOU and in return KCOU provides promotional support and airtime to assist with MSA activities.
The Hangover
After the wild roller coaster of the 1990s and helping to break bands like Death Cab for Cutie, the early 2000s were spent recovering and, arguably, barely hanging on. Mizzou sports broadcasting emerged mid-decade with men’s football, women’s volleyball, and soccer. The station staff hovered in the 50s and KCOU faded from view in the community due to a lacking schedule and heavy reliance on an automation system that consisted of a 200-disc CD player featuring prerecorded shows that were rarely updated – a majority of which were produced from 2003-2005, but played through 2007. Multiple years of poor management coupled with the above made the station a target for elimination in 2008.
The Great MSA Debacle (Watch the Save KCOU Documentary!)
Hudson Hall, the site of KCOU’s tower and transmitter for decades, was scheduled for renovation in at the end of 2008/beginning of 2009. Due to the renovation, our tower and transmitter were slated for relocation to Schurz Hall over the winter break in late 2008. As part of the relocation effort, a new tower was going to be erected and some other improvements made. The rough cost of the project was $30,000 and efforts had been under way for the move for a couple of years (FCC-related research, site surveys, etc.). However, near the beginning of the 2008 fall semester, the MSA President contacted KCOU’s General Manager and explained that the funding would not be provided unless it was demonstrated that KCOU was worth the investment. This was the first shot fired in a war that lasted the entire semester.
The MSA President attempted to keep all discussions on the subject behind closed doors, amongst primarily school administrators, and with limited KCOU staff involvement, but, as it became clear that this was an effort to make eliminating KCOU easier, this ended when KCOU launched a public information campaign “Save KCOU” headed up by the Program Director and fueled by the entire station’s staff. The effort consisted of a website hub of information about the issues involved, a letter writing campaign, widespread flyering, public protests, a short documentary, t-shirts, fundraising, local business partnerships, and media interviews. As the situation progressed and campus/community awareness spiked, the MSA Senate got involved. A couple of senators took interest in the issue and helped to work on a legislative solution to the tower funding issue and discussions were held with KCOU’s General Manager and Program Director. After some negotiation and redrafting, an act was brought forth and voted on by the Senate. The vote was a tie and it failed to pass, as a three-fifths majority was needed. This led to a stalemate between KCOU and the MSA President and the two sides were asked to enter into mediation. It was weird.
After roughly three months of protests/meetings/emails/phone calls directed at the MSA President and relatively extensive media coverage, he threw in the towel and provided the funding on October 21, 2008. While that was a huge win, the delay forced the project to be pushed back by six months and KCOU off the air for the first half of the following year. Although the station was still broadcasting online, being off the air took its toll on staff morale and promotional efforts. The station resumed its FM broadcast on July 9, 2009 and more powerful than ever as it was discovered there had been an error in calculating a setting for the transmitter and KCOU had been operating underpowered for years. It was also at around this same time that KCOU was presented with two Communicator Awards of Distinction – “Overall Newscast” and “Student Produced Programs” – for its 2008 Election Night coverage. The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence for communications professionals and one of the largest contests of its kind in the world and KCOU brought home the bacon.
Your Station, Your Voice… a New Era
While things were difficult at the close of the 2008-2009 school year, the transition of executive staff in April of 2009 paved the way for work to begin on retooling the station from the ground up. Some efforts had been underway for the prior year in the areas of programming and KCOU’s online presence, but everything from the station logo, general image/brand, department structures, and approach to campus engagement were about to be reinvented. Over the course of the summer, KCOU changed in many ways. A new logo was created, a tagline added (Your Station, Your Voice), a nickname established (the Pulse), a full-blown news department launched, refinements made to sports programming, a new production department formed, and several major technical issues resolved. Recruitment began during Summer Welcome, as incoming freshmen were introduced to the station for the first time, and carried into Fall Welcome. By the time training was over, there were 112 new KCOU staff members, the largest amount ever to join in a single semester. With an overall station staff exceeding 200 for the first time, over 73% of the entire week filled with live programming, several successful promotional events, a number of Blue Note concerts (including a sold-out show with Grizzly Bear) KCOU was well on its way back to good health and a bright future. This was further evidenced when the station rocketed its way to the top 5 of the mtvU Woodie Awards for the category of “Best College Radio Station,” ultimately losing out to KUPS/University of Puget Sound. It is still unclear how a student body of roughly 2,500 was able to defeat KCOU and Mizzou… While KCOU may not have gotten the Woodie, it was able to “Rock the Wrench” in the first major collaboration with the Student Union Programming Board (SUPB) – a campus-wide battle of the bands competition – and one of the most successful events of its type in recent time at Mizzou.
“The Future is Unwritten”
Not just a documentary about Joe Strummer, it describes KCOU. While the end was clearly in sight during the fall of 2008, the efforts by the many dedicated staff of KCOU kept it from the brink. It could be argued that various mistakes made over the course of a decade led the station to that precarious situation and others may argue that it was simply the result of one MSA President’s bad idea spiraling out of control, but what truly matters is simply looking forward and not back. The years will go by and the names and faces will change, but one thing will remain certain – KCOU will survive so long as it has a staff that believes in its purpose, its mission.
The Mission
KCOU’s mission is to lead and never follow. We accomplish this by playing diverse, groundbreaking music; delivering breaking and comprehensive campus news coverage; presenting Mizzou athletics and up-to-date sports content; producing relevant student talk shows that spotlight and encourage civil discourse on issues relevant to the student population; and fostering an environment that encourages free expression, creative thought, and fierce originality.
FCC License
KCOU-FM has a Class A Non-Commercial license and is operated in accordance with Part 73 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
