Radio KGNU-FM (Community)

KGNU AM/FM (88.5 FM/1390 AM) is an independent, noncommercial, community radio station for Boulder and Denver, Colorado, USA. KGNU is owned by Boulder Community Broadcast Association, Inc.

The idea for starting KGNU stemmed from a class in 1973 at the Boulder Free School called "A Desperate (or Last Ditch) Attempt to Start a Radio Station". In 1975, a core group from the class formed the community broadcast association as a nonprofit corporation and applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for an educational broadcast license. KGNU went on the air at 88.5 FM with a 1300-watt transmitter on May 22, 1978.

In 2004, the station raised $1.2 million to acquire a frequency in Denver, which at the time had eight radio stations owned by media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications, ten by religious broadcasters, but no community stations. On August 29, 2004, KGNU began serving the city, Colorado's largest, broadcasting at 1390 AM. In 2006, KGNU constructed a studio space at its Denver home at 7th & Kalamath making access to the KGNU airwaves easier for volunteers in the Denver area. By the Summer of 2009, nearly 25% of KGNU's programming is originating from volunteer producers in the metro area through the Denver studio. In the summer of 2010, KGNU was granted permission to increase its FM transmitter power to 4,000 watts.