Radio KWUR 90.3FM

KWUR is a radio station in St. Louis, Missouri located at 90.3 MHz FM. KWUR was founded on July 4, 1976 at Washington University in St. Louis, and represents one of the last remaining independent and fully student managed college radio stations in the United States.[citation needed]KWUR roots go back to a small carrier current AM station, KFRH, serving the Forsyth Residence Halls at Washington University in St. Louis in 1961. In 1968, freshman Beau Harris single-handedly broadcast for over 136 consecutive hours establishing a new collegiate record and helping to increase the station's budget. KFRH ceased broadcasting in the spring of 1974 while its staff worked toward establishing an FM station. On July 4, 1976, KWUR 90.3 FM began broadcasting at 10 watts on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. In 1991, in response to the lack of published music writing on campus, KWUR started producing a magazine titled Sample. Based at KWUR, Sample would become the outlet for record reviews and numerous interviews until its end in 1999.In 1998, KWUR became one of the first college stations to offer a live online stream (at the time in RealAudio format). The now defunct Nibblebox.com, who were once the central body of college radio, gave KWUR nine awards for best shows in their respective timeslots. In 2003, KWUR won the critic's choice from the Riverfront Times for the Best Radio Station in St. Louis. In 2001, KWUR began the latest of its periodic wattage upgrade campaigns, in the hopes of increasing its transmitting power to 100 watts. (Previous upgrade campaigns occurred in 1989 and 1995.) The outcome of this campaign was the same as before: despite approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and commissioned technical studies showing there would be no interference with adjacent stations, KWUR was unable to get approval from its closest neighbor, NPR-affiliate KWMU. In 2005, KWUR began a complete renovation of its studio and technology.In 2006, KWUR began official rebroadcasts of Free Speech Radio News.