The University of Idaho’s free-form radio station, KUOI, is throwing an open house event in celebration of College Radio Day from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday in the KUOI office on the third floor of the Bruce Pitman Center.
KUOI is joining hundreds of colleges across the country in celebration of student-run radio.
Public relations director for KUOI Tru Pierone said she hopes participating in College Radio day will help the station gain recognition.
“Radio is becoming a dated form of streaming and listening to music,” Pierone said. “However, it provides an amazing opportunity for students to get themselves out there and share their unique tastes with the community.”
Broadcasting since 1945, KUOI runs 24/7. Anyone regardless of major can sign up to DJ their own show which will typically run two or three hours a week. KUOI provides news via the Pacific Network and Democracy Now!
Estimated population coverage for KUOI’s 10-mile radius is around 15,000 and can be streamed online. KUOI is a nonprofit and non-commercial educational radio station.
The station is working on a crowdfunding campaign to purchase a new master control board. The current master control board has been used since 2000 and needs to be updated to better suit the needs of KUOI DJs.
KUOI has a vast physical collection of media with 67,272 hard copy items, as well over 900,000 songs.
At the open house, students will be able to requests songs to hear over the air, tour the station and learn how to become a DJ. There will also be free CDs available.
“I love being a part of KUOI because it is such a fun environment,” Pierone said. “I love walking through the station and browsing through walls and walls of eclectic music. It’s never ending, and I can always find something new, no matter how old it is.”
Ellamae Burnell can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @EllamaeBurnell