View source for KSPC

{{Short description|Radio station at Pomona College}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name             = KSPC
| logo             = KSPC new logo.png
| logo_size        = 260px
| city             = [[Claremont, California]]
| area             = [[Riverside, California|Riverside]]-[[San Bernardino, California]]
| branding         = "The Space"
| airdate          = February 12, 1956
| frequency        = 88.7 ([[Megahertz|MHz]])
| format           = [[Freeform (radio format)|Freeform]]
| erp              = 510 [[watt]]s<ref>{{cite web |title=FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION FM BROADCAST STATION LICENSE |url=https://publicfiles.fcc.gov/api/service/fm/authorization/1506675.pdf |publisher=[[FCC]] |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| haat             = {{convert|21|m|ft|sp=us}}
| class            = A
| facility_id      = 52922
| coordinates      = {{coord|34|8|33|N|117|43|17|W|region:US_type:city}}
| callsign_meaning = Originally '''K''' '''S'''tudents of  '''P'''omona '''C'''ollege. Now, affiliated with the entire [[Claremont Colleges]], it is '''K''' '''SP'''a'''C'''e.
| owner            = [[Pomona College]]
| webcast          = [http://37.187.79.93:8419/stream320 Listen Live]
| website          = https://kspc.org/
| licensing_authority= [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
}}
'''KSPC''' is a [[Non-commercial radio|non-commercial]] [[College radio|college]] and [[Community radio|community]] [[radio station]] based in [[Claremont, California]], broadcasting at 88.7&nbsp;MHz on the [[FM Broadcasting|FM]] band and streaming online. It was founded in 1956 as a [[Pomona College]] student organization and later expanded to the other [[Claremont Colleges]] (7Cs). KSPC is funded by the [[Associated Students of Pomona College]] and other 7C student associations.

==History==
The station was preceded by KPCR-AM from 1951 to 1955, which went off the air after the [[Federal Communications Commission]] raised objections to its [[carrier current]] signal.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pomona College's KSPC-FM: real pro station |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/progress-bulletin-pomona-colleges-kspc/129788187/ |access-date=10 August 2023 |work=[[Progress Bulletin]] |date=17 December 1977 |pages=28 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

KSPC's first broadcast occurred on February 12, 1956, on the campus of [[Pomona College]]. Station manager Ron McDonald and program director [[Terry Drinkwater]] launched the station with an anonymous donation of $4,000. In his inaugural address, McDonald laid out the station's mission: "We don't feel that it is the purpose of KSPC merely to duplicate programming already available on other radio stations, but rather to provide our listeners with a desirable type of programming not readily available in the area."

KSPC was located in Pomona College's Replica House<ref name="LAT 1958">{{cite news |title=Pomona Students Gain Experience in Operation of Campus Radio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-pomona-students-ga/129789361/ |access-date=10 August 2023 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=11 May 1958 |pages=53}}</ref> from 1956 until the mid-1970s, when the station received a major anonymous donation and constructed upgraded studios in the basement of Pomona's Thatcher Music Building.<ref name="New sound">{{cite news |title=New sound in valley: Claremont radio station has variety of programs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/progress-bulletin-new-sound-in-valley-c/129787603/ |access-date=10 August 2023 |work=[[Progress Bulletin]] |date=11 November 1972 |pages=31,[https://www.newspapers.com/article/progress-bulletin-new-sound/129787740/ 38] |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="La Verne">{{cite news |title=KSPC-FM: A Student 'Voice' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/la-verne-leader-kspc-fm-a-student-voic/129787906/ |access-date=10 August 2023 |work=La Verne Leader |date=20 December 1973 |pages=25 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> It remains there today.<ref name="Haunt">{{cite news |last1=Waits |first1=Jennifer |title=Visiting My Former Haunt: Pomona College Radio Station KSPC |url=http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/12/visiting-pomona-college-radio-station-kspc-one-of-my-former-college-radio-haunts/ |access-date=2 August 2021 |work=Radio Survivor |date=29 December 2015}}</ref>

The Claremont Colleges' director of student media, Erica Tyron, has worked at the station since she was a student at [[Scripps College]] in the late 1980s.<ref name="pandemic">{{cite news |last1=Norwood |first1=Robyn |title=The Beat Goes On at KSPC Despite Pandemic |url=https://www.pomona.edu/news/2020/08/06-beat-goes-kspc-despite-pandemic |access-date=2 August 2021 |publisher=Pomona College |date=5 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Since 1995, the station has hosted an annual CD and record expo.<ref name="Expo">{{cite news |last1=Stewart |first1=Teagan |title=Record Sales as KSPC Expo Turns 20 |url=https://tsl.news/life-style4568/ |access-date=2 August 2021 |work=[[The Student Life]] |date=14 February 2015}}</ref><ref name="DB expo">{{cite news |last1=Woods II |first1=Wes |title=Pomona College's KSPC CD & Record Expo a celebration of music media |url=https://www.dailybulletin.com/2015/02/02/pomona-colleges-kspc-cd-record-expo-a-celebration-of-music-media/ |access-date=21 November 2021 |work=[[Inland Valley Daily Bulletin]] |date=2 February 2015}}</ref>

==Programming==

KSPC's music programming is divided into general blocks by genre: [[Underground music|Underground]], [[Jazz]], [[Classical music|Classical]], [[Americana (music)|Americana]], [[Electronic music]] and [[Hip hop music|Hip hop]]. The station is also home to a variety of eclectic specialty shows highlighting niche genres, including [[Soul music|soul]], [[polka]], [[reggae]], [[film soundtracks]], [[video game music]], and [[children's music]]. KSPC programming also includes news, public affairs, talk and sports coverage.

The station's programming philosophy is geared toward supporting local and independent content.

=== Sports broadcasting ===
The sports broadcasting department of KSPC was started in 1981 when the [[FCC]] suggested that the station needed to expand its community-based programming.  Geoff Willis ('83) sat in the stands for a pre-season [[Pomona-Pitzer]] women's basketball game and created an audition tape by doing play-by-play into a small hand held dictaphone.  KSPC began broadcasting home basketball games for both Men's and Women's Pomona Pitzer basketball games during the 1981–1982 season, including the women's team's remarkable run to the [[NCAA Women's Division III Basketball Championship|NCAA Division III Final Four]].  James Timmerman ('82) covered the play-by-play while Willis provided color commentary.  After the Sagehens advanced to the Final Four with a 62–53 overtime victory over Scranton,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=1982 Division III women's basketball tournament |url=https://www.d3hoops.com/archives/women/1982 |language=en}}</ref> a frantic fundraising effort allowed the embryonic sports broadcasting department to travel to [[Harrisburg]], Pennsylvania to provide its first remote sports broadcast live from the Final Four. KSPC covered both the Final Four game and the consolation game.  Of historical interest was that the only two electronic media covering the 1982 Women's Division III Final Four Basketball Tournament were KSPC and a very young [[ESPN]].  Also of significance in its first season of existence, KSPC's sports broadcasting department aired Willis' pre-game interview of Pomona-Pitzer men's head basketball coach [[Gregg Popovich]] – the first radio interview ever given by Popovich as a head coach at any level.  Popovich went on to win five NBA titles as the head coach of the [[San Antonio Spurs]].

In the fall of 1982, KSPC began broadcasting home Sagehen football games.  Later that year, KSPC expanded its basketball coverage to add league away games as well as full home coverage for the men's and women's basketball games.  Willis took over the play-by-play duties with a rotating series of color commentators.  When the women's basketball team qualified for the Western Regionals, KSPC travelled to [[Moorhead, Minnesota|Moorhead Minnesota]] to broadcast two games from the campus of the [[Concordia College, Moorhead|Concordia College]] "Lady Cobbers."  In addition, during the fall of 1982 KSPC began broadcasting a weekly sports talk and reporting show and was able to broadcast live interviews with [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Dodger]] manager [[Tommy Lasorda]], [[Los Angeles Lakers|Laker]] [[Kareem Abdul-Jabbar]] and other local sports figures.

<gallery mode="packed" caption="KSPC offices in Thatcher Music Building">
File:KSPC Primary Recording Booth.jpg|Primary recording booth
File:KSPC Secondary Recording Booth.jpg|Secondary recording booth
File:KSPC Antechember.jpg|Antechamber
<!-- File:KSPC Live Studio Space.jpg|Live studio space -->
File:KSPC Live Studio Space Rear.jpg|Live studio space
</gallery>

==Operation==
KSPC is an active organization at the [[Claremont Colleges]], and often works in cooperation with other students groups in support of social events, speakers, and special opportunities. In the past, KSPC has either supported or been supported by (or both) the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC), the [[Pitzer College]] Student Senate, ''[[The Student Life]]'' newspaper, the Pomona Women's Union, and the [[Pomona College Organic Farm]].

==Noted artists==
In late 1962 and early 1963 [[Frank Zappa]] hosted ''The Uncle Frankie Show'' which ran Saturday nights from 11 pm–1 am. Zappa was a Pomona College student for short time, studying under ASCAP composer [[Karl Kohn]]. The program was usually pre-recorded by Zappa at his [[Rancho Cucamonga, California]] recording facility, Studio Z. A few highlights from these tapes have appeared on authorized Zappa archival releases. Zappa later appeared on the station as a guest on various KSPC programs in the late 1960s.

On November 5, 1979, [[The Ramones]] played a concert at Garrison Theater at [[The Claremont Colleges]] as part of KSPC's new wave/punk concert series that year and provided an in-studio interview with on-air personality Huge Bonair.

The [[Dust Brothers]] met at KSPC in 1985.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Allen |first1=David |title=Beastie Boys' 'Paul's Boutique' put KSPC duo in business |url=https://www.dailybulletin.com/2014/07/24/beastie-boys-pauls-boutique-put-kspc-duo-in-business/ |access-date=2 August 2021 |work=[[Inland Valley Daily Bulletin]] |date=24 July 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Campus radio]]
* [[List of college radio stations in the United States]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{FM station data|52922|KSPC}}
*[http://www.styluscity.org/KSPC/ KSPC's page on StylusCity]
*{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=69689 |title= History Cards for KSPC|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]}} ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/History Cards|Guide to reading History Cards]])<!--Converted from {{FCC letter}}-->

{{Riverside-San Bernardino Radio}}
{{Los Angeles Radio}}
{{Modern Rock Radio Stations in California}}
{{California college radio}}
{{Pomona College}}
{{Claremont Colleges}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Claremont Colleges]]
[[Category:College radio stations in California|SPC]]
[[Category:Radio stations in California|SPC]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1956]]
[[Category:1956 establishments in California]]