 | |
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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Wasatch Front |
| Frequency | 90.1MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | KUER 90.1, NPR Utah |
| Programming | |
| Format | Public radio |
| Subchannels |
|
| Affiliations | NPR |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | University of Utah |
| History | |
First air date | June 5, 1960; 64 years ago (1960-06-05) |
Call sign meaning | "Utah Education Radio"[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 69171 |
| Class | C |
| ERP | 21,000watts |
| HAAT | 1,244 meters (4,081 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°39′34.8″N112°12′7.8″W / 40.659667°N 112.202167°W /40.659667; -112.202167 |
| Translator(s) | See§ Repeaters |
| Repeater(s) | See§ Repeaters |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | kuer |
KUER-FM (90.1MHz) is apublic radio station inSalt Lake City, Utah, United States. Owned by theUniversity of Utah, its studios are located in theEccles Broadcast Center on the University of Utah campus, while its main transmitter is located onFarnsworth Peak; an extensive transmitter network rebroadcasts its signal across Utah. KUER-FM features programming fromNPR and other public radio distributors as well as local news coverage for Utah.
KUER-FM began broadcasting on June 5, 1960, as an educational station emphasizing classical music. It became a regional service in 1962 when its transmitter was moved to Mount Vision in theOquirrh Mountains. After two financial crises that almost forced the station off the air, KUER evolved substantially in the 1970s and 1980s with the creation of NPR, a shift to a hybrid format of daytime classical and nighttime jazz music, each featuring long-tenured personalities. In 1993, it moved out of cramped quarters in historicKingsbury Hall and into the new Eccles Broadcast Center.
Over the course of the 1990s, KUER-FM's program offerings came under threat from new competition: classical music listeners were defecting toKBYU-FM, while the newKCPW provided a challenge to KUER's NPR talk offerings. In response to falling ratings, classical music was removed from the schedule in 2001—triggering listener outcry but not a significant decline in donations. At the same time, the station createdRadioWest, a local and regional news discussion program focusing on Utah and theWestern United States. The remaining music, nightly jazz, was removed from KUER's lineup in 2015.
The regents of theUniversity of Utah (U of U) approved in November 1959 an application to theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish an FM radio station on the campus.[3] The FCC awarded theconstruction permit in January 1960.[4]
On June 4, 1960, KUER-FM was authorized to begin program testing. It made its first broadcast the next day, June 5, consisting of a dedication program and the university's commencement ceremonies, simulcast with KUED.[5] The studios inKingsbury Hall had previously been used to run acarrier current station on the campus.[6] In its initial period of operation, KUER broadcast for six hours a day, five days a week, with classical music and discussion programs as the primary programming.[7] One regular feature wasChapter a Day, in which a chapter of a selected book was read each day;[8] another was music instruction for students.[9] The station made two large leaps in its early years: expanding to an 11-hour weekday program schedule and adding weekend broadcasts in April 1961[10] and relocating its transmitter from Kingsbury Hall to Mount Vision in theOquirrh Mountains in 1962, improving reception in Salt Lake City and extending coverage along theWasatch Front toOgden andProvo.[11][12] During this period, KUER was primarily run by students,[13] though it was not targeted at the student audience. The lack of programming for this group led to a push to start a new carrier current outlet, "KUTE", aimed at campus interests.[14][15] In 1968,The On Campus Show debuted, in part to serve as a vehicle for student action; it was the first such program in KUER's history.[16]
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, KUER almost ran out of money twice after the station was removed from the university's uniform school fund. Beginning in the 1967–68 school year, the station was funded by the Intermountain Regional Medical Program, which used KUER to broadcast postgraduate courses in medicine to physicians, but this was supplanted by direct telephone lines to hospitals.[17] The medical program continued to provide $5,000 annually in support to the station through 1972, when it ceased providing money, raising the possibility of the station being shuttered.[18] The station survived with funding from the Associated Students of the University of Utah and, beginning in the 1972–73 school year, became entirely student-operated, with some 70 volunteers and—for the first time—opportunity to earn course credits for working at KUER.[19]
In May 1971, KUER joined the newNational Public Radio network and began carrying its first program,All Things Considered.[20] It became a seven-day-a-week operation with Saturday programming beginning in 1972[21] and began broadcasting at higher power and in stereo in 1974.[22] A 24-hour programming schedule followed in 1984.[23]
During the leadership tenure of Don Smith, KUER's first paid employee (in 1962) and station manager between 1975 and 1985, the station adopted a format of daytime classical music, early evening news and information, and nighttime jazz, responding to research into public radio audiences.[24] The classical and jazz sections each had tenured on-air personalities associated with them. Gene Pack started with KUER when it began in June 1960 and remained for 42 years, spending almost all of that time hosting classical music programming.[25] In 1988, Wes Bowen leftKSL to join KUER, where he hosted the nightlyJust Jazz; the program remained on air into the 2000s.[26] Another jazz program was hosted by Steve Williams from 1984 to 2015; upon his retirement, Scott Pierce ofThe Salt Lake Tribune hailed Williams as "the pre-eminent local authority on jazz".[27]
In 1982, the station ceased reporting local news in response to NPR budget cuts. This changed four years later when KUER revived a news department, initially using students to gather news.[28][29] By 1991, student involvement in newsgathering had been reduced again to nothing with the scrapping of a weekly public affairs program,Sunday Journal.[30] In spite of this, many people believed KUER was a student station in its news department.[31]
KUER began laying the groundwork in the late 1970s for a statewide expansion of its programming. In October 1979, it filed for 14 different translators to rebroadcast into communities fromVernal toWashington.[32] The translator network began to roll out in late 1982;[33] there were 19 translators by 1988 and 28 by 1993.[34]
During the 1980s, the University of Utah's broadcasting operations were outgrowing their cramped quarters. KUED, which was located separately in the Music Hall, sought new studios as early as 1981,[35] and KUER was similarly facing a lack of space in Kingsbury Hall.[36] After a $5 million gift by Dolores Doré Eccles, ground was broken on theEccles Broadcast Center in 1989.[37] KUED, KUER-FM, andKULC (channel 9) began broadcasting from the site in 1993.[38]
In November 1992, KUER-FM gained competition for public radio talk listeners in the Salt Lake area. A new station,KCPW (88.3 FM)—an outgrowth ofKPCW inPark City—signed on the air, offering what founder Blair Feulner called an "intelligent, all-information format" including such NPR shows asTalk of the Nation andFresh Air as well as theBBC World Service overnights. Though Feulner disclaimed any competition with KUER-FM,[39][40] KCPW was seen as a competitor to KUER and, in the late 1990s, began to chip away at KUER's listenership.[41] Meanwhile, classical music listeners were slowly switching to the all-classical music station fromBrigham Young University,KBYU-FM. In response, Greene proposed a reduction in classical programming,[42] which met with opposition from some listeners.[43] Later that year, KUER reduced its classical programming by an hour on afternoons and addedThe World in its place.[44]
The response to proposed classical cuts, as well as the loss of listeners to KCPW for information and KBYU for classical music,[45] informed Greene's decision to move quickly three years later. On March 16, 2001, with little notice, Greene discontinued KUER's daytime classical programming and replaced it with additional NPR talk shows.[46][47] Greene justified the decision as a bid to shore up continuing listener erosion as classical listeners switched to KBYU and as providing a more distinctive service statewide.[48] KCPW also protested the change, calling it "predatory" and fearing that duplication among the two stations—of six syndicated programs on weekdays—would harm it financially.[45][49] The format change resulted in a sharp outcry from listeners and a dip in daytime listening figures,[45] reaching as far as protests with the state Information Technology Commission. It did not dent listener contributions for the fiscal year, even though it was more than halfway complete at the time of the switch.[50] In the first fund drive after the switch, donations reached a record high, in part driven by high demand for news in the wake of theSeptember 11 attacks.[49] Pack remained with KUER, producing an arts calendar and engaging in other behind-the-scenes work, before retiring the next year.[47][25] In 2006, KUER began broadcasting inHD Radio,[51] and the next year, it began multicasting, including a classical music subchannel.[52]
In 2015, Steve Williams retired, ending his 31-year tenure with KUER. Concurrently, nighttime jazz programming was dropped and replaced with additional talk programming.[27] It was Greene's last major move as the leader of KUER; he retired in 2017 after a 28-year tenure[53] and was replaced with Maria O'Mara, a former KUER reporter and journalist who had been the communications director for the University of Utah.[54] Leadership of KUER and KUED was combined in 2020 when KUED's general manager, James Morgese, retired.[55]
KUER acquired the license and facility of KCPW in 2023, after that station put itself up for auction for financial reasons. KUER began broadcasting Spanish-languageRadio Bilingüe—which had already been airing on an HD subchannel—on the frequency, whileUtah Public Radio absorbed KCPW's programming.[56] KCPW's call sign was changed toKUUB.[57]
In fiscal year 2023, KUER-FM had total revenue of $5,997,000. TheCorporation for Public Broadcasting contributed a $463,000 Community Service Grant, and the University of Utah contributed $542,000 in funding. The station received $2,018,000 in donations and $1,129,643 in underwriting revenues and had 13,001 members in 2023. A total of 436 major individual donors donated $737,000 in gifts and bequests.[58]
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KUER's programming during the week consists of public radio talk programs from NPR and other distributors, includingMorning Edition,Fresh Air,The World,Marketplace, andAll Things Considered. A variety of specialty programs are aired on weekends.[59]
Airing two days a week (Wednesday and Thursday[59]) isRadioWest, a newsmagazine focusing on issues of Utah and the West hosted by Doug Fabrizio. RadioWest debuted on February 1, 2000, initially as a twice-weekly program with reports from KUER and other public radio stations in the western United States, emphasizing longform and narrative features.[60][61] In May 2001, RadioWest became KUER's first daily local news program, shifting to an hour in a midday timeslot and adding call-in segments.[62] It continued airing at 11 a.m. until 2017, whenDiane Rehm retired. The show was moved to an earlier time afterMorning Edition, which exacerbated Fabrizio's workload and made it harder to attract guests. In 2019,RadioWest went on hiatus and returned as a weekly program.[63]
KUER-FM is rebroadcast by five full-power FM stations as well as 33 boosters (filling in within the immediate area of the KUER-FM transmitter) and translators throughout Utah.[64]
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | Class | ERP (W) | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KUQU | 93.9 FM | Enoch | 170181 | C | 30,000 | 824 m (2,703 ft) | 37°32′29″N113°4′7″W / 37.54139°N 113.06861°W /37.54139; -113.06861 (KUQU) |
| KUEU | 90.5 FM | Logan | 89301 | A | 1,500 | 142 m (466 ft) | 41°36′40.7″N111°57′8.8″W / 41.611306°N 111.952444°W /41.611306; -111.952444 (KUEU) |
| KUXU | 88.3 FM | Monroe | 173050 | C1 | 2,500 | 973 m (3,192 ft) | 38°23′7.9″N112°19′59.7″W / 38.385528°N 112.333250°W /38.385528; -112.333250 (KUXU) |
| KUHU | 88.1 FM | Monticello | 172928 | C2 | 252 | 1,070 m (3,510 ft) | 37°50′24.9″N109°27′42.4″W / 37.840250°N 109.461778°W /37.840250; -109.461778 (KUHU) |
| KUOU | 89.3 FM | Roosevelt | 173223 | C2 | 2,500 | 524 m (1,719 ft) | 40°32′15.8″N109°41′59.5″W / 40.537722°N 109.699861°W /40.537722; -109.699861 (KUOU) |
Two repeaters have histories prior to rebroadcasting KUER-FM. KUEU inLogan went on the air in 2007 as KZCL, repeating Salt Lake City community radio stationKRCL to northern Utah.[65] The facility, which had been planned for more than a decade, struggled with engineering issues and the ability to receive a reliable signal of KRCL. It was sold to the U of U in 2011 and became KUEU, rebroadcasting KUER-FM; one local booster of the rebroadcast effort apologized in a letter to the editor for representing KRCL.[66] KUQU, licensed toEnoch and covering St. George and Cedar City, was originally KYLZ, licensed toParowan. It was silent when the U of U acquired it in 2016 along with its construction permit for the new city of license.[67]
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | ERP (W) | HAAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KUER-FM1 | 90.1 FM | Alta | 124934 | 10 | 139 m (456 ft) |
| KUER-FM2 | 90.1 FM | Park City | 170892 | 1,000 | 802 m (2,631 ft) |
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID |
|---|---|---|---|
| K211DH | 90.1 FM | Annabella | 87430 |
| K211CL | 90.1 FM | Beaver | 76876 |
| K202AW | 88.3 FM | Cedar City | 69147 |
| K201BY | 88.1 FM | Delta, etc. | 69344 |
| K211CK | 90.1 FM | Fillmore | 76878 |
| K218EM | 91.5 FM | Heber City | 69392 |
| K209BG | 89.7 FM | Huntsville | 69095 |
| K211BB | 90.1 FM | Kanab | 69370 |
| K213AA | 90.5 FM | Laketown &Garden City | 69364 |
| K211CQ | 90.1 FM | Manila &Dutch John | 69130 |
| K283BS | 104.5 FM | Manti, etc. | 69105 |
| K203CA | 88.5 FM | Milford | 76881 |
| K280BT | 103.9 FM | Milford, etc. | 69065 |
| K219KR | 91.7 FM | Moab | 69208 |
| K269BP | 101.7 FM | Monroe, etc. | 69310 |
| K214EG | 90.7 FM | Monticello | 69197 |
| K215EL | 90.9 FM | North Moab | 69029 |
| K264BK | 100.7 FM | Orderville, etc. | 38352 |
| K202AD | 88.3 FM | Orangeville, etc. | 69162 |
| K208AG | 89.5 FM | Park City | 68998 |
| K211BU | 90.1 FM | Parowan | 69377 |
| K205FK | 88.9 FM | Price | 69236 |
| K202AF | 88.3 FM | Randolph, etc. | 69289 |
| K213EE | 90.5 FM | RuralEmery County | 79105 |
| K272EG | 102.3 FM | RuralSan Juan County | 156498 |
| K203AB | 88.5 FM | RuralSummit County | 69255 |
| K285BK | 104.9 FM | Tabiona, etc. | 68990 |
| K201CF | 88.1 FM | Ticaboo | 69087 |
| K216AC | 91.1 FM | Tropic, etc. | 69305 |
| K211CV | 90.1 FM | Vernal, etc. | 69272 |
| K300AC | 107.9 FM | Washington, etc. | 69275 |
A translator inPocatello, Idaho, was donated by the University of Utah toBoise State Public Radio in 2022, with the U of U citing difficulty in maintaining a reliable signal from Salt Lake City.[68]
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| National | |
