KETR 40th Anniversary (16884480319)
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KETR (88.9 FM) is a 100-kW noncommercial broadcast FM radio station operation in
Commerce, Texas Commerce is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States, situated on the eastern edge of North Texas, in the heart of the Texas Blackland Prairies. The town is south of the Texas/Oklahoma border. Commerce is the second-largest city in Hunt County ...
, licensed to
Texas A&M University-Commerce Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...
. A member of the
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
network, the station serves nearly 250,000
Northeast Texas Northeast Texas is a cultural and geographic region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Texas. Geographically centered on two metropolitan areas strung along Interstate 20—Tyler in the west and Longview/Marshall to the east, the areas ...
homes. The staff is composed of radio professionals and Texas A&M-Commerce students who major in either journalism or mass communication studies. KETR also produces original long-form and short-form radio programming.


History

KETR began in the early 1970s as the director of the
East Texas State University East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
radio-television program, Dr. David Rigney, developed an FCC application for an FM station that would be a teaching laboratory for students. KETR's first broadcast went on the air on April 7, 1975. The station operated in a former classroom on the first floor of the Journalism Building, with Phil Ebensberger, a veteran Texas commercial radio broadcaster, as general manager and morning-show host. The weekday programming originally emphasized local news, information, and middle-of-the-road music from early-morning sign-on to early afternoon; classical music in the early afternoon (this was soon replaced by jazz); National Public Radio’s ''All Things Considered'' in the late afternoon; various public affairs programs in the early evening, including live broadcasts of Commerce City Commission meetings; and ''Freeform'', a student-hosted rock music program from 9 pm to midnight. Weekend programs predominantly featured classical music or opera, such as the long-running ''Texaco Metropolitan Opera'' broadcasts. In 1977, the station moved from its quarters in the Journalism Building to new studios in the Performing Arts Center, where it shared facilities with the Radio-TV program. KETR remained in the Performing Arts Center until it moved to new facilities in Binnion Hall in 2008. In the early 1980s, after Ebensberger departed, general manager Bill Oellermann obtained FCC approval and a grant to raise KETR’s tower height and to increase power from about 7,500 watts to 100,000 watts. This increased the station’s broadcast range from about 20 miles to 75 miles. After moving away from National Public Radio programming in the mid-1980s, KETR has recently rejoined NPR and once again features ''
All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
'' and ''
Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 AM ...
'', among other NPR programs. KETR was one of the original stations carrying ''Morning Edition'' when it debuted in 1979.


Local programs

KETR has several programs that focus on Commerce and the
Northeast Texas Northeast Texas is a cultural and geographic region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Texas. Geographically centered on two metropolitan areas strung along Interstate 20—Tyler in the west and Longview/Marshall to the east, the areas ...
area. Counties that are typically covered with local news in addition to Hunt County, where Commerce is located, are neighboring Rockwall, Collin, Fannin, Hopkins, Delta, and Rains Counties. Among the local shows are: *''Notably Texan' is focused on Texas music and Texas musicians with host Matt Meinke. *''Blacklands Café'', hosted by John Mark Dempsey, is a news show that features 5- to 7-minute interviews in a radio coffee shop that focuses on local issues. *''North by Northeast'' is a weekly call-in show presenting "Stories that matter to Northeast Texas". Topics include development, education, health care, the environment, and the economy. Sports and fine arts are also featured. *''Outdoors With Luke Clayton'', hosted by Hunter and Angler Luke Clayton, focuses on hunting, angling, and outdoor activity. *''Lions After Dark'', hosted by various A&M-Commerce students, features music line-ups and interviews with other students on campus, usually regarding campus life. *''Buried'' is a podcast created by host/reporter
George Hale George Ellery Hale (June 29, 1868 – February 21, 1938) was an American solar astronomer, best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots, and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several world-lea ...
and KETR General Manager Jerrod Knight, a documentary-style podcast that uncovers details about the case of Carey Mae Parker, a young rural-Texas mother of three who disappeared 19 years before being reported missing.


National and other nonlocal programs

*''
Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 AM ...
'' *''
All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
'' *''
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
World Service'' *''
Sunday Baroque WSHU-FM (91.1 FM) is a NPR-affiliated radio station operated by Sacred Heart University. Licensed to Fairfield, Connecticut, it serves the Connecticut and Long Island area with news and classical music programming. Programs produced at WSHU ...
'' *''TED Radio Hour'' *''Texas Standard'' *''Texas Matters'' *''Bullseye with Jesse Thorn''


Sports programming

KETR sports programming began in the fall of 1975, with student-produced broadcasts of Commerce High School Tigers football. Ebensberger and former ETSU All-American quarterback Sam McCord served as the voices of ETSU Lions football. The first Commerce Tigers broadcast featured the Tigers playing at rival Honey Grove, with future ETSU All-American and NFL quarterback Wade Wilson leading the Commerce offense. The first college football broadcast was the Lions’ 42-10 win over Prairie View A&M in the Cotton Bowl. KETR also broadcast Commerce Tigers basketball and A&M-Commerce Lion basketball, continuing to this day. KETR followed the Lions to NAIA basketball tournament appearances in Kansas City in 1977 and 1978. KETR serves as the flagship station for the Lion Sports Network. The station covers Texas A&M-Commerce football, A&M-Commerce men's and women's basketball, and Commerce High School football. Longtime Texas sports Broadcaster Charlie Chitwood serves as play-by-play announcer and TAMUC alumnus Brock Callaway provides color commentary.


Station coverage

The station is typically received well in an 80-mile radius in all directions. The station's signal can easily be heard west to Dallas, north into Hugo, Oklahoma, southeast to Canton, Texas, and east to Mount Vernon. The quality of the signal can sometimes be affected by topographical anomalies such as lakes or hills; areas north and west are typically not affected due to the generally flat topography. Too, the signal is simulcast globally via online stream at the station's website, which is accessible on most internet-connected devices.


References


External links


KETR official website
{{Texas A&M University–Commerce NPR member stations ETR Radio stations established in 1975 Texas A&M University–Commerce