KHSU (90.5 FM) is an

NPR 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 ...

-member

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, licensed to

Arcata, California Arcata (; Wiyot language, Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok language, Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay (United States), Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, Humboldt County, Californ ...

, United States. The station is currently owned by

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt also known as Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California or California State Polytechnic Universi ...

. KHSU also holds licenses for additional stations running

Radio Bilingüe Radio Bilingüe is a non-profit public radio network with Latino control and leadership, is the only United States national distributor of public radio programming in the Spanish language. It is based in Fresno, California. This satellite netw ...

and

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. KHSU provides the region encompassing Humboldt and Del Norte counties in California as well as portions of

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

and Mendocino counties in California and

Curry County, Oregon Curry County is the southwesternmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 23,446. The county seat is Gold Beach, Oregon, Gold Beach. The county Oregon G ...

, with news information and entertainment from public radio producers like

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 ...

(NPR),

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...

(PRI) and

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and oper ...

(APM).

History

Early years

The station began as a radio classroom experiment in 1941 on the campus of what was then Humboldt State College, with broadcasts airing on

KIEM KIEM-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Eureka, California, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Imagicomm Communications alongside low-power CBS affiliate KVIQ-LD (channel 14). Both stations share studios on South Broadway ...

for two months until the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

. The radio program resumed in full in 1947, when KHSC-AM signed on as a 10-watt carrier current station. In January 1960, Humboldt State applied for the first non-commercial radio license on a California college or university campus. The new station signed on for the first time on October 17, operating at 10 watts on 90.5 FM. It became KHSU in 1972, shortly after Humboldt State was elevated to university status.

NPR membership

The station remained almost exclusively a student training ground until 1982, when it boosted its power to 100 watts and moved to 91.5 FM. At that point, the station began a gradual process of professionalization, picking up an

membership in 1984. It returned to 90.5 in October 1984, this time with an increased signal of 9,000 watts. In 1988, facing the prospect of waiting five years to qualify for grants from the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

, KHSU shuffled its budget in order to enable it to hire the five full-time employees it needed for CPB funding within only five months of applying.

2019 staff cutbacks

On April 11, 2019, KHSU took a dramatic change in focus, personnel, and programming. All staff and volunteers were called to a 9 a.m. meeting, at which the memo below was given to those present, essentially firing of all but two staffers, though both later resigned. HSU administrators then enlisted HSU police officers to escort all those involved off campus. Door locks were changed, the station office was closed and phones disconnected, and KHSU began re-broadcasting programming from North State Public Radio in Chico, California. Volunteers, listeners, legislators and faculty members disagreed with HSU administrators' cutbacks, taken just a few days after a successful Fund Drive with no mention of the pending staff cuts.

KHSU simulcasts and translators

KHSU's programming can also be heard on KHSR 91.9 FM in Crescent City, KHSF 90.1 FM in Ferndale, and KHSG 89.9 FM in Garberville KHSU (operating under the moniker "Diverse Public Radio") also makes the programming of Radio Bilingüe available to North Coast (and South Coast of Oregon) listeners through stations KHSM (103.3 McKinleyville and Wild Rivers Coast) and KIPE (89.7 Pine Hills - serving the Eel River Valley). KHSU also operates two stations broadcasting BBC World Service 24 hours a day. KHSU-BBC is now broadcasting at 90.1 (KHSF, Ferndale) and at 107.7 (KHSQ, Trinidad).

References

External links

{{NPR California HSU Radio stations established in 1960 California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt Mass media in Humboldt County, California NPR member stations Community radio stations in the United States