KNTU (88.1 FM) is the campus

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 radi ...

of the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

. The signal of the station covers much of the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and Fort Worth

Metroplex A metroplex is a conurbation with more than one principal anchor city of near equal importance. Metroplex may refer to: * Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, a conurbation in Texas, U.S. *Eastgate Metroplex, a professional/retail complex in Tulsa, O ...

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

with an alternative rock format. Any University of North Texas student is welcome to work at the station. KNTU also produces the UNT football and men's basketball broadcast feeds for th
Mean Green Sports Network
a radio property of

Learfield LEARFIELD, formerly Learfield IMG College, is a large collegiate sports marketing company, representing more than 200 of the nation's top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and ...

, but no longer airs the games on 88.1 FM. UNT

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

basketball will move to streaming only on Learfield'
Varsity App
beginning with the 2022-23 season.

History

KNTU was founded in 1969 in part by

Bill Mercer William A. Mercer (born February 13, 1926) is an American sportscaster, educator and author. Originally from Muskogee, Oklahoma, he has retired to Durham, North Carolina after a long residence in Richardson, Texas. In 2002, he was inducted in ...

, former voice of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

North Texas Mean Green North Texas Mean Green (formerly North Texas Eagles) represents the University of North Texas (UNT) in intercollegiate athletics. The teams compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). North Texas competed in th ...

, and a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. Originally on the 88.5 FM frequency, the station officially went on the air on October 31, 1969. Along with music, Mean Green football game broadcasts were soon added, with Mercer providing play-by-play coverage and UNT students usually serving as his color commentators. The station switched to a jazz format in 1981, while continuing to host public affairs shows and North Texas athletic events. While KNTU had no direct competitors, it shared audiences with 106.1 from 1987 to 1992 and 107.5 from 1992 to 2006 (both with the KOAI callsigns) as

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

-formatted stations branded "The Oasis." On July 29, 2022, KNTU switched to an alternative rock format,"88.1 indie," reflecting the station's independent status with a playlist of alternative rock artists. The first song was "

Icky Thump ''Icky Thump'' is the sixth and final studio album by American rock duo The White Stripes, released through Warner Bros. and Third Man Records in June 2007, with XL Recordings handling the United Kingdom release. Its first release came on June ...

" by

the White Stripes The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums wit ...

. The jazz format continues to stream online. KNTU also announced its intent to launch its HD Radio signal in late 2022/early 2023 and add the jazz format to 88.1 HD2. The latest format flip puts KNTU in competition with North Texas Public Broadcasting's

Adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

-formatted

KKXT KKXT (91.7 FM) is a listener-supported public radio station, licensed to Dallas, Texas and broadcasting to the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. It has a Triple A (adult album alternative) music format with a mix of acoustic, alt-country, indie ...

(91.7), iHeartMedia-owned

KDGE KDGE () is a commercial radio station licensed to both Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia, and broadcasts a mainstream adult contemporary radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and Decem ...

(102.1 The Edge HD2), and

Audacy Audacy, previously known as Radio.com, is a free broadcast and Internet radio platform owned by the namesake company Audacy, Inc. (formerly known as Entercom). The Audacy platform functions as a music recommender system and is the national um ...

-owned

KVIL KVIL (103.7 FM, ''Alt 103.7'') is a commercial radio station dual-licensed to Highland Park and Dallas, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and it serves the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in North Texas. The station's studios are located along ...

(Alt 103.7).

Programming

In addition to its alternative format, KNTU broadcasts "North Texas In Focus," a public affairs show on Sunday at 6 a.m.

Signal

Unlike most of the area's FM stations (like competitor KVIL) which transmit their signals from Cedar Hill, KNTU transmits its signal from north Denton on land owned by UNT which was a Nike Missile Base. Therefore, KNTU's signal is much stronger in the Northern parts of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex as well as the cities of Denton, Decatur,

McKinney McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano and Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about north of Dallas. The U.S. Census Bureau lis ...

, and Gainesville, but is considerably weaker in Dallas, Fort Worth, and areas south of the Metroplex. The station installed a new antenna during the first week of November 2022.

Notable former KNTU students

George Dunham George William Dunham (born June 28, 1965); is an American radio personality and member of the '' Musers'' in Dallas, Texas. Dunham co-hosts the show with long-time friend and college roommate Craig Miller, along with their co-host Gordon Keith ...

( KTCK The Ticket) * Craig Miller (KTCK The Ticket) * Sean Bass (Sports Director, KTCK The Ticket) *

Mark Followill Mark Followill is an American sports announcer, currently for Fox Sports, covering basketball, soccer and football. Career Early in his career, Followill worked in various positions at KTCK The Ticket in Dallas including as host of ''The Ende ...

(PxP Dallas Mavericks,

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

) *

Dave Barnett David Lane Barnett (born April 27, 1958) is a play-by-play broadcaster who calls Big 12 baseball games on Fox Sports 1, college basketball on American Sports Network, and football and men's basketball for the University of North Texas (UNT). He h ...

(PxP Dallas Mavericks,

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

, Texas Rangers) * Craig Way (Voice of the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

) * Tommy Bonk ( LA Times writer who coined the phrase "

Phi Slama Jama Phi Slama Jama was a name given to the men's college basketball teams of the Houston Cougars from 1982 to 1984. Coined by former ''Houston Post'' sportswriter Thomas Bonk, the nickname was quickly adopted by the players and even appeared on team w ...

Previous logo

References

External links

KNTU websiteUniversity of North Texas Department of Media Arts
*
DFW Radio/TV History
{{Modern Rock Radio Stations in Texas University of North Texas NTU NTU Radio stations established in 1969 1969 establishments in Texas Radio and TV Alternative rock radio stations in the United States