KNUM-LP is a low-power FM radio station broadcasting on 96.7 FM in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, United States. It is owned by the Community Alliance of Tenants and is known as "96.7 The Numberz", airing a rap and hip-hop format. In 2017, a series of strange noises heard from the station gained popular social media attention and speculation, but has since been reclassified into the rap/hip-hop station it is today.

History

On November 15, 2013, the Community Alliance of Tenants, a tenants rights organization, applied to build a new low-power FM radio station on 96.7 MHz in Portland. The

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

approved its application in September 2014 as two of the four applicants for the frequency dropped out and the other two—the Community Alliance and Opal Environmental Justice Oregon—moved their LP facilities to avoid interference with each other. The station filed for its license to cover on September 20, 2017, having gone on air under the call sign KZRY-LP. Behind the founding of the station were two graduates of Grant High School, one of which was a founder of KXRY (branded as "XRAY.FM"). In its initial months on air as KZRY-LP, it aired a loop featuring audio of speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. and

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

and from the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

mission,

Sputnik 1 Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for t ...

, some music, and programs from XRAY. A year later, on August 29, 2018, the station began operating normally and changed its call sign to KNUM-LP, reflecting its on-air brand referencing the Portland area to which many black residents have been displaced as a result of

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

References

External links

* {{Portland, Oregon Radio NUM-LP NUM-LP African-American history in Portland, Oregon 2017 establishments in Oregon African-American history of Oregon