KUMM (89.7 FM, "U-90") is an American non-commercial educational

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 ...

licensed to serve the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Stevens County, Minnesota Stevens County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,671. Its county seat is Morris. History The county was created by act of the Minnesota legislature on February 20, 1862. It was not organiz ...

. Established in 1970, the station is owned and operated by the

University of Minnesota Morris The University of Minnesota Morris (UMN Morris) is a public liberal arts college in Morris, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal arts college offering ...

Programming

KUMM broadcasts a college radio/

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

music format to the campus and the greater

, area. The station is a member of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

's Independent Public Radio network. The station also broadcasts programming produced by

students.

History

KUMM began licensed broadcast operations on September 17, 1972, with 10

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s of

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

(ERP) from an antenna in

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site is above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it i ...

. The station was assigned the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...

"KUMM" by 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 jurisdicti ...

(FCC). In May 1981, KUMM was granted a construction permit to increase power to 223 watts and lower its antenna to . The station began licensed operation at the new parameters on December 15, 1983. In September 2002, KUMM applied for a new construction permit to further expand the station's coverage area. The application sought to raise the antenna to and increase the ERP to 3,000 watts. A 2009 amendment to that application reduced the requested power to 700 watts. KUMM began licensed operation at these new parameters on October 15, 2009.

References

External links

KUMM official website
* {{Minnesota college radio Radio stations in Minnesota College radio stations in Minnesota Independent Public Radio Stevens County, Minnesota Radio stations established in 1970 University of Minnesota Morris 1970 establishments in Minnesota