KDIC Radio Station

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KDIC Radio Station

The first radio station at Grinnell College, KGRW, started on December 6, 1948. It was an AM station that broadcast news, interviews, and popular and classical music. By 1961-62 the station needed better equipment, because their existing equipment was obsolete. KGRW also needed to upgrade to a FM frequency, because FM is more powerful and there is little interference. The station broadcast with a closed circuit. At one point, it broadcast illegally outside of campus, and lost its license, so the station had to return to the closed circuit system. Students living in Norris Hall could not listed to KGRW because the dormitory’s electrical wiring interfered with the station’s signal. Students appealed to the Board of Trustees for funding for the upgrade to FM, but the Board did not have the funds at that time. KGRW was shut down and there was no radio station on campus for the next six academic years. During the 1966-67 and 1967-68 years several students, headed by Babak Armajani ‘68, worked to start another station. They were successful, and KDIC began broadcasting on May 20, 1968.In the fall of 1968 KDIC broadcast 121 hours per week, and had eighty-five students on the staff. Forty of the staff were DJs. The station received news from UPI, outside newspapers, and campus reporters. Classical, jazz, rock, and folk music were played. In addition, there were special programs from Radio Netherlands, the French Radio System, and the PAN-American Union.   Content: Contains audio tapes of speeches, performances, symposia, and radio programs taped and/or broadcast by the student staff of the radio station during a time of active student political involvement on the Grinnell College campus. Of special note is the tape of Dean Joseph Wall at a community meeting discussing the proposal for closing the college early in the spring as a result of Kent State (5/8/70). Provenance: Donated to the Archives by Siclinda Canty-Elliott and KDIC staff, September 1998.   Processed by Leslie Czechowski and Emily Burke, September 1998.