BY: JOSEPH HANSEN ILLUSTRATION: MICHELLE MARTINEZ
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SOME THINGS JUST GET BETTER WITH AGE
ordy, lordy look who’s passed 40. FM90, the Amarillo College licensed radio station, has passed the big four-oh. Hitting middle age has not slowed down KACV-FM, 89.9. Amarillo College’s cutting edge has changed quite a bit since its beginning, but the station’s commitment to students has stayed the same. FM90 started off as a progressive country station spearheaded by Andrea Baldwin, the station’s first program director. KACV-FM first aired at noon on March 15, 1976. A year later, Dean Taylor would take the reigns as program director and help the station transition from country to classical music and then again that same year to rock and roll. By 1983, metal was added as regular programming on the station. “We began every morning with Iron Maiden at one point,” said Mike Fuller, the seventh, and current program director for FM90. It was around this time that the station’s three longest-running block shows began, thanks to Program Director Chris Johnson. In the early 80s, the station would add “Dead End Street,” “Body and Soul” and “All That Jazz,” which all continue to air today. In 2005, after being an AC student, FM90 fan and DJ, Brian Frank, who now works as a video content producer for Panhandle PBS, became the station’s program director. He held that role for nearly a decade. “When I came in as a student, a change was going on in the landscape of rock and roll. There was really a push for college
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rock and FM90 was a big part of that movement,” said Frank, noting that this was when the station converted from 30,000 watts to 100,000 watts. This boost in power allowed the station to reach the entire Texas Panhandle and made it one of the most powerful college radio stations in the United States. FM90 has diversified its programming tenfold in just 40 years. Today, the station not only plays rock, but also jazz, electronic, hip-hop, R & B, folk, Tejano and more. “We’ve always done new music first… that’s what people tune in to FM90 for,” Frank said. The station is also a working lab for mass media majors. Countless students have cracked the mic in the FM90 studio and gained hands-on media experience on the airwaves. Students who aren’t preparing for media careers can also take advantage of the opportunity to work as a DJ. “Radio announcing is a great way to build confidence and communication skills,” said Jill Gibson, mass media program coordinator and professor. Fuller said that in the next few years he sees FM90 becoming an even bigger asset to the campus and the Matney Mass Media Program. “At the end of the day, we’re here for the students,” he said. Although FM90 has passed 40, it isn’t getting soft or settling down in middle age. Instead, the station is seeking new ways to serve its listeners and help AC students. Getting older means continually getting better at Amarillo College’s cutting edge.