Memorabilia Exhibits, Prize Giveaways and...Spacemen?

KSPC Celebrates Its Golden Anniversary

Lauren Eckler / Claremont Student

By Margaret Murray
Staff Writer

KSPC is turning 50, and those who work at the Claremont Colleges’ student-run radio station are promising no dearth of birthday festivities throughout February and into March. The station is pulling all the stops in order to fully celebrate its half-century on the air. As one KSPC staff member, Mage Macchione, notes, “Disney milked its fiftieth for a whole year - we might as well spread out the celebration.”

Founded on February 12th, 1955, the station was originally housed in Replica House, the historic building still standing by the Pomona observatory and baseball field. Terry Drinkwater, the station’s first program director, station co-founder, and ’58 Pomona graduate, outlined the KSPC mission: “We don’t feel that it is the purpose of KSPC to merely duplicate programming already available on other radio stations, but rather to provide our listeners with a desirable type of programming not readily available in this area.” The station continues to stand by this mission statement. Judging by the earliest charts kept, the station played classical music during the first years of its existence, along with news and public affairs programs. Several decades after the station’s founding, programming changed dramatically, but the mission remained intact when students voted to commit the station to an all-independent-label format. Even now, the station stands by its original mission and currently boasts the title of (or perhaps carries the burden of) being one of the only non-free-form non-profit stations in the nation.

One of the community events planned in celebration of the anniversary includes an exhibit at the Claremont Community Foundation, 205 Yale Avenue, featuring station and DJ photos, program guide covers and other radio artwork through the decades. “The exhibit isn’t like a Smithsonian historical guide through the station’s history,” explains Erica Tyron, KSPC’s manager. “It just features a collection of KSPC memorabilia that’s stuck around since the start.” The exhibition opened with a reception on February 3rd and is available to the public through the end of February.

Other birthday events include a 50th Birthday Bash on March 25th at Edmund’s Ballroom on the Pomona College campus, tentatively featuring a live Motown cover band and KSPC student DJs’ musical picks. Jordan Friedman (a.k.a. DJ Mr. Parker) will also attempt 50 non-stop hours on-air the weekend prior to the birthday.  Two of those hours will be devoted to archived KSPC programs from the fifties to the present. Additionally, the station’s CD and Record Expo featuring 50th Anniversary paraphernalia will held February 26 at Edmund’s Ballroom.

Staff members are also hoping to implement a publicity blitz on the Claremont Consortium campuses. One publicity tactic involves a member of the KSPC student volunteer force walking around the 5Cs in a “spaceman” suit (riffing off KSPC’s subtitle, “The Space”), spreading the 50th birthday and general KSPC word. Expect this spaceman at events such as Table Manners and dining hall meals. Staff members planned a KSPC T-shirt day for February 17th as well. Students spotted wearing KSPC T-shirts will have a chance of winning one of three 50-dollar gift certificates to Rhino Records in Claremont.

Staff members hope that campus publicity efforts surrounding the 50th Anniversary will inspire greater student interest in the station. “Although we do have some community [off-campus] volunteers, the radio station is student-run,” notes Tyron. “The staff must be composed of students. The survival of KSPC basically hinges on the participation of students in leading the station.”  Tyron cites the deterioration of public interest in radio as the tragic result of a MP3-enhanced musical world. Many students are also intimidated by the independent labels contained in the KSPC library. Finally, although KSPC accepts community donations, the station is non-profit and receives its main funding from the associated student programs of the various colleges. Recently, some organizations - including the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College - have cited the lack of student interest as reason to reduce the funds that are necessary for KSPC’s programming and technical upkeep.