San Juan College issued the following announcement on Sept. 21.
It was a time before iPods, smartphones and Spotify. When people were listening to music from cd’s, cassette tapes or on their radios. In that world, at that time, an idea was born: give the gift of arts and music to the community, and that is how the idea for what we know as KSJE radio began!
Some 30-years later, KSJE continues to live up to that mission as “The Information and Cultural Beacon of the Four Corners!”
How KSJE Got Started
Planning for KSJE began in 1988 with a $90,000 grant and $90,000 worth of matching funds from San Juan College. Two years of construction and FCC approvals later, KSJE signed on the air at noon, Monday, November 12, 1990 as a non-commercial, educational radio station at 90.9FM. James Burgess became the first Station Manager. Connie Gotsch was hired from Eastern New Mexico State University to become KSJE’s first program director. The weekday classical music program that Connie Gotch started in 1991, “Roving with the Arts,” has been on the air almost continuously ever since.
Local Programs on KSJE
Other local radio programs that are almost as old as the station itself include “Write On Four Corners,” KSJE’s local and regional author program which airs at 10:30am every Wednesday. “Cuentos Hahne & Tales” KSJE’s storytelling program produced in cooperation with the Farmington Public Library. “Cuentos” as it is known, is heard every Friday at 12:30 p.m.
Not Your “Typical” Radio Station
KSJE was never intended to be a typical college radio station. San Juan College President Dr. James C. Henderson always saw the station as a gift of arts and classical music to the community, and it was to be run by professional broadcast staff. Students were given airtime on Saturdays to produce and air a program, a tradition that continues to this day with the “Student radio Hour” Saturday evenings at 9 p.m.
KSJE was also never a typical “public radio” station. As hundreds of public radio stations across the country relied on their communities to raise money to stay on the air through the use of public radio staples such as pledge drives and fund raisers, San Juan College paid for all of KSJE’s expenses for much of its early history. As the economy was challenged and budgets became tighter, KSJE has received financial support from generous community members and businesses. In addition, grant funding from various sources has reduced its financial reliance on San Juan College.
Visual Radio
As times changed, so did KSJE -- Internet streaming was added in 2002, as well as, a bigger website. By 2007, the station began offering audio podcasts of its local programming. As KSJE’s reliance on San Juan College funding decreased, the college included the radio station in a renovation of its studio space which lead to KSJE’s most recent technological advancement -- Visual Radio!
In 2018, KSJE moved into our new “fishbowl” studio at San Juan College to unveil its “Visual Radio” technology. KSJE added software and cameras to add video to our morning and community interview programs. While the audio is broadcast over the radio and online, the video is streamed to the KSJE Facebook page and YouTube channel. This investment has proved valuable in helping to produce a special local information program about COVID-19, overall increasing the station’s audience and listeners.
30 years after signing on-the-air for the very first time, KSJE continues to be “a gift to the community” as Dr. Henderson promised so many years ago.
Original source can be found here.
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