Our Radio Station Has Always Rocked

KUPS, Puget Sound’s nationally recognized campus radio station, has always had a countercultural streak, playing music well outside the Top 40 and giving airtime to voices you don’t typically hear on commercial radio. So, it may come as no surprise that the station itself arose from a prank. In the spring of 1966, first-year Rockwell Smith ’69 and a few co-conspirators hijacked the carillon system — normally used to broadcast the sound of bells — to play seven-and-a-half minutes of sound effects, including a cacophony of train whistles and car horns. The administration was none too pleased, but Smith, who had worked in radio since he was 16 and was a licensed electronics technician, was able to prove he hadn’t damaged the system.

“I pointed out to them that we had been playing sounds through it for six weeks prior to the prank and they didn’t know it,” Smith said. “We used airplane sound effects to disguise our tests, which we only conducted on cloudy days.”

By 1968, Smith was part of a group of students pushing for Puget Sound to get its own radio station. They got permission and space on the second floor of Wheelock Student Center, but were responsible for fundraising and building the system. So, Smith got to work constructing the operating console from scratch during the summer between his junior and senior years. The first iteration of the station was limited to campus, with hand-built transmitters in every residence hall to broadcast the signal. When the station went live in 1969, Smith trained the on-air talent and offered technical support. From the beginning, the music on air reflected the tastes of each DJ, including hard rock and early heavy metal bands like Iron Butterfly.

“We were live from noon to 10 or 11 o’clock at night,” Smith said. “They made us shut down when they locked up the building for the night.”

The students struck up a deal with a Seattle-based FM station to rebroadcast their signal during the off-hours, allowing the station to remain on the air almost 24 hours a day. Smith has remained active in radio for more than 60 years, eventually returning to his hometown of Salmon, Idaho, where he recently received a lifetime achievement award from the History of Idaho Broadcasting Foundation. “I’m proud to have been the catalyst in getting the station off the ground,” Smith said.

By the mid-1970s, KUPS was experiencing growing pains. The station’s record collection surpassed 500 albums, necessitating a move to a larger space by 1971. The AM carrier current, which transmitted through the electrical system to nearby buildings, wasn’t particularly clear and increasingly prone to interruption, as station manager Robert Reppas ’77 recalls.

“If somebody turned on a washing machine, the signal would start getting fuzzy and crackly and fade out,” Reppas said.

As a sophomore, Reppas made it his mission to upgrade KUPS to an FM station, which would provide better coverage and a clearer signal, but his plan wasn’t without hurdles. To receive a 10-watt station license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the least powerful transmitter allowed under FCC rules, required a $30,000 investment in new equipment and a new studio space in the garden level of Wheelock. President Philip Phibbs agreed to help KUPS apply for the license, but once again, funding needed to come from the student body.

“We spent weeks going from dormitory to dormitory, campaigning for why we needed a campus radio station that would not only handle music, but cultural events and sports,” Reppas said.

The Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound (ASUPS) held a vote and the student body approved the budget. By the fall of 1976, with a proper studio and a new transmitter in place, KUPS was officially broadcasting across North Tacoma. Among the early programs was the Turner-Reppas Report, where Reppas and KUPS Business Manager Malcolm Turner ’77 joked about the week’s news — often with a live audience outside the booth. For their efforts to update the station, Reppas and the KUPS team were awarded the Oxholm Award for Superior Service to the University Community.

“I was dedicated to making KUPS a success. I really believed in it,” Reppas said. “I worked so hard that as a pre-med chemistry student, I shaved some time off of my classes when I should have been studying.”

After making the switch to FM, KUPS continued its trajectory into the stratosphere of college radio stations. By 1983, the transmitter was upgraded to 100 watts from 10. In 1987, students launched Radio Theater, bringing plays to the airwaves on Sunday nights, and the musical rotation included an eclectic mix of rock, Motown, jazz, and classical. In 1990, the station’s management organized a food and clothing drive and raised more than $14,000 for local families. In 2001, when every staff position at the station had been filled, Doug Herstad ’03 created the role of director of alligators for Ryan Cunningham ’05, who was eager to get involved.

“Ryan took his position very seriously. We never once saw an alligator in the station,” Herstad told Arches in 2016. The position endured and in 2013, an alligator wearing headphones became the official KUPS mascot.

By the time Carmen Bria ’10 stopped by the KUPS table at LogJam to apply to be a DJ, the station was gaining national recognition. Bria, a longtime musician, teamed up with Ian Gowing ’10 for a show where the two played jam bands like Lotus and The Slip. In 2008, The Princeton Review named KUPS the 9th best college radio station in the country, but Bria had his sights set on a bigger prize when he became general manager.

“We were up for the MTV Woodie Award for best college radio station, and a lot of our meetings were focused on trying to win it,” Bria said. “We were a small school up against all these big schools, so we organized voting parties. We’d have pizza and watch a movie and have people vote online.”

KUPS emerged victorious, winning the inaugural College Woodie Award. MTV shot footage of the station, and the staff flew to New York City for the award ceremony.

“We had about 10 people in one hotel room,” Bria recalls. “There were a bunch of bands playing at the ceremony, like Death Cab for Cutie and Matt and Kim. That was pretty exciting.”

KUPS still broadcasts on 90.1 FM from its subterranean studio through a transmitter towering high above Wheelock. The schedule is still packed with students who are passionate about sharing their taste in music. It’s still recognized as one of the nation’s top college radio stations. Whether slinging heavy metal vinyl or queuing up hip hop MP3 singles, the spirit of experimentation and commitment to the craft of radio pervades — and after more than half a century, the station remains, thankfully, gator free.