Dr. Ralph Hanson
Department of Communication chair, 308.865.8412 or hansonre@unk.edu
University of Nebraska at Kearney student radio station KLPR has received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a power increase from 1,000 watts to 3,800 watts.
“Last year, we received a grant from the University of Nebraska Foundation to help finance major upgrades to the station,” said Dr. Ralph Hanson, UNK Department of Communication chair. “And KVSS, a Christian radio station, asked us to move from 91.3 to 91.1, so that they could raise their power.
“Our research showed that we would be able to increase our power if we moved to 91.1, which we would not have been able to do if we stayed at 91.3,” Dr. Hanson said. “KVSS said that they would pay us to move, and they filed all the necessary paper work. Once the frequency change was completed, we were able to put in for the power increase.”
The 2,800 watts power increase will allow KLPR to extend beyond the edge of Kearney and to have a stronger signal quality within Kearney.
With the money from KVSS and the $110,000 grant from the University of Nebraska Foundation, the department has a $120,000 budget for station improvement.
“We will be getting a new transmitter, antenna and link from the antenna to the studio,” Dr. Hanson said. “We will be getting that done as quickly as feasible. Then we will completely redo the studio space. We currently have the main studio and two smaller production studios, and both will be getting all new equipment.”
KLPR will continue to air all student produced programming and will cover Loper sports.
“The students will be able to do a much better job, because they will have better equipment,” Dr. Hanson said. “We will be able to have call-in shows on a much bigger scale, because we will have a better phone system and a delay system. We will be better able to cover Loper sports, because we will have better remote broadcasting equipment.
“This is really exciting for us, because radio is a very important part of our curriculum. This will be a great opportunity for students to produce music, sports and news programming,” Dr. Hanson said.
