KSCRFriends was created to ensure that USC students will continue to have an outlet for student expression and be the voice for the student body. A brand-new facility for KSCR will be included in the new Ronald Tutor Campus Center which is scheduled to open in 2010, coinciding with the station’s 35th anniversary.

On November 1st a major fundraising effort for KSCR will be kicking off and there will be news on this site shortly about how you can support and help create financial independence for the station.

We invite you to join the Circle of Friends and support KSCR–35 Years of Revolutionary Radio in Los Angeles!

KSCR: In the Beginning

by Bob Moore, founding General Manager

On April 2, 1975, about a dozen students gathered in the Hancock building in an old converted audio production studio to start what has turned into a revolution: KSCR, a radio station run by and for students. Back then we were just steps removed from streaking the Row (not that we would ever admit to that now) and just a few short months beyond a Fall 1974 meeting, when we decided there needed to be a radio station where everybody could participate.

This group was much like the many that followed, I suspect. Students on KSCR’s first staff were as diverse as could be: PR majors, broadcasting majors, engineers, journalism majors, sportscasters, and a lot of students who were just music fanatics. It was a time when things really were simpler. No Internet, no laptop computers, vinyl was still king and if you wanted to do a radio show, you had the opportunity to do so if you wanted to give the time. I suspect that has not changed in 33 years.

Back then we were “The Most Listened-to Station…in the Entire Grill”—as intoned in an on-air promo by none other than Gary Owens of “Laugh In” fame—and accomplishing even that much required the sabotage of the jukebox. (Who knew those electric cords were so frail and poorly connected?) It was the start of plausible deniability in college radio; that was my story, still is, and as the saying goes, I’m sticking to it.

Two of the biggest faculty supporters for the station were Joe Saltzman and Kenneth Owler Smith. Dr. Smith was the interim-temporary head of the School of Journalism, while Professor Joe Saltzman was teaching various broadcasting classes with the same fervor that he used to produce award-winning television documentaries for KNXT (now KCBS) and with the same penchant for time management. Simply put, without these two men, there would have been no KSCR.

On a Fall afternoon not too long after KSCR was seemingly on the road to fruition, I was late for one of Professor Saltzman’s classes…a known mortal sin in 1974. (Nude, fine; late, big trouble.) I walked in, the class turned to see who was going to get a new one, and I quickly sat down while I could. At this point Professor Saltzman turned to me and said, “Do you have something more important to do?” I believe I mustered only a head-nod as I was sure it must be a trick question. To my surprise, and at what became the exact moment that I knew KSCR would live, Professor Saltzman said, “Go take care of it.” I stood up, turned and left the converted biology lab classroom, still a little numb.

The first song played at KSCR (not its original call letters, by the way) was “Beginnings” by the Chicago Transit Authority, aka Chicago. And in the beginning, things were like they are now. We fought for $9,000 from the Student Senate to make needed repairs and changes to the studio. Everybody brought in their own albums. Some DJs left those albums there for those who followed.

KSCR also had a big assist from a KUSC engineer named Hugh Paul, who generously gave of his time, his knowledge, and his character to help make me a better person. Wally Smith, the GM at KUSC during the early KSCR years, also provided his experience and guidance when needed.

We eventually branched out from the Grill to such exciting places as Birnkrant Residence Hall, the McDonalds on Figueroa, and another room in the Student Activities Center. A lot has changed. A lot has not. In April 2007, the Undergraduate Student Government decided to cut the amount of money given to KSCR by about 45 percent—from $19,000 the previous year to $10,000—in an attempt to wean the station off of depending on guaranteed funding.

On a more positive note, a brand-new facility for KSCR has been included in the planned Campus Center, scheduled to open in 2010 and coinciding with the station’s 35th anniversary. A fund-raising campaign spearheaded by a foursome of founding members (myself, Ron Redmond, Rosemary O’Brien and Julie Fosgate) is in the development stage with a goal of raising $1 million for a KSCR Endowment Fund to help create financial independence for the station. Naming opportunities exist for the studio, lobby and green room, and we will be soliciting donations large and small from alumni and Friends of KSCR during the next three years.

As for that early crowd, we have done okay. We are news directors, on-air talent, cable and network executives, business owners, writers—and many now have kids who are in college. Of the core group that I’m still in regular contact with, I can tell you that our life experiences are all the better for having had the chance to be on-air at “The Most Listened-to Radio Station in the Entire Grill.”

Bob Moore
Founder/KSCR General Manager 1974-75
BA, MA Telecommunications

Note to all KSCR alumni: If you have any memories or relics you’d like to share, please contact us at mykscr@kscrfriends.com