KALX (90.7
FM) is an
FM radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
that broadcasts from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
in
Berkeley,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. KALX, a community and student-run radio station
licensed to the university, broadcasts in
stereo with 500
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s of
power. The station employs three full-time paid staff members, but is largely run by its nearly 300
volunteers, including Berkeley students and other members of the local community. The station's studios are located at Social Sciences Building on campus.
History
The station originally began broadcasting in 1962, as a
carrier current station. By 1966, KALX (then known as Radio KAL, the
call letters being derived from Berkeley's nickname "Cal") had moved from Berkeley's
dormitories to Dwinelle Hall on campus, and Berkeley administrators began investigating the possibility of applying for a
broadcast frequency for the station. KALX received its broadcast license and made its first FM broadcast, with 10 watts of power, i