KNTU (88.1 FM) is the

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

owned and operated by the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

. The signal of the station covers much of the

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

Metroplex with an indie alternative format. KNTU also produces the UNT

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and men's basketball broadcast feeds for th
Mean Green Sports Network
a radio property of Learfield for broadcast on 97.1 FM. UNT women's basketball moved to streaming only on Learfield'
Varsity App
beginning with the 2022–23 season.

History

KNTU was founded in 1969 in part by Bill Mercer, former voice of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

, North Texas Mean Green, and a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. Originally on the 88.5 FM frequency, the station officially went on the air on October 31, 1969. Along with music, Mean Green football game broadcasts were soon added, with Mercer providing play-by-play coverage and UNT students usually serving as his color commentators. The station switched to a jazz format in 1981, while continuing to host public affairs shows and North Texas athletic events. While KNTU had no direct competitors, it shared audiences with 106.1 from 1987 to 1992 and 107.5 from 1992 to 2006 (both with the KOAI callsigns) as smooth jazz-formatted stations branded "The Oasis." On July 29, 2022, KNTU switched to an alternative format, "88.1 indie," reflecting the station's independent status. The first song was " Icky Thump" by

the White Stripes The White Stripes were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals). They were a leading group of 2000s indi ...

. The jazz format continues to stream online, and is broadcast on 88.1 HD-2. The latest format flip puts KNTU in competition with North Texas Public Broadcasting's

Adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

-formatted KKXT (91.7), Audacy-owned KVIL (Alt 103.7), iHeartMedia's active rock-formatted KEGL (97.1 The Eagle), and iHeartMedia-owned KEGL-HD2 (97.1 HD2 The Edge).

Signal

Unlike most of the area's FM stations (like competitor KVIL) which transmit their signals from Cedar Hill, KNTU transmits its signal from north Denton on land owned by UNT, which was a Nike Missile Base. Therefore, KNTU's signal is much stronger in the Northern parts of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex as well as the cities of Denton, Decatur, and McKinney. The station installed a new antenna during the first week of November 2022.

Notable former KNTU students

* George Dunham ( KTCK The Ticket) * Craig Miller (KTCK The Ticket) * Sean Bass (Sports Director, KTCK The Ticket) *

Mark Followill Mark Duane Followill is an American Sports commentary, sports announcer, covering basketball, Association football, soccer and American football, football. Career Early in his career, Followill worked in various positions at KTCK (AM), KTCK The ...

(PxP

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

) * Dave Barnett (PxP

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

, Texas Rangers) * Craig Way (Voice of the Texas Longhorns) * Tommy Bonk (

LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the large ...

writer who coined the phrase " Phi Slama Jama")

References

External links

KNTU websiteUniversity of North Texas Department of Media Arts
*
DFW Radio/TV History
{{Modern Rock Radio Stations in Texas University of North Texas NTU NTU Radio stations established in 1969 1969 establishments in Texas Radio and TV Alternative rock radio stations in the United States