KRCC (91.5 FM) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

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 ...

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

. It is owned by

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory, the college offers over 40 majors a ...

and operated by

Colorado Public Radio Colorado Public Radio (CPR) is a public radio state network based in Denver, Colorado that broadcasts three services: news, classical music and Indie 102.3, which plays adult album alternative music. CPR airs its programming on 15 full-power ...

. KRCC broadcasts non-commercial

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

programming, mostly from

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

(NPR) and

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

. The

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

is heard overnight. The station is also a member of th
Mountain West News Bureau
Studios and offices are on North Weber Street in Colorado Springs. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is located on

Cheyenne Mountain Cheyenne Mountain is a triple-peaked mountain in El Paso County, Colorado, southwest of downtown Colorado Springs. The mountain serves as a host for military, communications, recreational, and residential functions. The underground operations c ...

amid other Colorado Springs-area TV and FM stations. KRCC is also

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

on a network of repeater stations around Southern Colorado.

History

KRCC officially

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

in 1951. But the station's history began in 1944 as a

public address system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

for the campus of Colorado College. It became a

carrier current Carrier current transmission, originally called wired wireless, employs guided low-power Radio frequency, radio-frequency signals, which are transmitted along electrical conductors. The transmissions are picked up by receivers that are either conne ...

station two years later. In April 1951, it received the first non-commercial FM license in the state of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, operating from a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

surplus transmitter. Its reach was initially limited; broadcast on 91.3 MHz with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

of only 10

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, broadcasting from an antenna that was at minus 480 feet

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is ...

. The ERP was boosted to 165 watts in 1956. In 1964, the station relocated to the Rastall Center Building, with an ERP of 280 watts. The following year, KRCC was authorized for a frequency change to 91.5 MHz. Another ERP increase in 1973 brought power to 1,730 watts. Originally a training program for radio and speech students, it became a conventional

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

station in 1968 after Colorado College dropped radio and speech classes. In 1978, the station opened its microphones to the greater Colorado Springs community, paving the way for it to become Colorado's third NPR member station in 1984. From the 1980s onward, it built a series of translators to help better penetrate its largely mountainous service area. It also increased the power of the primary transmitter, In the 1980s, the tower height was boosted to over , making the signal comparable to other major FM stations in Colorado Springs. On January 17, 2020, Colorado College announced a partnership with

, the main NPR member for most of the remainder of Colorado, that called for CPR to take over management of KRCC. While Colorado Public Radio will handle all operations, Colorado College will continue to hold the license and the station will still be operated from Colorado Springs. Initially, KRCC's format remained the same. However, the station's daytime schedule was tweaked slightly to match that of CPR's all-news network, and KRCC added CPR's daily statewide news program, "Colorado Matters." As part of the agreement, Colorado College and Colorado Public Radio will collaborate on a "public media center" that will be home to KRCC, the Colorado College Journalism Institute, and

Rocky Mountain PBS Rocky Mountain PBS is a network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Colorado. Headquartered in Denver, it is operated by Rocky Mountain Public Media, Inc., a non-profit organization which holds the licenses for most of th ...

' Regional Innovation Center. CPR suspended KRCC's nighttime music programming for much of the spring and summer of 2020 to protect its staffers from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, but music returned in the fall. With the retirement of longtime KRCC personality and Music Coordinator Vicky Gregor on July 2, 2021, KRCC's long time music programing was finally dropped the week after.

Network

Programming is on the main transmitter in Colorado Springs KRCC 91.5 FM (2100 watts), and is

on three other FM stations: * KECC in La Junta (740 watts at 91 meters/299 feet) * KCCS in Starkville (just south of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

) (370 watts at 303 meters/994 feet) * KWCC in Woodland Park (100 watts at -132 meters/-432 feet). KRCC also operates seven

translators Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

:
K203AT
88.5 FM Westcliffe /

Gardner Gardner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gardner (given name) *Gardner (surname) Places United States * Gardner, Colorado *Gardner, Illinois *Gardner, Kansas *Gardner, Massachusetts * Gardner, North Dakota * Gardner, Tennessee * Ga ...

(250 watts)
K210CC
89.9 FM Limon (250 watts)
K211AW
90.1 FM

Manitou Springs Manitou Springs is a home rule municipality located at the foot of Pikes Peak in western El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The town was founded for its natural mineral springs. The downtown area continues to be of interest to traveler ...

(86 watts)
K216DQ
91.1 FM

Raton, New Mexico Raton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Colfax County, New Mexico, Colfax County in northeastern New Mexico, United States. The city is located just south of Raton Pass. The city is also located about 6.5 miles south of the New Mexico–Col ...

(80 watts)
K231BR
94.1 FM

Walsenburg Walsenburg is the statutory city that is the county seat of and the most populous municipality in Huerfano County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 3,049 at the 2020 census, down from 3,068 in 2010. History Walsenburg was or ...

(50 watts)
K238BP
95.5 FM Lake George / Florissant / Hartsel (10 watts)
K239AE
95.7 FM Salida / Buena Vista / Villa Grove (250 watts)
K289AH
105.7 FM Cañon City (75 watts)

Previous Logo

References

External links

KRCC.org
* *91.5 KRCC is on Facebook
Query the FCC's FM station database for KECCQuery the FCC's FM station database for KCCSQuery the FCC's FM station database for KWCC
{{NPR Colorado KRCC (FM) RCC Radio stations established in 1951 Colorado College