KRVM-FM (91.9 MHz) is a community

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 ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census ...

, United States. KRVM's primary programming is available via online streaming, with listener-supporters located around the world. The station license and studio facility are owned by

Eugene School District 4J Eugene School District (4J) is a public school district in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is one of two school districts that serve the city of Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. Demographics Eugene School District 4J spans in the southern Willamette Valle ...

, but the school district provides no direct funding to the station; all funding comes from listener supporters, business underwriters, and the

Corporation For Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

. The main studio is located at Sheldon High School, with a satellite studio at Spencer Butte Middle School. Two additional stations, KSYD (92.1 FM) in

Reedsport Reedsport is a city in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,310. History Reedsport was established on the estuary of the Umpqua River on January 7, 1852. It was named for a local settler, Alfred ...

(serving

Coos Bay Coos Bay is an estuary where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, the estuary is approximately 12 miles long and up to two miles wide. It is the largest estuary completely within Oregon state lines. The Coos Bay watershed covers an area of abo ...

) and KAVE (88.5 FM) in Oakridge, rebroadcast KRVM, as does a translator, K211BP (90.1 FM) in

Florence, Oregon Florence is a coastal city in Lane County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. It lies at the mouth of the Siuslaw River on the Pacific Ocean and about midway between Newport and Coos Bay along U.S. Route 101. As of the 2020 census, the city had a ...

. KRVM-FM broadcasts in

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

History

KRVM-FM is the oldest public radio station in the state of Oregon. The first words ever spoken on FM radio in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

were broadcast on KRVM on December 6, 1947, and the station formally opened in early 1948. It was the only educational FM station west of

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

and north of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and just the twelfth in the United States. The call letters were almost WDWD until Roger Houslam, the founder of the station, advised the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

of its mistake in assigning a call sign starting with W to a station west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

. Originally on 90.1 MHz, the station moved to 91.9 MHz in 1954 because it generated interference to television sets attempting to tune in

KOIN-TV Koin or KOIN may refer to: * KOIN, a TV station in Portland, Oregon * Koin, Guinea See also * Koine (disambiguation) The literal meaning of the Greek word (''koinḗ'') is "common". It may refer to: * Koine Greek, the "common" dialect of ...

on channel 6 (82–88 MHz) in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. During the day on weekdays, KRVM features a progressive

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, 2 ...

music format with students handling much of the hosting and voice tracking. Other hours feature specialty programming encompassing many genres of music, including "Breakfast With The Blues" every morning. Specialty shows are hosted by volunteer DJs who select their own music.

References

External links

Official Website
* * * * * RVM-FM RVM-FM Radio stations established in 1947 1960 establishments in Oregon Community radio stations in the United States {{Oregon-radio-station-stub