KUMM (89.7 FM, "U-90") is an American

non-commercial educational A non-commercial educational station (NCE station) is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements (television advertisement, TV ads or radio advertisement, radio ads), as defined in the United States by the Fed ...

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 ...

licensed to serve the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia * St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Man ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Stevens County, Minnesota Stevens County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 9,671. Its county seat is Morris, Minnesota, Morris. History The county was created by act ...

. Established in 1970, the station is owned and operated by the

University of Minnesota Morris The University of Minnesota Morris (UMN–Morris) is a public liberal arts college in Morris, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal a ...

Programming

KUMM broadcasts a

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 ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

music format to the greater Stevens County area. The station is a member of

AMPERS AMPERS (Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations) is an association of 17 independent community radio stations in Minnesota. Each station is locally managed and programmed by and for the local community it serves. AMPERS is the ...

, the state's network of independent

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

stations. The station also airs programming produced by local volunteers as well as the university's students.

History

KUMM began licensed broadcast operations on September 17, 1972, with 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 of

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 ...

(ERP) from an antenna in

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 station was assigned the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

"KUMM" by the

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

(FCC). In May 1981, KUMM was granted a

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

to increase power to 223 watts and lower its antenna to . The station began licensed operation at the new parameters on December 15, 1983. In September 2002, KUMM applied for a new construction permit to further expand the station's coverage area. The application sought to raise the antenna to and increase the ERP to 3,000 watts. A 2009 amendment to that application reduced the requested power to 700 watts. KUMM began licensed operation at these new parameters on October 15, 2009.

References

External links

* {{Minnesota college radio Radio stations in Minnesota College radio stations in Minnesota Independent Public Radio Stevens County, Minnesota Radio stations established in 1970 University of Minnesota Morris 1970 establishments in Minnesota