KUSC (91.5
FM; "Classical California™ KUSC") is a listener-supported
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
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 ...
broadcasting from downtown
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, United States.
KUSC is owned and operated by the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
, which also operates student-run
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
station
KXSC (AM)
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
and
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
's classical station
KDFC. It is the largest non-profit classical music station in the country.
History
The station was one of the first radio stations to operate on the FM band when it officially signed on using the frequency of 91.7 on December 5, 1946. Its primary benefactor was
George Allan Hancock. It operated out the Hancock Foundation building on the USC campus and broadcast from a 250 foot tower above the building.
In the 1970s the station adopted a general public radio format. On April 2, 1973 new station manager Wally Smith oversaw the return to the all classical station. In 1976 the station's transmitter was placed on
Lookout Mountain
Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-century "La ...
() in
Laurel Canyon, above
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
. In 1993 a tower was erected on Mount Harvard near
Mount Wilson. In 1996 Smith left the station after changing the format to talk, classical, jazz, folk and world music (he would go on to develop
WPBB).
In 2010 it moved its broadcast studio to the
USC Building in downtown Los Angeles.
In February 2014, public radio station
KCRW
KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...
of
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
announced that it would buy the Santa Barbara Foundation's classical station
KDB (FM)
KDB (93.7 Hertz, MHz) is a Non-commercial educational, non-commercial FM radio, FM radio station City of license, licensed to Santa Barbara, California, and serving Santa Barbara County and Ventura County. It is owned by the University of Southe ...
93.7 in
Santa Barbara for $1 million. The transaction will allow KCRW to begin using
KQSC, USC's current repeater station in
Santa Barbara, as a repeater for KCRW's programming, while transferring KUSC's classical programming from KQSC to KDB, thus perpetuating KDB's role as Santa Barbara's classical station. The legacy KDB call letters have been retained. In 2022, KUSC rebranded as Classical California KUSC. In February 2025, KUSC announced plans to combine programming with
KDFC in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
Programming
Notable local programming includes:
* Jennifer Miller Hammel and Alan Chapman’s weekday morning shows;
* Brian Lauritzen weekday afternoon program;
*
Lara Downes’ weekday evening show;
* Jennifer Miller Hammel's Sunday opera show,
* Alan Chapman’ Saturday night program “Modern Times”.
* Brian Lauritzen’s Sunday morning program “A Joyful Noise”.
* Alan Chapman’s baroque program "A Musical Offering, heard Sundays from 9-11 am.
* Weekend afternoon hosts currently include Dianne Nicolini, Rich Capparela, and Brisa Siegel.
* The overnight program Classical California All Night is hosted by John Van Driel "Tuesday-Thursday", Brisa Siegel "Friday and Saturday" and Suraj Partha "Sunday and Monday”. It is shared with KDFC In San Francisco.
*Metropolitan Opera broadcasts: These are full-length productions that take place each Saturday morning from December through May.
*Featured performances from the LA Phil, Hollywood Bowl and other notable orchestra halls.
Management helped establish the nationwide
Classical 24 network and also supervised Virginia's
WMRA network before taking up leadership at KUSC.
The station holds three
pledge drive
A pledge drive is an extended period of fundraising activities, generally used by public broadcasting stations to increase contributions. The term " pledge" originates from the promise that a contributor makes to send in funding at regular interva ...
periods annually to help support operational costs, each occurring in a ten day period.
Station network throughout
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
Notes:
See also
*
Abram Chasins – American composer and pianist who helped re-organize KUSC in 1972.
References
External links
FCC History Cards for KUSCKUSC official website*
KCRW buying Santa Barbara classical station KDB
{{Authority control
Radio stations of the University of Southern California
Classical music radio stations in the United States
NPR member stations
NPR member networks
Radio stations established in 1946
1946 establishments in California