WKPX

WKPX
City of license Sunrise, Florida
Broadcast area Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood
Branding WKPX
Radio X, "WNSU"
Slogan South Florida's Radio Alternative
Frequency 88.5 MHz
First air date 1982
Format Educational
ERP 3,000 watts
HAAT 30 meters
Class A
Owner Broward County Public Schools
(off-hours programmed by Nova Southeastern University)

WKPX 88.5 FM "South Florida's Radio Alternative" is a non-commercial educational, non-profit, high school radio station owned and operated by the Broward County Public Schools with studios and transmitters located inside Piper High School, northwest of Fort Lauderdale in Sunrise, Florida. The station broadcasts with the talent of students, school days from 7:30 am to 6 pm and also sometimes after school hours. After hours, broadcast students from Nova Southeastern University man the station, under the name Radio X.

WKPX broadcasts to Broward County and has a transmission capacity of 3,000 watts, extending its reach to include part of Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Piper High School conducts radio classes that educate high school students in journalism, business management, radio production, communications, music review, and censorship. The students operate the station with the assistance of a faculty advisor; the program involves approximately 200 Piper students.

History: 1983 to 1987

The station was conceived by its Chief Engineer, Warren Exmore, who earned his U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Engineering license while still a teenager. He served as an electronics and computer instructor at Piper High School.

Its first Program Director and broadcasting instructor was Sheldon Shores. Exmore and Shores, working with former Piper principal Robert Beale, and a proposed yearly budget of a $120,000, the station had its maiden broadcast on Valentine’s Day 1983.[1] Upon the departure of co-founder Shores in the summer of 1985, Bill Foreman joined the station as its Operations Manager and its high school program Broadcasting Instructor.[2]

Initially, the station broadcast Top 40 and Classic Rock formats on a 24-Hour schedule from 1983 to 1985. However, staffing a 24-hour operation with high school aged students (in the days before computer automation) proved to be difficult, and presented risk management issues to the school board.[2][3] Another contributing factor in reducing WKPX from a 24-hour operation to a 12-hour operation was to cut the stations operating costs, which threatened to silence the station permanently.[4] Thus, WKPX was successful in petitioning the FCC to broadcast on an sunrise/sunset schedule, usually reserved for AM Radio operations, of 7 am to 7 pm.[5]

Alternative music format: 1987

Regardless of the hour reductions, the weekends still presented staffing difficulties for the station. At the time, Piper High School also served as an Adult Education/Community School, so an Adult Education Program in Radio Broadcast Journalism was developed in 1987 to recruit and train adult aged/college graduates from the community to build a weekend air staff. It was during this period that Helaine Blum, an English teacher from New York, who also worked as an English instructor at Piper High School, was appointed as the station program director and broadcasting instructor.

During those first night school classes held in mid-1987, Scott David, a rock club disc jockey and record store manager, would become the first graduate of the adult education program to air college/alternative rock, and independent music at the station. The show proved to be popular enough that Helaine Blum flipped the station format to alternative rock music 7 days a week (back in the pre-alternative days when the format was known as "College Rock"). Steve Robertson (later of WJRR Orlando), graduated from the first adult education classes, alongside Scott David.

In an effort to offer alternative programming heard nowhere else in Broward, she developed early morning specialty block programs (also known in radio programming as "Dayparting") during the adult weekend programming hours, airing Blues, Jazz, and Reggae. In addition, she developed the immensely popular Wednesday afternoon Heavy Metal program Overdrive hosted by Amy Downing, and The Bump Show, a Rap/Hip-Hop Bass program that aired on Friday afternoons; both aired during the station's high school student staffed hours.

Station's rise in popularity: 1989

The station’s rise in popularity wasn’t without its problems. The first problem arose when broadcasting giant CBS planned to complete their purchase WCIX Channel 6, effectively on January 1, 1989.[6][7]

It was the contention of CBS that WKPX’s 3,000 watt signal on 88.5 was too close to Channel 6 on the FM band at 87.7, and the radio signal would interfere with the already weak television signal in Broward. This opinion was based on the FCC’s rules that are supposed to keep the low end of the FM band clear in areas that have television channel 6, and that WKPX should have never received its construction/operating permit six years ago, in 1983. As result, WKPX was not able to become a fully licensed facility. In late September 1991, the Federal Communications Commission granted a permanent license to WKPX.[8]

While WKPX and the School Board battled the FCC, the staff of WKPX and the school board administrators had a battle of their own behind the scenes.

As result of the adult education program graduates working as a volunteer staff at the radio station, according to School Board policy, those volunteers needed to be fingerprinted and subjected to background checks for insurance and risk management purposes.

Another issue was the servicing of music to the radio station by record companies.

During the pre-Alternative Music years of the station from 1983 to 1989, the music library was the culmination of records purchased by the station, and the personal collections of the air staff. As result of being the only College Rock/Alternative formatted station in South Florida, records companies sent massive amounts of compact disc, LPs and cassettes for airplay to the specialty show disc jockeys. As result, Piper administrators instituted a tracking system of cataloging and distributing the music sent in among the adult education/weekend specialty show air staff; which required the opening of mail addressed to particular individuals by others. It was the management's position the music was the property of Piper High School.

Airstaff departure

The fingerprinting and the opening of mail resulted in an air staff revolt. Scott David, the man responsible for bringing the alternative format to WKPX quit in protest. Vic Paul, host of the Uncommon Groove, an Americana/Roots Rock show, joined David. Then Joe Disano, the host of the techno/rave program Dance Therapy, misplayed a song that violated station policy against airing any music with profanity; he was fired. Disano’s firing resulted in his replacement host J.J Cruz (a graduate of the first classes in 1987) going on the air with a highly politicized on-air commentary the following week regarding the changes in station policies; he was fired.[9]

At that point, Helaine Blum quit as Program Director, and most of the adult/weekend air staff walked out in solidarity. The disgruntled adult educational program staff members—along with its listeners and several local bands—began a campaign of protests outside the grounds of the radio station in mid-1990. Rick Myers, the adult educational program's Music Director, mounted an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the Broward School Board to change the policies affecting the station.

Since the adult educational program classes in broadcast journalism were proving to be more of a detriment than a benefit to the station, the night class program was cancelled by Piper Community School. WKPX did, however, retain the college rock/alternative format, and continued to support local/unsigned musicians in South Florida, as initiated by Scott David and Helaine Blum.

Upon the cancellation of the Piper adult educational night school classes, the then enrolled students remained on the air for several more months by pooling their personal financial resources (supplemented by spot sales) and purchasing/time brokering blocks of Friday night airtime at the brokered/variety formatted WSRF 1580 AM under the specialty show name, R.A.W - The Radio Alternative Workshop.[10]" At that time WSRF was still located inside the abandoned station facilities of the then dominate AOR station in Fort Lauderdale, WSHE 103.5 FM, in the old Silver Lakes Trailer park in Davie, Florida. WSRF "Surf 16" used to be the AM sister station of WSHE 103.5 "She's Only Rock n' Roll."

1990

While the weekday high school staffing went through changes as result of graduations; the adult weekend air staff that abided by the new station policies solidified. It was during this period from 1990 to 1997 that WKPX cultivated some of its longest running and best remembered weekend programs and disc jockeys: Yvonne Ortiz’s Techo/rave/avant-garde dance rock program Beauty of the Beat (who took over for the fired Joe Disano/JJ Cruz), Keith MacIntosh's College Rock/Punk n' Techno program Uncommon Groove (who took over Vic Paul’s roots rock/Americana program Uncommon Groove time slot, who quit in protest), R.D.B.’s indie label/underground punk/noise rock program 'Over the Edge (in place of the similarly formatted college/indie label rock, and departing 'Chuck Vertuoso’s One Step Beyond). New hosts also took over and continued the popular reggae, blues and jazz programs initiated by Blum. Yvonne Ortiz, Keith MacIntosh, Genie White and R.D.B. are all graduates of the second session of adult education classes held in 1988.

Dar Lopez began her reign as WKPX longest running weekend/adult disc jockey, titl feat that had been held by Genie White with her punk/new wave oldies program Saturday Rewind which ran for ten years from 1992 to 2002. Prior to Genie White’s successful run, R.D.B. served on the air for eight years from 1988 to 1996.

Dar Lopez was hired as the Blues D.J for the station upon the departure of its former host, Steve Robertson, who moved onto successful stints at Miami’s WZTA 94.9 and Orlando’s WJRR 101.1. Since 1993, WKPX has been the home for The Sunday Blues with Dar, a volunteer effort initiated as part of the old adult program of Piper High School. The nationally recognized show is a three-hour weekly broadcast that airs Sundays from 10am to 1pm.

In February 1993, the station celebrated its 10th anniversary.[11]

1996 and beyond

1996

1998

On September 4, Nova Southeastern University’s student run radio station, WNSU, went on the from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. through the transmitter of 88.5 FM WKPX, while Piper High School continued to use the frequency from 7 a.m to 7 p.m, daily.[12]

The eight-year-old WNSU went on the air in August 1990 as a closed circuit/campus radio station, initially known as WNKR (Nova Knights Radio; after the athletics teams/program) on 101.1 FM. The station broadcast over the 101.1 frequency via radio splitters provided by Jones Intercable Systems in Davie, Florida. The agreement to allow WNSU to use the WKPX transmitter at night was about five years in the making, since 1993, with FCC, NSU and School Board attorneys writing a contract that worked for all parties, assuring educational benefits to both Piper High School and Nova Southeastern University.[12]

WNSU’s “Radio X” continues on the air to this day, broadcasting from 6 a.m to midnight.[13] As result of WKPX’s use of computerized radio automation starting in 2002, WKPX returned to 24-Hour broadcasting for the first time since 1985. Initially, when not on the air at 88.5 FM, WNSU remained available on Comcast cable at 92.9 cable FM during the day.[12] It now broadcasts at 24 hours a day over the Internet at Live365.com when not utilizing the 88.5 FM frequency.

1999

The weekly newspaper, New Times Broward Palm Beach, voted WKPX as "South Florida's Best Radio Station."[14]

2000

2001

Dar Lopez of the Sunday Blues with Dar was voted as a “Hall of Fame DJ” by defunct Broward-based, City Link Magazine.

2002

With the rising operating costs of the station, which included a scheduling of substitute teachers as operational supervisors on the weekends, WKPX instituted a cost cutting measure utilized by many stations, both commercial and non-commercial — broadcast automation. WKPX incorporated the broadcast software, Audiovault, in which the DJ portions were pre-recorded, and the music was played from a broadcast automation computer system. The station also changed its weekend music format to the more popular Alternative and Punk genres.

And with that, the remaining weekend air staff—a few leftovers from the adult educational program and mostly high school graduates—were let go. As result of the impending dismissal of Dar Lopez’s Sunday Blues with Dar program, the blues loving community of South Florida pulled together to cover the programs operational costs to keep it on the air. Beth Jordan was also able to raise enough funds to put her show on the web only at amplified-radio.com where it continues to air to this day.

2003

The Sunday Blues with Dar was voted "Best Radio Program" in South Florida by New Times Broward Palm Beach.[16]

2005

According to a July 2005 Sun-Sentinel report, WKPX filed complaints with the FDLE and the Federal Communications Commission regarding two pirate radio stations at 89.5 and 88.7 FM interfering with WKPX’s signal since May. According to rwonline.com, the State of Florida had passed an “Anti-Pirate Radio Law,” in July 2004 making it illegal to operate unlicensed radio station in the state. Radio piracy in Florida, South Florida in particular, was a serious, growing problem.[17][18] According to the FDLE (as per the Sun-Sentinel article), the complaints filed by WKPX resulted in what was likely to be the first arrests under the new, recently enacted state legislation regulating pirate radio stations, making said operations of a pirate station a third degree felony. The sun-sentinel.com and rwonline.com articles are archived at worldofradio.com.[17]

2006

Radio journalist Michael Hibblin wrote a print story for the Miami Herald, in addition to producing a radio version for public radio station WLRN 91.3 FM. The report concerns the impending, proposed move of WKPX from its Piper High School location to the McFatter Technical School located in Davie, Florida. The link to the mp3 of the report is available at www.hibblenradio.com.

2007

Broward Teen News did a story on WKPX. The video of the news report is available on the web at schooltube.com.

2009

2013

February 14 marks the station's 30th anniversary as "South Florida’s Radio Alternative"."[23]

Other popular shows

Between 1996-2006, the station was recognized for their highly popular weekend hip-hop programs which included: Sichop and, later, The Asylum, hosted by Sydney Crawford, Curtis Steele, and Gerald Dagher. After two sets of graduating classes, and the loss of their popular on-air personalities, WKPX saw a decrease in its hip-hop listeners. However, hip-hop remained on the air in 2003 with the popular show, Urban Airwaves.[24] More recently, there were variety shows hosted by the Music Directors of each corresponding year: from 2001 to 2010 - Noise Pollution (Punk Variety), 2008 to 2009 - Special Delivery, and 2008 to 2010 - Dead Air.

Equally popular shows from the high school based programming schedule included the weekday, all request, program The Power Lunch, hosted by Brett Rose,[11] weekdays at 11 am until noon in the early 1990s; Ground Zero, a 1980s Retro/New Wave program hosted by the then high school program’s News Director, Jason Specland. Like Gregg Stewart' and Todd Allen before him, Jason parlayed his radio experiences at WKPX into a career as an award winning theatre actor. In 2000, the hugely popular program Subliminal Messages, hosted by SP, ended a successful three-year run spinning club oriented electronica/electronic music on WKPX. Julie Davis, the station's Music Director from 2001 to 2005, was another popular on air host cultivated from the high school program. Serena Milisci was another well respected DJ among listeners. She conceived the show Current Impulse, in the early 1990s; a dance music program that aired Tuesdays from 3 to 5 p.m. when school was in session; and from 1 to 4 p.m. during the summer and holidays. The upbeat dance tunes aired for two years on Current Impulse proved popular enough with the listeners, that the show continued with new, up and coming DJs from the high school program.[25]

References

  1. ↑ The Little Station That Could Piper High School`s 3,000-watt Wkpx Turns Students Into Radio Personalities-and Battles The Giant Cbs Television Network To Stay On The Air - Pag...
  2. 1 2 Radio Station Making Waves In Sunrise Student-run Wkpx-fm A Big Success - Sun Sentinel
  3. ↑ Piper Students Plan Protest On Radio Hours - Sun Sentinel
  4. ↑ Student Radio Station Forced To Curtail Hours - Sun Sentinel
  5. ↑ Wkpx Radio Faces Fund Shortage - Sun Sentinel
  6. ↑ Cbs Tv Seeks To Block Piper High Radio Station - Sun Sentinel
  7. ↑ Music With Class A Tiny High School Radio Station Fills A Musical Void, Trains Djs And Riles Cbs. - Sun Sentinel
  8. ↑ Heavy Mettle Student-run Wkpx Radio Stands Up To Cbs - And Wins. - Sun Sentinel
  9. ↑ Wkpx Adult Volunteers Quit In Board Policy Flap - Sun Sentinel
  10. ↑ Program Notes - Page 1 - News - Miami - Miami New Times
  11. 1 2 Riding The Airwaves Student Djs Celebrate 10th Anniversary Of School-run Radio Not For The Masses. - Sun Sentinel
  12. 1 2 3 Wnsu Up All Night - Sun Sentinel
  13. ↑ Radio X - About
  14. ↑ Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach Best Radio Station - WKPX-FM (88.5) - Best Of Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach - New Times Broward-Palm Beach
  15. ↑ Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach Best Amateur Radio Station - WKPX-FM (88.5) - Best Of Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach - New Times Broward-Palm Beach
  16. ↑ Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach Best Radio Program - Sunday Blues with Dar - Best Of Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach - New Times Broward-Palm Beach
  17. 1 2 http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld5109.txt
  18. ↑ Florida Toughens Law on Pirate Radio : NPR
  19. ↑ Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach Best Radio Station - WKPX-FM (88.5) - Best Of Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach - New Times Broward-Palm Beach
  20. ↑ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-291384A1.pdf
  21. ↑ FCC Rejects WKPX Upgrade For Now | AllAccess.com
  22. ↑ Application Search Details
  23. ↑ Local high school, college students take to the airwaves - Sun Sentinel
  24. ↑ Radio Silence - - Music - Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach - New Times Broward-Palm Beach
  25. ↑ Former Piper Radio Dj Giving Job, College A Spin - Sun Sentinel

External links

Coordinates: 26°10′41″N 80°15′22″W / 26.178°N 80.256°W / 26.178; -80.256

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