KUNV
Encyclopedia
KUNV is a non-commercial
, jazz-oriented campus radio
station in Paradise
, Nevada
, broadcasting on 91.5 FM
.
(UNLV). Two well-known long running programs were "The Rock Avenue" and "Jazz Progressions." Late at night and on the weekends, various two hour weekly specialty shows also ran for many years highlighting new releases and old favorites in reggae
, blues, industrial music
, ambient music
, rap and hip-hop, underground heavy metal
, punk rock
and other forms of music that did not get any other airplay in Las Vegas
outside of KUNV.
Originally, "campus radio" was heard only in the original Moyer Student Union Building (MSU) on closed circuit. The manpower was provided by a student run organization known as the UNLV Radio Club sponsored by an approved advisor from professional radio. The club office was a 6'x18' office on the little known third floor of MSU. The only neighbor on the third floor of MSU was the UNLV newspaper, The Runnin' Rebel YELL. From '76 to '79, that studio was provided by the Communication Studies department in the Humanities Building. Although the official licensee of KUNV is the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), funding and administrative control of the station was provided by the Consolidated Students of the University of Nevada (CSUN), the student government at UNLV. The Radio Club, a student committee under the aegis of CSUN, handled the call sign search, applied for the construction permit, developed a training plan, and established program design committee. The radio club hired the first KUNV General Manager, John Wennstrom, through funding provided by CSUN, who reported to the Dean of Students. Eventually the Radio Club became an official CSUN committee called the Radio Board, whose chairman was a UNLV Student, and whose members consisted of 3 additional students, a representative appointed by the Dean of Students, a representative from the Communications Studies Department, and a representative from the University information technology Department. CSUN provided funding and retained administrative control of the station until the mid 1990's, when the station changed its weekday format from its mixture of diverse offerings of alternative rock, jazz, Spanish language, specialty music, and public affairs programs, to a format that was primarily jazz only. Weekend diversity remained mostly untouched. At the same time, on-air staffing at the station, which consisted primarily of student and community volunteers, shifted to a mix of professional staff, community volunteers, and nationally syndicated programming provided by National Public Radio.
The Call Sign Committee chaired by Susan Mueller, found the most wanted sign, KULV, was held by another university station [University of Laverne, California] KUNV was the only natural choice remaining. The Program Committee chaired by Bill Saxton, defined the public sound and policy of the station from the ground up. Officially, Saxton is credited with naming "Jazz Progressions," Bob Houck and Dave Matyas named "Rock Avenue," Beatrice Guitrerez named "Sabado Especiale," and Frankie D named "Senior Sounds" during those seminal meetings. In '79, Communication Studies designed the available studio out of existence. The training plan committee chaired by Rich Hunsaker, began search for space in earnest during fall of that year. A bathroom, actually designed for secondary use for the stage in the Moyer Auditorium/Ballroom on the second floor was chosen for use. All fixtures remained. The dressing area became the home for a rag-tag group of old, borrowed, equipment that made up the training facility and was reconnected to the closed circuit that remained in the MSU. "The voice of the campus, KJON (flushing sound)" became the top-of-the-hour-identification and Training Schedules were interleaved with "air" time.
The search for studio space went on to include the first on-air facility, lovingly referred to as the "fish bowl." The studio was glass walled on three sides and was originally for the student living recreation director. It was the only student operated room that provided 24 hour access. It had access to the "court yard" where numerous events were held, including inauguration day national anthem on 4/23/81. The 15KW Transmitter and antenna was housed atop the Humanities Building (Red/white pole still remains) until moved to Black Mountain for safety reasons as well as to increase broadcast footprint. Technical Director Hunsaker at the direction of Chief Engineer and Mentor Gordy Alsum built several studios for KUNV for the next decade or more. A studio was also built at the Dunes Hotel near the casino, to help with congestion. Imagine 50-70 staff revolving around a 15 foot glass room filled with lots of gear. Due to lack of student involvement for several months the station signed-off at 2 am and began operations at 6 am. The sign-off was Jimi Hendrix
's version of the National Anthem. The last weeks that the station signed off were joined by more and more students in the courtyard to show enthusiasm for the station until going 24 hours became accepted later that year. Except on a few occasions to move the studio or repair the transmitter, the station has operated 24/7/365 since that first year.
The third-floor studio complex was designed by Hunsaker and approved for development in 1982. Less than 6 months later, Master Control, Secondary Control, News and Acoustic booth, two offices, music storage, and a central meeting and work area all grew out of the remaining space. Initially, Master Control was completed in less than 72 hours on the weekend before final exams in the spring of '82!
From the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, KUNV's daily programming consisted of alternative and underground rock from the "Rock Avenue" (6pm to 10am), community affairs (10am to 12pm), and a blend of traditional jazz, jazz fusion and modern jazz on "Jazz Progressions" (12pm to 6pm.) As a community radio
station, KUNV's mission was to give a voice to the music that was not played on commercial radio stations.
Due to the station's student run status, it was afforded inexpensive access to all the venues on the UNLV campus at the time. With the help of local producers, KUNV Hosted many world class groups and artists, including [add others as known] SyproGyra (twice), Jean Luc Ponty, Weather Report, B52s, RomeoVoid, Pat Metheny, and many others as the music culture of the area thrived... Several performances were taken "direct-to-air" with technical co-ordination from Hunsaker. Also, dozens of "acoustic/unplugged" offering were spontaneously taken to air in the highly flexible and well outfitted studio complex. National Radio was served through that complex as John Madden provided commentary to the Holmes-Cooney World Championship prize fight via direct feed with the RKO Radio network. Multitudes of other feeds either originated or were simulcast from that complex.
Also, at this time in history the punk
, new wave
, ska
, rockabilly
and indie music
scenes across America were growing. KROQ-FM
in Los Angeles, 91X in San Diego, WLIR
in New York were playing these artists along with only a handful of other commercial radio stations in America. With no commercial radio station in Las Vegas similar to these stations, and having Mtv
launching with a playlist featuring many of these artists, KUNV became incredibly influential to audiences craving alternative music
. With a very strong 15,000 watt FM signal, which was very rare for a college radio station, KUNV broadcasts across the entire Las Vegas Valley.
KUNV's Rock Avenue was consistently rated in the Top Ten of college radio programming in America from 1985 to 1992 by The Gavin Report
, a music industry trade magazine. As the hub in Las Vegas at that time for alternative music, KUNV's Rock Avenue spawned a thriving local music scene. The teen nightclub That's Entertainment, as well as Alternative Thursday Nights at the Sports Pub and the Steak Out for listeners that were over 21, were consistently packed with hundreds of fans of KUNV DJs who spun records in the clubs. DJ BUBBY (Michael Harrison) spun at the cities first mega clubs the legendary SHARK CLUB and UTOPIA for over a decade. One of the most well-known of KUNV talk personalities is Jimmy Kimmel
, while the most famous KUNV music DJ is Ken Jordan, now of the band The Crystal Method
.
Many local venues built loyal followings with KUNV listeners by featuring Las Vegas local bands on a regular basis. These venues included Sound Stage, Pinola's, Room 13, Studio 25, Calamity Jayne's, T Mex, VFW halls and quite a few impromptu venues also. Some of the best local band shows occurred in the middle of the Las Vegas desert with generators and a stage made of plywood and cinder blocks. The most popular local bands to break out of the Las Vegas music scene and receive major airplay on KUNV included Sampson's Army, Rainy Daze, FSP, 5150, Subterfuge, Abeyance, Triple Ripple, Groove Garden, Heart of Thorns, Verjenet, VA, Young Brandos, Constant Moving Party, Endless Mindless, The Hellhounds of Harmony, Herd of Lemmings, Jimi Jackpot and The Hot Slots, and Vivian Circle (formerly GOWNS) who began in the garage of former DJ, George Difficult (Tennell).
With its reputation established in Jazz and alternative music circles, KUNV broke new grounds in 1986 under Community Affairs Director JP Muntal. Despite its non-affiliation with NPR or PRI, the station's spoken word programs developed in a few months an audience of devotees to rival that of Rock Avenue and Jazz Progressions. In-house productions like the documentary series "SEXTANT" began to generate media interest and episodes about nuclear testing in Nevada were picked up nationally by "Pacifica", "Consider The Alternatives" and "New Voices". KUNV also contributed to domestic and international organizations such as TV4 in New York, Radio France International and Radio Australia. Further programming highlights included "HerStory", a documentary produced by Rita Lorraine Sparling on the plight of women behind bars in Nevada. The late '80's saw an unprecedented interest in radio production by communications students and faculty involvement. By the time Muntal became Program Director, KUNV was training nearly 30 students per semester in all aspects of broadcast writing from the Arts & Humanities to History and English as a second language
The mid-90's saw the demise of Rock Avenue as a major part of the programming on KUNV and its replacement with a straight-ahead jazz format. Several factors lead to this decision. In the early 1990s Las Vegas saw not one, but two new commercial radio stations sign on the air playing alternative modern rock
music. This led KUNV to focus further on underground alternative rock music for the Rock Avenue. Meanwhile, KNPR, another local public radio station, decided to drop their overnight straight-ahead jazz programming despite the large number of local jazz musicians supplying music to a plethora of Vegas clubs and showrooms. KNPR donated their jazz library to KUNV. Further, CSUN cut their funding for KUNV by 50%, thereby relinquishing control of the station to the UNLV Foundation. Finally, KUNV was facing scrutiny by UNLV administration due to FCC violations and listener complaints. In 1998, at the prompting of the UNLV Foundation and under the direction of then General Manager Don Fuller, KUNV removed Rock Avenue and shifted their weekday format to straight-ahead jazz programming. An onslaught of letters and phone calls were made to the station, both in support and in disdain of the change. Several protests were held and support concerts and events were organized that included the attendance of some government representatives, former KUNV staff and volunteers, and fans but UNLV administration and KUNV management decided against reinstating the programming. CSUN subsequently withdrew the remainder of their funding for the station. Students tried to launch new stations between 2003 and 2006, primarily online, but they did not receive sufficient student-body interest and CSUN withdrew their support for them.
Shortly after the programming change, in 1999, KUNV studios and business offices were moved to the former KWNR studios located at 1515 E. Tropicana Ave Ste 240, a few blocks away from campus. The move was due in part to renovations scheduled for the MSU but may also have been to remove the contested station from the campus community. The station operated off-campus for just over 10 years, primarily being run by a professional staff with a large number of community volunteers hosting air shifts. Student involvement over the decade slowly increased but the station was not well known to the student body and few students made the trip to the building.
In 2009 KUNV moved back onto the campus of UNLV in the newly built Greenspun Hall Of Urban Affairs building. The building houses top of the line TV and radio production facilities. In August 2010, KUNV began HD broadcasting and launched an HD-2 station designed to showcase student programming. Students organized a club to manage the HD-2 station under the guidance of the professional staff at KUNV and are currently growing the programming on that station. The HD-2 station broadcasts an automated Triple A format when students are not actively on-air.
In January 2011, KUNV shifted its weekday daytime format from straight-ahead jazz to contemporary and smooth jazz. This change reflected what was done with "Jazz Progressions" and has received mostly positive feedback. The weekend programming continues to reflects the diversity and youthful energy of past with shows like the Word Up Show (hip hop) Neon Reverb (indie/ punk) and Future Sound (electronic music).
Non-commercial
Non-commercial refers to an activity or entity that does not in some sense involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis...
, jazz-oriented campus radio
Campus radio
Campus 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 by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...
station in Paradise
Paradise, Nevada
Paradise is an unincorporated town in the Las Vegas metropolitan area in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The population was 223,167 at the 2010 census...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, broadcasting on 91.5 FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
.
History
KUNV signed on the air on April 23, 1981 airing a variety of music programmed by the students of the University of Nevada, Las VegasUniversity of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Nevada-Las Vegas is a public, coeducational university located in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada, USA. The campus is located approximately east of the Las Vegas Strip. The institution includes a Shadow Lane Campus, located just east of the University Medical Center of...
(UNLV). Two well-known long running programs were "The Rock Avenue" and "Jazz Progressions." Late at night and on the weekends, various two hour weekly specialty shows also ran for many years highlighting new releases and old favorites in reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, blues, industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
, ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
, rap and hip-hop, underground heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and other forms of music that did not get any other airplay in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
outside of KUNV.
Originally, "campus radio" was heard only in the original Moyer Student Union Building (MSU) on closed circuit. The manpower was provided by a student run organization known as the UNLV Radio Club sponsored by an approved advisor from professional radio. The club office was a 6'x18' office on the little known third floor of MSU. The only neighbor on the third floor of MSU was the UNLV newspaper, The Runnin' Rebel YELL. From '76 to '79, that studio was provided by the Communication Studies department in the Humanities Building. Although the official licensee of KUNV is the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), funding and administrative control of the station was provided by the Consolidated Students of the University of Nevada (CSUN), the student government at UNLV. The Radio Club, a student committee under the aegis of CSUN, handled the call sign search, applied for the construction permit, developed a training plan, and established program design committee. The radio club hired the first KUNV General Manager, John Wennstrom, through funding provided by CSUN, who reported to the Dean of Students. Eventually the Radio Club became an official CSUN committee called the Radio Board, whose chairman was a UNLV Student, and whose members consisted of 3 additional students, a representative appointed by the Dean of Students, a representative from the Communications Studies Department, and a representative from the University information technology Department. CSUN provided funding and retained administrative control of the station until the mid 1990's, when the station changed its weekday format from its mixture of diverse offerings of alternative rock, jazz, Spanish language, specialty music, and public affairs programs, to a format that was primarily jazz only. Weekend diversity remained mostly untouched. At the same time, on-air staffing at the station, which consisted primarily of student and community volunteers, shifted to a mix of professional staff, community volunteers, and nationally syndicated programming provided by National Public Radio.
The Call Sign Committee chaired by Susan Mueller, found the most wanted sign, KULV, was held by another university station [University of Laverne, California] KUNV was the only natural choice remaining. The Program Committee chaired by Bill Saxton, defined the public sound and policy of the station from the ground up. Officially, Saxton is credited with naming "Jazz Progressions," Bob Houck and Dave Matyas named "Rock Avenue," Beatrice Guitrerez named "Sabado Especiale," and Frankie D named "Senior Sounds" during those seminal meetings. In '79, Communication Studies designed the available studio out of existence. The training plan committee chaired by Rich Hunsaker, began search for space in earnest during fall of that year. A bathroom, actually designed for secondary use for the stage in the Moyer Auditorium/Ballroom on the second floor was chosen for use. All fixtures remained. The dressing area became the home for a rag-tag group of old, borrowed, equipment that made up the training facility and was reconnected to the closed circuit that remained in the MSU. "The voice of the campus, KJON (flushing sound)" became the top-of-the-hour-identification and Training Schedules were interleaved with "air" time.
The search for studio space went on to include the first on-air facility, lovingly referred to as the "fish bowl." The studio was glass walled on three sides and was originally for the student living recreation director. It was the only student operated room that provided 24 hour access. It had access to the "court yard" where numerous events were held, including inauguration day national anthem on 4/23/81. The 15KW Transmitter and antenna was housed atop the Humanities Building (Red/white pole still remains) until moved to Black Mountain for safety reasons as well as to increase broadcast footprint. Technical Director Hunsaker at the direction of Chief Engineer and Mentor Gordy Alsum built several studios for KUNV for the next decade or more. A studio was also built at the Dunes Hotel near the casino, to help with congestion. Imagine 50-70 staff revolving around a 15 foot glass room filled with lots of gear. Due to lack of student involvement for several months the station signed-off at 2 am and began operations at 6 am. The sign-off was Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
's version of the National Anthem. The last weeks that the station signed off were joined by more and more students in the courtyard to show enthusiasm for the station until going 24 hours became accepted later that year. Except on a few occasions to move the studio or repair the transmitter, the station has operated 24/7/365 since that first year.
The third-floor studio complex was designed by Hunsaker and approved for development in 1982. Less than 6 months later, Master Control, Secondary Control, News and Acoustic booth, two offices, music storage, and a central meeting and work area all grew out of the remaining space. Initially, Master Control was completed in less than 72 hours on the weekend before final exams in the spring of '82!
From the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, KUNV's daily programming consisted of alternative and underground rock from the "Rock Avenue" (6pm to 10am), community affairs (10am to 12pm), and a blend of traditional jazz, jazz fusion and modern jazz on "Jazz Progressions" (12pm to 6pm.) As a community radio
Community radio
Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
station, KUNV's mission was to give a voice to the music that was not played on commercial radio stations.
Due to the station's student run status, it was afforded inexpensive access to all the venues on the UNLV campus at the time. With the help of local producers, KUNV Hosted many world class groups and artists, including [add others as known] SyproGyra (twice), Jean Luc Ponty, Weather Report, B52s, RomeoVoid, Pat Metheny, and many others as the music culture of the area thrived... Several performances were taken "direct-to-air" with technical co-ordination from Hunsaker. Also, dozens of "acoustic/unplugged" offering were spontaneously taken to air in the highly flexible and well outfitted studio complex. National Radio was served through that complex as John Madden provided commentary to the Holmes-Cooney World Championship prize fight via direct feed with the RKO Radio network. Multitudes of other feeds either originated or were simulcast from that complex.
Also, at this time in history the punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
, rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
and indie music
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
scenes across America were growing. KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM — branded 106.7 KROQ — is a commercial modern rock radio station licensed to Pasadena, California serving the Greater Los Angeles. The call sign is pronounced "kay rock." It is the flagship station of Loveline hosted by Dr...
in Los Angeles, 91X in San Diego, WLIR
WLIR
WLIR-FM is a Christian radio station as part of the WLIX Voice of Hope Radio Network. WLIR-FM broadcasts in the Hamptons-Riverhead area. Its transmitter is currently located near East Quogue, New York....
in New York were playing these artists along with only a handful of other commercial radio stations in America. With no commercial radio station in Las Vegas similar to these stations, and having Mtv
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
launching with a playlist featuring many of these artists, KUNV became incredibly influential to audiences craving alternative music
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
. With a very strong 15,000 watt FM signal, which was very rare for a college radio station, KUNV broadcasts across the entire Las Vegas Valley.
KUNV's Rock Avenue was consistently rated in the Top Ten of college radio programming in America from 1985 to 1992 by The Gavin Report
Gavin Report
The Gavin Report was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs...
, a music industry trade magazine. As the hub in Las Vegas at that time for alternative music, KUNV's Rock Avenue spawned a thriving local music scene. The teen nightclub That's Entertainment, as well as Alternative Thursday Nights at the Sports Pub and the Steak Out for listeners that were over 21, were consistently packed with hundreds of fans of KUNV DJs who spun records in the clubs. DJ BUBBY (Michael Harrison) spun at the cities first mega clubs the legendary SHARK CLUB and UTOPIA for over a decade. One of the most well-known of KUNV talk personalities is Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel
James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel is an American television host and comedian. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money...
, while the most famous KUNV music DJ is Ken Jordan, now of the band The Crystal Method
The Crystal Method
The Crystal Method is an American electronic music duo that was created in Los Angeles, California by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. The Crystal Method's music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video games, and advertisements. The most prominent is the US television...
.
Many local venues built loyal followings with KUNV listeners by featuring Las Vegas local bands on a regular basis. These venues included Sound Stage, Pinola's, Room 13, Studio 25, Calamity Jayne's, T Mex, VFW halls and quite a few impromptu venues also. Some of the best local band shows occurred in the middle of the Las Vegas desert with generators and a stage made of plywood and cinder blocks. The most popular local bands to break out of the Las Vegas music scene and receive major airplay on KUNV included Sampson's Army, Rainy Daze, FSP, 5150, Subterfuge, Abeyance, Triple Ripple, Groove Garden, Heart of Thorns, Verjenet, VA, Young Brandos, Constant Moving Party, Endless Mindless, The Hellhounds of Harmony, Herd of Lemmings, Jimi Jackpot and The Hot Slots, and Vivian Circle (formerly GOWNS) who began in the garage of former DJ, George Difficult (Tennell).
With its reputation established in Jazz and alternative music circles, KUNV broke new grounds in 1986 under Community Affairs Director JP Muntal. Despite its non-affiliation with NPR or PRI, the station's spoken word programs developed in a few months an audience of devotees to rival that of Rock Avenue and Jazz Progressions. In-house productions like the documentary series "SEXTANT" began to generate media interest and episodes about nuclear testing in Nevada were picked up nationally by "Pacifica", "Consider The Alternatives" and "New Voices". KUNV also contributed to domestic and international organizations such as TV4 in New York, Radio France International and Radio Australia. Further programming highlights included "HerStory", a documentary produced by Rita Lorraine Sparling on the plight of women behind bars in Nevada. The late '80's saw an unprecedented interest in radio production by communications students and faculty involvement. By the time Muntal became Program Director, KUNV was training nearly 30 students per semester in all aspects of broadcast writing from the Arts & Humanities to History and English as a second language
The mid-90's saw the demise of Rock Avenue as a major part of the programming on KUNV and its replacement with a straight-ahead jazz format. Several factors lead to this decision. In the early 1990s Las Vegas saw not one, but two new commercial radio stations sign on the air playing alternative modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
music. This led KUNV to focus further on underground alternative rock music for the Rock Avenue. Meanwhile, KNPR, another local public radio station, decided to drop their overnight straight-ahead jazz programming despite the large number of local jazz musicians supplying music to a plethora of Vegas clubs and showrooms. KNPR donated their jazz library to KUNV. Further, CSUN cut their funding for KUNV by 50%, thereby relinquishing control of the station to the UNLV Foundation. Finally, KUNV was facing scrutiny by UNLV administration due to FCC violations and listener complaints. In 1998, at the prompting of the UNLV Foundation and under the direction of then General Manager Don Fuller, KUNV removed Rock Avenue and shifted their weekday format to straight-ahead jazz programming. An onslaught of letters and phone calls were made to the station, both in support and in disdain of the change. Several protests were held and support concerts and events were organized that included the attendance of some government representatives, former KUNV staff and volunteers, and fans but UNLV administration and KUNV management decided against reinstating the programming. CSUN subsequently withdrew the remainder of their funding for the station. Students tried to launch new stations between 2003 and 2006, primarily online, but they did not receive sufficient student-body interest and CSUN withdrew their support for them.
Shortly after the programming change, in 1999, KUNV studios and business offices were moved to the former KWNR studios located at 1515 E. Tropicana Ave Ste 240, a few blocks away from campus. The move was due in part to renovations scheduled for the MSU but may also have been to remove the contested station from the campus community. The station operated off-campus for just over 10 years, primarily being run by a professional staff with a large number of community volunteers hosting air shifts. Student involvement over the decade slowly increased but the station was not well known to the student body and few students made the trip to the building.
In 2009 KUNV moved back onto the campus of UNLV in the newly built Greenspun Hall Of Urban Affairs building. The building houses top of the line TV and radio production facilities. In August 2010, KUNV began HD broadcasting and launched an HD-2 station designed to showcase student programming. Students organized a club to manage the HD-2 station under the guidance of the professional staff at KUNV and are currently growing the programming on that station. The HD-2 station broadcasts an automated Triple A format when students are not actively on-air.
In January 2011, KUNV shifted its weekday daytime format from straight-ahead jazz to contemporary and smooth jazz. This change reflected what was done with "Jazz Progressions" and has received mostly positive feedback. The weekend programming continues to reflects the diversity and youthful energy of past with shows like the Word Up Show (hip hop) Neon Reverb (indie/ punk) and Future Sound (electronic music).
Former hosts
- Tommy Walker(RIP) - CSUN Radio Club Adviser ( - 1979)
- Bill Saxton - CSUN Radio Club Pres., Student Station Manager, Program Director and Jazz Progressions Director ( - 1982)
- Susan Mueller - CSUN Radio Club VP ( - 1980)
- Richard Hunsaker - CSUN Radio Club, Technical Director, Alumni Advisor, Live Remote Engineer, and Jazz DJ (1978–1992)
- Phil Harringtom - Program Director and Fuddle or was it Touchdown? (1982–1983)
- Tony Cordasco - Program Director (1983–1984), Sports Director (1981–1984)
- John Wennstrom - General Manager (1981–1985)
- Beatrice Guieterez - Sabado Especiale'
- Frankie D - Senior Sounds
- Mark Zimneac(RIP) - Jazz Progressions Music Director (1982)
- Tom Hawley - Dr. Splice and Touchdown or was it Fuddle? (1980–1988)
- Bryan E. Brooks (Jazz Progressions Music Director 1983-1988, Program Director 1985-1988, DJ 1982-1988)
- Rob Rosenthal - "Rob Banks" (General Manager 1986-1993, DJ 1986-1993)
- Ken JordanThe Crystal MethodThe Crystal Method is an American electronic music duo that was created in Los Angeles, California by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. The Crystal Method's music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video games, and advertisements. The most prominent is the US television...
(Rock Avenue Music Director 1982-1987, DJ 1982-1987) - Brett Greene (Rock Avenue Music Director 1987-1988, Program Director 1988-1990, DJ 1985-1990)
- Chris Cox (DJ)Chris Cox (DJ)Chris Cox is a dance music producer, remixer, and DJ from USA and has worked on over 400 records. He has had a total of 40 Billboard dance chart number ones as part of the hitmaking remix team Thunderpuss, and others with Pusaka and as a solo artist. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2004 for his...
(Rock Avenue DJ, Jazz Progressions DJ, Alternative Dance Hour, 1985-1990) - J.P. Muntal - (Program Director 1987-89) Producer/Host "Sextant", "Variances", "Panoramique"
- Rita Lorraine Sparling - "91 Avenue Of The Arts", "HerStory"...
- John C Midby - (Community Affairs Director 1987-89, "Panoramique")
- Michael HarrisonMichael HarrisonMichael Harrison is an American composer, influenced by both Western classical and North Indian classical music.Harrison studied composition at the University of Oregon and the Juilliard School in the late 1970s, and began investigating alternative tunings while studying Indian classical music with...
"Bubby" (Rock Avenue DJ) - Joel Habbeshaw (Rock Avenue Music Director 1988-1993, DJ 1987-1993)
- Kevin Kew (Rock Avenue Assistant Music Director 1988-1990, Program Director 1990-1993, DJ 1986-1993)
- Gina MainwalGina MainwalGina Mainwal is an American rock musician and filmmaker. She is best known as the drummer for Sweet 75, a band formed by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic after Nirvana disbanded...
"Gina The Jet" (Rock Avenue Assistant Music Director 1986, DJ 1984-1990) - Carmelita Ramirez-Sanchez - "Carmelita Sanchez" (Rock Avenue Assistant Music Director 1987-1988, DJ 1985-1990)
- Jimmy KimmelJimmy KimmelJames Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel is an American television host and comedian. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money...
(interview program 1984-1985) - Rodney The Rocket (Rock Avenue)
- Candy Kane (Rock Avenue)
- Randy Reinoso "Randy West" (Hot off the Press. The Rock Avenue. 1985-early 1990s)
- Warren White - "Warren Peace" (Word Up 1988-1993)
- Michael Dantzig (Rock Avenue)
- Tom Bogan (Rock Avenue)
- Stan Rankin' T (Reggae Hapenin's 1985–present)
- Frank Difficult (Bisognio) (Difficult Listening, late 1980s)
- George Difficult (Tennell) (Difficult Listening, late 1980s)
- Terry Leaper (Rock Avenue)
- Jim Briare (Original KJON 1981, Rock Avenue from the undertow, Touchdown Fuddle Comedy Talk, Difficult Listening, Interview Program)
- Bob Bell (Rock Avenue DJ 1981-1984, Touchdown/Fuddle Comedy Show 1984-1985)
- Gerald Helm (Rock Avenue DJ 1981-1984)
- Doug Jablin (Exotic Excursions, Virtual Radio, Radiolucent)
- Gregory Crosby (Virtual Radio 1993-1995, Radiolucent 1995-1996)
- Keith Haubrich, AKA "DJ Cheese Omelet" (1995-1998 - Rock Ave., The Still Hour, Audio Apocalypse, Virtual Radio, RadioLucent)
- Bob Briare (Original KJON, Rock Avenue DJ, from the undertow, Touchdown Fuddle Comedy Talk Show)
- Tim Briare (Rock Avenue)
- Wes "Bannon" Jebb -(Rock Avenue)
- Shawn Estes (Rock Avenue DJ 1987-1991)
- Mickey Bohn - "The Bone" (Rock Avenue)
- Kristi Carlson (Rock Avenue)
- Neil Hoff "The Breeze" (Jazz Progressions)
- Dominick Bracia "PUNK ROCK DOM" (Early 1980s)
- Bruce Thompson (Jazz Progressions - Early 1980s)
- Jerry Burn (Olivarez) 1983-Mid 1990's (Community Affairs-Connections, Rock Avenue, Lunch With The P.M.R.C., 1988-Mid 1990's)
- Bruce Bullet - 1991-1993
- Andy Shmuckler - 84-85 ( cast member of Touchdown/Fuddle comedy show)
- Heather Brandes (Rock Avenue)
- Dayvid FiglerDayvid FiglerDayvid Figler is a performer, author and trial lawyer in the United States. He became one of the youngest lawyers in Nevada history after successfully taking the bar exam at age 23. In 2003, he began and served a short term as a Las Vegas municipal court judge after being appointed by Mayor Oscar B...
"Virtual Dave" (Rock Avenue 1993-1995) - Ivy "Poizen Ivy" Hover (Rock Avenue, 1989–1997)
- "Jared Dean" Blanchard (DJ 1991 - 1994, Locals Only, Assistant Music Director, Program Director)
- "Michelle" Saunders - Touceda (Rock Avenue & Danceteria DJ 89-94, Assistant Program Director)
- Dayna "Ariel" Cramer (Rock Avenue DJ 1989-1994)
- Todd "O'neal" Olcott (Rock Avenue DJ 1983-84,89,98. Sports Reporter 83-84.)
- Roy Hessinger (Rock Avenue & Luminous Basement DJ 1994-1998, Assistant Program Director, Program Director)
- Eric Casitas- "Eric", late 80's, neo-Punk
- Andrea, late 80's- alternative + intellectual musik
- Christene Willis- "Ruby Lee", after midnight, late 80's, (Glam, Glitter and Goth); Rock-n-Bowl
- Lewis Southers (Rock Avenue, Difficult Listening, Luminous Basement 1987 - 1994)
- Jason Feinberg (Rock Avenue, The Still Hour (Goth/Industrial), Music Director) (1994–1997)
- Donna DeChristopher a.k.a "The Goddess Of The Airwaves" (Rock Avenue DJ 1987-1997)
- Bradford Colton - "Bradford" (Rock Avenue 1991-1997)