Radio Phoenix

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KRDP
KRDP RP Logo1.png
CityApache Junction, Arizona
Broadcast areaPhoenix, Arizona
East Valley (Phoenix metropolitan area) (FM)
Worldwide (Online stream)
Frequency90.7 MHz
BrandingRadio Phoenix Jazz (90.7 FM)
Radio Phoenix Indie (Online)
Programming
FormatJazz, Blues, & Soul (90.7 FM)
Adult album alternative (Online)
Community Radio (90.7 FM & Online)
SubchannelsNone
AffiliationsAfrican-American Public Radio Consortium (AAPRC)
KCRW
Pacifica Radio
Public Radio Exchange (PRX)
Native Voice One (NV1)
WFMT Radio Network
Ownership
OwnerDesert Soul Media, Inc.
History
First air date
October 31, 2008 (as online station)
January 29, 2011 (as KVIT)
Early 2022 (as KRDP)
Former call signs
KVIT (2011-2021)
Call sign meaning
Radio Phoenix
Technical information
Facility ID122359
ClassA
ERP2,000 watts
HAAT18 meters (59 ft)
Repeater(s)None
Links
WebcastRadio Phoenix Jazz (coming soon)
Radio Phoenix Indie - Listen Live
Websitehttps://radiophoenix.org/

Radio Phoenix is the public radio program unit of Desert Soul Media, Inc., and the brand name shared by its two non-commercial, community radio stations - Radio Phoenix Jazz (KRDP 90.7 FM) and Radio Phoenix Indie (Digital/Online) - serving the Phoenix, Arizona metro area.

KRDP (90.7 FM, "Radio Phoenix Jazz"), licensed to Apache Junction, Arizona, is a community radio station serving the East Valley of the Phoenix metro area. Starting in 2022 KRDP will broadcast a Jazz, Blues and Soul music format mixed with community news, public affairs and specialty programming primarily targeting Arizona's African American community. KRDP's transmitter is located at the Goldfield Ghost Town in Apache Junction.

Radio Phoenix Indie is a digital/online community radio station streaming an eclectic format consisting of Adult album alternative (AAA) music mixed with news, public affairs and specialty programming from local, national and international producers designed to engage listeners with independent music, arts and culture.

The primary goal of the stations are to serve as vehicles for facilitating engagement of the community at large, with a special emphasis on traditionally marginalized and underrepresented populations within metro Phoenix. Such groups include social and political progressives, persons of color, lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-questioning (LGBTQ) persons, organized labor, and immigrants. A secondary goal of the stations are to expose listeners to viewpoints, cultures, and music not often available from commercial or existing public radio stations.

Prior to 2021, each station was operated by a different owner.

KRDP previously broadcast under call sign KVIT and was operated from 2011 to 2021 by the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT), a technical high school district in Mesa, Arizona. EVIT sold KRDP to Desert Soul Media, Inc. and the sale closed in December 2021.

Radio Phoenix Indie was previously operated from 2008 to 2021 by the Arizona Community Media Foundation (AzCMF), a 501(c)(3) public media organization in Tempe, Arizona. AzCMF gifted and assigned the assets and intellectual property of Radio Phoenix Indie to Desert Soul Media, Inc. with the close occurring in July 2021.

The studios of both stations are located inside the Phoenix Center for the Arts in downtown Phoenix.

History[]

KVIT[]

KRDP began its broadcast history under the ownership of the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) with call sign KVIT. After numerous failed attempts the station signed on the air on January 29, 2011, as The Goldmine 90.7, which aired a Top 40 format.[1]

In May 2012, KVIT began simulcasting on K224CJ 92.7 FM, which had been simulcasting KNRJ "Energy 101.1", a dance hits station. The Goldmine soon adopted a significant shift towards a dance format helmed by former Energy 92.7 (later 101.1 The Beat) DJ and EVIT alumnus, DJ Perry, who had been programming and doing mixshows since before the station signed on.

On November 6, 2013, the current dance-intensive format known as The Pulse was launched.[2][3][4]

On August 11, 2015, KVIT's format moved to new station KPNG (88.7 FM), also owned by EVIT. On September 25, 2016, KVIT broke from the KPNG simulcast and its format was changed to classic country, returning to The Goldmine branding.

On May 23, 2018, KVIT's format changed to '80s/'90s variety, with an emphasis on ‘90s pop, changing its name to "Neon 90.7". This change was not announced and followed almost 24 hours of non-stop Dueling Banjos from the movie Deliverance.

On May 24, 2021, it was announced that KVIT was being sold to Desert Soul Media, Inc. for $125,000.[5]

Radio Phoenix[]

In 2002, Phoenix-area attorney Victor Aronow and other residents of the city's East Valley grew concerned about a noticeable decline in the coverage of local civic events, airplay of music by local artists, and an absence of diverse viewpoints on the local radio dial. After discovering the change was in part due to a 1996 federal law called the Telecommunications Act, Aronow and his group set out to develop a community oriented radio station that would have a focus on promoting local news, current affairs, and music programming for residents of Phoenix's East Valley.

A year later, in the fall of 2003, radio broadcaster Kaja Brown and indie music publicist Sheila Dean led an unofficial think tank made up of local small business owners, artists, musicians, and college students interested in discovering why Phoenix never got a full power, over the air, FM college music station. After spending a few months researching the topic via archived news articles as well as interviews with local media professors and public broadcasters, they discovered that Arizona State University attempted to obtain an FM license for such a station in the early 1980s, but their application was turned down due to a technical error. Since there were no other major universities in Phoenix at the time, and the community college district already operated the local NPR station, no other viable group existed in the area who could establish a college FM station. Some members of the think tank decided that the community should try creating its own indie music radio station, and in early 2004 formed the Arizona Community Media Foundation (aka AzCMF), as the vehicle for making this new station a reality.

In late 2004, Aronow and his colleagues met Brown and the indie music radio group. They each decided that they were working towards a mutual goal of bringing community radio to the Phoenix area and decided to combine their efforts. Aronow's team became part of AzCMF and together they began building support for a community radio station in Phoenix. From 2005 to 2007, AzCMF's team educated themselves regarding the process of obtaining an FCC license and determined the most feasible path to launching a new station in the Phoenix area was to apply for a vacant FM frequency. Before they could do so, they had to find out if any FM frequencies were still available for use in Phoenix, and then, if so, had to wait for the FCC to accept new applications. In the meantime, the group decided to engage in a project to determine if there really was a need for a community radio station in the Phoenix area. For 10 weeks in the spring of 2007, AzCMF entered into a brokered time agreement with commercial radio station KAZG (1440 AM), which covered most of the Phoenix area. During those 10 weeks, the group aired the national news program Democracy Now! and supported the airtime by selling underwriting spots to local businesses and provided non-profits with public service announcements. The response to this test run was positive and the team at AzCMF realized that a need really did exist for a community radio station in Phoenix.

During the fall of 2007, AzCMF confirmed that there were two vacant full power FM frequencies available for use in the Phoenix area - 88.7 FM and 90.7 FM. The group decided to apply for both FM frequencies. As time went on, the organization's Board of Directors realized the FCC might take longer than expected to rule on the applications they filed and a long-term project was needed to keep the public and new volunteers engaged.

In the spring of 2008, in an attempt to build upon the public interest in their proposed station and as a way to better engage existing volunteers, AzCMF launched a community podcasting project known as Radio Phoenix On Demand. As the project's volunteer base grew, more and more participants desired to create long-form radio programs spotlighting and promoting copyrighted music, which due to federal law, would be very expensive to obtain podcast licenses for. After researching affordable licensing options that would legally allow volunteers to create programs featuring copyrighted music, the AzCMF Board of Directors decided to create a new online radio station called Radio Phoenix, that would serve as a training ground for developing volunteers and talent for the organization's long-term goal – operation of an FCC licensed FM station.

Radio Phoenix launched at 6pm on Friday, October 31, 2008, with the first program being Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now!, followed by live, local talk and music shows hosted by volunteers. In late 2010, AzCMF discovered that it was not selected the finalist for use of the vacant 90.7 frequency, which was instead awarded to EVIT.

Between October 2010 and October 2011, due to a loss of its original operating space, Radio Phoenix functioned as a virtual station. During this year, station volunteers met at coffee houses, libraries and other community spaces to develop radio programs, fundraisers, and complete related work. In October 2011, Radio Phoenix became a tenant of the Phoenix Center for the Arts, a community arts center in downtown Phoenix, where its studios are now located.

On Sunday, September 4, 2011, Radio Phoenix began a program sharing relationship with KVIT (now KRDP). Under the relationship, KVIT aired a select amount of Radio Phoenix programming on weekends.

In 2013, AzCMF's application for 88.7 FM was approved by the FCC, but in 2015, AzCMF sold the construction permit to EVIT, which built the station as KPNG.

In 2020, AzCMF engaged in a strategic planning process to determine its future. As a result of this planning process, in January 2021, AzCMF determined it no longer had the capacity to operate Radio Phoenix and sought a new organization to take over its operations. In June 2021, AzCMF reached an agreement with Desert Soul Media, Inc., to take over the operations of the station via an asset and intellectual property transfer. The ownership transfer was completed on July 1, 2021, and included an operating grant from AzCMF to Desert Soul Media, Inc.

Merger of KVIT and Radio Phoenix[]

The sale of KVIT closed on December 9, 2021. The KVIT call letters remained with EVIT and moved to the former KPNG, and new call letters KRDP were assigned to the 90.7 FM license. At that time, Desert Soul Media, Inc. merged the operations of KRDP and Radio Phoenix and rebranded each station's format as "Radio Phoenix Jazz" (KRDP) and "Radio Phoenix Indie" (Online).

Programming[]

Radio Phoenix Jazz (KRDP 90.7 FM)[]

Radio Phoenix Jazz, broadcast on KRDP 90.7 FM in the East Valley of the Phoenix metro area and as an online stream, will air a Jazz, Blues and Soul music format mixed with community news, public affairs and specialty programming primarily targeting Arizona's African American community. When launched in early 2022, KRDP will have the distinction of being the first wholly-owned African-American FM radio station in over 20 years to go on the air in both the Phoenix metro area and the state of Arizona.[6]

Radio Phoenix Indie (Digital/Online)[]

Radio Phoenix Indie is a 24/7 digital/online community radio station streaming an eclectic format consisting of Adult album alternative (AAA) music mixed with news, public affairs and specialty programming from local, national and international producers designed to engage listeners with independent music, arts and culture. It is the older of the two "Radio Phoenix" branded community stations, and prior to December 2021 was known simply as "Radio Phoenix".

Radio Phoenix volunteers produce more than 100 hours per week of original programming spanning a variety of genres and topics - including arts and culture, Native American public affairs, Jazz, Blues, World, Indie rock, and everything in between. In addition to original programs produced by local volunteer programmers, the stations are affiliates of the African American Public Radio Consortium (AAPRC), which is the principal distributor of African American targeted public radio programming; KCRW, a public radio station in Santa Monica, California; Native Voice One (NV1), the Native American public radio network; Pacifica Radio; the Public Radio Exchange (PRX); and the WFMT Radio Network.

Syndicated Programs Produced at Radio Phoenix[]

Six original weekly radio programs produced at Radio Phoenix are syndicated to public and community radio stations in Canada and the United States. Those programs include:

  • Boom Goddess Radio with Jennifer Davis-Paige (Conversations with Inspiring Women and Persons Over 50)
  • Full Moon Hacksaw with Tom Coulson (Jazz & Blues)
  • HipRawk Nation (Electronic, Dance, Alternative, Hip-Hop, Neo Soul)
  • My World of Music with Walt Richardson (Singer-Songwriters, Reggae, World)
  • Soul Deluxe with Byron Fenix (Jazz/Soul Music Mix Show)
  • The Keep It 1 Million Show (Sports Talk)

Awards[]

In 2009 the Phoenix New Times named Radio Phoenix the "Best Online Music Station That Should Be a Radio Station"[7]

In 2015 the Phoenix New Times named Radio Phoenix "Best Internet Radio"[8]

In 2016 the Phoenix New Times named Radio Phoenix "Best Internet Radio" for the second year in a row[9]

In 2016 the Phoenix New Times named Radio Phoenix one of the "Seven Best Radio Stations In Phoenix"[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "EVIT radio students to learn craft on air". The Arizona Republic. February 1, 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Venta, Lance (November 6, 2013). "Phoenix's Goldmine Gets a Pulse". RadioInsight.
  3. ^ "Teens Are the Pulse of EVIT's Radio Station". East Valley Institute of Technology. November 14, 2013. Archived from the original on April 8, 2014.
  4. ^ Mungenast, Eric (November 16, 2013). "EVIT radio station, found at 90.7/92.7 FM, changes name to fit identity as teen-oriented". East Valley Tribune.
  5. ^ "Cumulus Sells One in Kansas; Dallas FM Translator Sold". All Access. May 24, 2021.
  6. ^ Reinhardt, Diane. ""We are Telling Our Stories, Our Way:" Desert Soul Media is Poised to Become Arizona's First African-American FCC Licensee in Over Twenty Years - Pacifica Network". Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  7. ^ "| Best of Phoenix® 2009: Your Key to the City". Best Online Music Station That Should Be A Radio Station. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
  8. ^ "Radio Phoenix | Best of Phoenix® 2015: Your Key to the City". Best Internet Radio. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
  9. ^ "Best Internet Radio: Radio Phoenix | Best of Phoenix® 2016: Your Key to the City". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  10. ^ Times, Phoenix New (2016-10-05). "The Seven Best Radio Stations in Phoenix in 2016". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2017-05-17.

External links[]

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