City | Stillwater, Oklahoma |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Oklahoma City metropolitan area |
Slogan | Uniquely Oklahoma |
Frequency | 91.7 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
Repeater(s) | KOSN 107.5, Ketchum, Oklahoma KOSR 88.3, Stillwater, Oklahoma K235CG 94.9, Ponca City, Oklahoma K297AQ 107.3, Bixby, Oklahoma |
First air date | December 29, 1955 |
Format |
NPR / news/talk / AAA HD2: AAA |
ERP | 100,000 watts |
HAAT | 301 meters (988 ft) |
Class | C0 |
Facility ID | 50220 |
Callsign meaning | K Oklahoma State University |
Former callsigns | KAMC (1955-1958) |
Owner | Oklahoma State University |
Webcast |
Listen Live Listen Live (HD2) |
Website | kosu.org |
KOSU (91.7 FM) is a public radio station operated by Oklahoma State University, with studios on OSU's campus in Stillwater, Oklahoma and in the Film Row district in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The station broadcasts a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and adult album alternative (AAA) music format.
KOSU is one of several NPR member stations serving the Oklahoma City area, and the only NPR news and talk station to cover most of the market with its primary signal. The station's programming also airs on full-time satellites KOSN 107.5 FM in Ketchum, which serves the Tulsa area, KOSR 88.3 FM in Stillwater, K235CG 94.9 FM in Ponca City, and K297AQ 107.3 FM in Bixby.
KOSU began broadcasting on December 29, 1955 as KAMC, owned by what was then Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical College. It became KOSU in 1958, after A&M won university status.
It was a charter member of NPR in 1971. Shortly after joining NPR, the station built a new tower that provided the Oklahoma City and Tulsa suburbs with city-grade coverage and each city with grade B coverage. This was possible because Stillwater is roughly halfway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. It moved to a new 1,000-foot tower west of Stillwater in 1991.
In September 2004, KOSU moved to a new 1,100-foot tower near Guthrie that gave it primary coverage of Oklahoma City. Previously, NPR news and talk had gotten spotty reception in much of the area since KCSC went all-classical in 1996. The University of Oklahoma's NPR outlet, KGOU, needed a second full-power station, KROU, to cover a large portion of Oklahoma City, and even then this left much of central Oklahoma without a clear signal for NPR news programming until KOSU activated its new tower.