Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Eastern New Mexico Station Seeks New Name

I just learned about a tiny, obscure station in New Mexico with no official call letters, studio, or even a phone line. The former KZIA can only be heard on the Eastern New Mexico University campus. They are holding a contest (that ends today) to rename their station since their former call letters are no longer available. The piece in PNT Online states:

"According to Christopher Stasheff, an associate professor of communication who teaches the radio station operations class, Eastern learned recently that the station’s previous name, KZIA, was already taken by a radio station in Iowa, thus prompting the search for a new name.

Operating under a radio station with no name and even without an official studio this semester, however, doesn’t mean students are not already getting a full dose of hands-on, on-air experience behind the microphone. Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., listeners can tune in to live programming, ranging from classic 1970s, 80s and 90s rock, to hip-hop, sports and an independent music program with Jacob Wiklund... Unfortunately, the ENMU radio station can only be picked up right now on the ENMU campus, including the Roswell and Ruidoso campuses."


Station history is very sketchy, but an article in the Eastern New Mexico University paper The Chase last month stated:

"KZIA has existed for 12 years and was initially wired to the dormitories but is now on the ENMU Web site, broadening its target audience to dormitories, offices, and any other place that campus network runs, such as the Cannon air force base. Programs include disc jockey shows, sports and news briefs and Chinese Hour."

I'd love to learn more about the state of the station over the past 12 years and why they no longer have an official studio. By the way, the campus also has a public radio-affiliated FM station KENW 89.5 FM.

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