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By Amanda Riddle
Arizona Daily Wildcat
November 26, 1996
It's 5 p.m. on Sunday, and an announcer's voice comes over the airwaves to begin "From the Cheap Seats," a student-run, sports talk show. But only a small percentage of the student population can pick up the station's frequency.This is a problem that KAMP, the University of Arizona's only student-radio station, hopes to fix by raising funds with a proposed student activities fee. The fee will add $1 to tuition each semester for a five-year period.
"Our ideal goal is to get a 5,000-watt antenna and broadcast around the whole city of Tucson and reach Phoenix at night," said Andy Carrol, KAMP media relations director, who is in his fourth year at the station.
KAMP broadcasts on 1570 AM with a 30-watt antenna on top of the Memorial Student Union. The frequency can be picked up in a three-mile radius.
"Some people on campus told me they can't pick the station up because of building interference," Carrol said.
The station's 120 student volunteers play any type of music the listener wants to hear, including new alternative, 70s, 80s and heavy metal.
The student fee resolution was introduced to the Undergraduate Senate by members of KAMP last Wednesday and will be voted on Dec. 4.
If approved by the Senate, KAMP must get 3,500 students to sign a petition by the end of January in favor of the student fee. The student body will then vote on the proposition in the spring general elections.
In the spring of 1995, the Associated Students purchased the current 30-watt antenna for KAMP.
Senate Chairman Gilbert Davidson has worked with KAMP on the proposal and said that he thinks it is in the student's best interest to limit student fees.
"By creating student fees it just opens the door to larger fees. However, I feel this is something the campus should vote on, and if it's something they want, I support it," he said.
Over five years, the fee will raise $350,000. Part of this money will be used to pay an on-call engineer for the signal, buy new equipment, update the studio and buy an Associated Press wire subscription, Carrol said. The antenna will cost about $150,000, which will be paid for over a period of two years, he said.
The station receives $3,300 a year from the University Activities Board, which is part of the Department of Student Programs.
Todd Stark, coordinator for UAB, said he felt the student fee is the step the radio station has to take to get as much funding as other student-run radio stations at Pacific 10 Conference schools.
Carrol said the station's format would not change that much with the increased broadcasting capabilities.
"It will be more of a maturity on the students' part. For the disc jockeys, we really are in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission," Carrol said.
Marc Gurstel, KAMP's general manager, said the increased listening audience will allow KAMP to provide more for the campus community and Tucson.
"We specialize for the UA," Gurstel said. "You're not going to get that anywhere else in town. We provide information about the UA, whether it's news, event information or music for students."
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