KVCU

The Brocade Broadcasting Company (later changed to Brokade Broadcasting), owned by Enid C. Pepperd and Dona B. West, obtained a construction permit from the FCC for a new daytime-only radio station in Boulder on November 6, 1972, nearly four years after filing for the station in February 1969.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=44221 |title= History Cards for KVCU|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) The station signed on November 1, with middle of the road music and news programming.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1973/1973-11-26-BC.pdf|work=Broadcasting|date=November 26, 1973|accessdate=February 10, 2021|title=New in Boulder|page=32}} The format was short-lived, the station lost money, and the owners wanted out; a sales manager, Dan Skibitsky, persuaded Brokade to change the format to progressive rock.{{cite news|url=https://www.westword.com/music/today-boulder-tomorrow-the-world-5054293|title=Today, Boulder. Tomorrow, The World|date=May 24, 1994|work=Westword|first=Michael|last=Roberts|accessdate=February 10, 2021}} Though the format flip brought more interest, a sale was still in the cards. Two years after launching, Brocade sold the station to the Greenlee and Gawne families, trading as Centennial Wireless, for $220,000.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1975/1975-10-13-BC.pdf|date=October 13, 1975|accessdate=February 10, 2021|work=Broadcasting|pages=60–61|title=For the Record}} In 1979, the station was approved to increase power to 5,000 watts.{{r|hc}} Two years later, the Greenlees then acquired KRNW (97.3 FM), which they relaunched as freeform rocker and adult album alternative format pioneer KBCO.{{cite news|url=https://bizwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/BW_2018_Hall_of_Fame_flyp.pdf|page=3|work=BizWest|first=Dallas|last=Heltsell|title=Boulder County Business Hall of Fame: From rock to restaurants, beat goes on for Greenlee|date=2018|accessdate=February 10, 2021}}

KADE became KBCO in 1985, and two years later, the Greenlees sold the pair to Noble Broadcast Group in a $27.25 million transaction.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1980s/1987/RR-1987-08-28.pdf|work=Radio & Records|date=August 28, 1987|title=Noble Rocks Into Denver For $27 Million|accessdate=February 10, 2021|page=13}} Up until then a low-rated simulcast of the FM, the station changed to talk in 1995 as "KHOW2", a brand extension of co-owned KHOW (630 AM).{{cite news|date=July 14, 1995|title=Fox Puts Faith in 'Party of Five' for Another Season of Quality TV|work=Rocky Mountain News|page=44D|first=Dusty|last=Saunders}} Noble owned the stations until it was purchased by Jacor in 1996.{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1996/R&R-1996-02-09.pdf|accessdate=February 10, 2021|date=February 9, 1996|title=Jacor, Triathlon Hit New Market Limits|page=4|work=Radio & Records}}

In mid-1997, Jacor offered the 1190 AM facility to the University of Colorado—as a donation. CU had not owned a broadcast station in nearly 75 years; from 1922 to 1925, the university had operated KFAJ, which conducted experiments and supported instruction in radio communications,{{cite news|url=http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2016/08/01/radio-station-visit-110-radio-1190-at-university-of-colorado-boulder/|work=Radio Survivor|date=August 1, 2016|title=Radio Station Visit #110 – Radio 1190 at University of Colorado, Boulder|accessdate=February 10, 2021|first=Jennifer|last=Waits}} but which was unlistenable at any time KOA was broadcasting and was thus closed.{{Cite journal |last=Norwood |first=Frank W. |date=1973 |editor-last=Barnouw |editor-first=Erik |title=The Air of History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30217734 |journal=AV Communication Review |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=142–152 |jstor=30217734 |issn=0001-2890}} At the time, the university's carrier-current station could not even be heard in all campus dormitories. Jacor had good reason to make the donation: it needed to divest a station if it wanted to acquire KTCL in Fort Collins, another FM station the company was already programming in the region, as it owned a full complement of eight stations in the Denver market.{{cite news|first1=Robert|last1=Kowalski|first2=Joanne|last2=Ostrow|title=KHOW2 offered to CU: Gift of radio station studied by officials|work=The Denver Post|page=B1|date=September 2, 1997}}

The station went off the air in January 1998 to prepare for the transfer,{{cite news|date=January 6, 1998|title=Just don't ask too many questions about "Harriet'|first=Joanne|last=Ostrow|work=The Denver Post|page=E01}} and under the new call letters KVCU, it signed on November 4 of the same year.{{cite news|title=CU Students Join Ranks of College Radio: AM Station to Broadcast Music, Sports, Talk Shows|work=Rocky Mountain News|page=36A|first=Jennifer|last=Hamilton|date=November 5, 1998}} The new outlet aired a combination of student output and programs from volunteer DJs{{cite news|date=October 28, 1999|title=Antennas salute KVCU: CU's alternative station rocks through first year|work=Rocky Mountain News|first=Michael|last=Booth|page=B2}}—60 of them by 2001.{{cite news|title=KVCU wages radio revolt: Rebel deejays pit eclectic cuts against "safe, staid' airwaves|first=John|last=Moore|page=E1|date=April 15, 2001|work=The Denver Post}}

For the first time since breaking from its simulcast with KBCO-FM in 1995, 1190 AM's programming began being heard on FM in 2016, when the station debuted on an FM translator (K255DA at 98.9 MHz, now K251CV on 98.1) in Boulder.{{cite news|url=https://www.colorado.edu/today/2016/11/09/radio-1190-hits-fm-airwaves|work=CU Boulder Today|date=November 9, 2016|title=Radio 1190 hits the FM airwaves|first=Grace|last=Eun Cho|accessdate=February 10, 2021}} As of March 2021, K251CV relays the HD3 sub-channel of KQKS. The station ceased broadcasting on FM translators by the spring of 2023, when it voluntarily went off the air temporarily for modernization and general improvements.{{cite web |title=Radio 1190's History |url=https://1190.radio/history/ |website=Radio 1190 |access-date=19 May 2023}}

In 2011, Mikey Flanagan left the station as general manager,{{cite web |last1=Klickstein |first1=Matthew |title=Radio 1190 finds new Mikey: CU radio station hires general manager |url=https://www.coloradodaily.com/2011/10/06/radio-1190-finds-new-mikey-cu-radio-station-hires-general-manager/ |website=Colorado Daily |date=6 October 2011 |access-date=19 May 2023}} and CU-Boulder’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication shuttered,{{cite web |last1=Anas |first1=Brittany |title=CU-Boulder journalism school to shut down after 5-4 vote by regents |url=https://www.dailycamera.com/2011/04/14/cu-boulder-journalism-school-to-shut-down-after-5-4-vote-by-regents/ |website=Boulder Daily Camera |date=14 April 2011 |access-date=19 May 2023}} leading to a shakeup in station administration that eventually resulted in the professional general manager position being eliminated and replaced by a CMCI faculty oversight position.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also hit Radio 1190 hard, with a near-total station shutdown and shift to automated programming for several months. While student DJs were allowed to return to the studio later the same year, operational continuity suffered; the station lost control of its FM translators, and the quality of both the AM and streaming services was erratic.

In May 2022, Radio 1190 voluntarily ceased terrestrial broadcast while a professional chief engineer was brought on board to improve the station’s technical infrastructure. Broadcasts continued online, and the station returned to the AM airwaves on February 16, 2023.{{cite web |last1=Berkeley |first1=Iris |title=Radio 1190 Returns to the AM Airwaves |url=https://www.mixcloud.com/irisberkeley/radio-1190-returns-to-the-am-airwaves-20230216/ |website=Mixcloud}}

In the 2024-2025 school year, the station regained a professional general manager, and also returned to the FM airwaves on translator K225BS 92.9 FM Denver beginning on February 13, 2025.{{cite web |last1=Berkeley |first1=Iris |title=Jetset Underground #114 | access-date=2025-02-13 |url=https://www.mixcloud.com/irisberkeley/jetset-underground-114-20250213/ |website=Mixcloud}}

• Campus radio
• List of college radio stations in the United States

{{Reflist|}}

{{AM station data|48965|KVCU}}

• [http://1190.radio/ Radio 1190 website]
• [http://www.colorado.edu/cusg/ University of Colorado Student Government]
• [https://www.colorado.edu/cmci/ University of Colorado College of Communication, Media, Design and Information]

{{University of Colorado Boulder}}

{{Denver Radio}}

{{Colorado college radio}}

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VCU

Category:University of Colorado Boulder

VCU

Category:Radio stations established in 1973

Category:1973 establishments in Colorado