FROM THE ARCHIVES: … And WRFL is on the air (March 8, 1988)

UK station begins broadcasting

By Cheri Collis Herald-Leader UK Correspondent

This story was published originally on Tuesday, March 8, 1988, on Page B1 of the Herald-Leader.

WRFL-FM went on the air for the first time yesterday with a bang from Big Audio Dynamite.

The band's driving rock song, C'mon Every Beat Box, blared from the speakers in the lobby of the student-run station on the University of Kentucky campus.

The song set the right tone for the birth of the station, which plays music seldom heard in the Lexington market.

”The song is talking about the unifying influence that music can have,“ said Mark Beaty, the program director of WRFL, at 88.1 on the FM dial. The first line of the song goes: ”There's been a brain wave at the radio station.“

The brain wave at WRFL is unconventional.

Some of the bands on WRFL's play list are Megadeth, Soup Dragons, Pop Will Eat Itself, Flesh for LuLu, Bambi Slam, Batfish Boys and Gaye Bikers on Acid.

The station has no standard commercials or interruptions, and volunteer announcers have almost complete freedom to choose the music they play. The station plays 24 hours, seven days a week.

Even with a crew of amateurs and some last-minute jitters, WRFL made its on-air debut exactly on time at 2 p.m. yesterday.

Two minutes before, Beaty had knocked over a can of Sprite next to the turntable and cursed. Someone ran to find a paper towel, and Beaty regained his composure.

”We are on the air with an inaugural broadcast ...,“ Beaty said calmly into the neon-green microphone.

Most people at WRFL agree that the announcers, many of whom have never been on the air, can be expected to make some mistakes.

”There's an awfully good chance for the next couple of weeks that we'll be a little on the rough side,“ Beaty said. ”These people are brand new and will be far from perfect.“

Each announcer has a three-hour shift, one day a week. Some announcers have regularly scheduled programs featuring specialty music ­— women's music, bluegrass, jazz and blues. Other announcers stick to the alternative rock music.

They have to play four to six songs an hour from the play box, which consists of the station's most requested songs and ones that the station's directors think deserve more attention.

”We have a policy where we don't play the same artist in the same three-hour period,“ said Jamie Tittle, WRFL's training director who also is an announcer from 8 to 11 p.m. Sundays.

The station is encouraging local bands to submit their records or cassettes.

”We'll play local music that's not with a major label as long as we can read the titles,“ said Kakie Urch, WRFL music director.

The station also accepts requests by calling 257-WRFL.

Tittle said his first song probably would be by the band The Church.

”It's kind of dreamy rock 'n' roll,“ said Tittle, who wore a T-shirt featuring The Church.

Such music is not the kind that David Dick likes. Dick, the director of the UK journalism school and a Glenn Miller fan, said he attended the station's debut because ”it's a historic moment.“

About the first song played, he said, ”I don't know what I'm hearing. … I can't hear the lyrics.“

He was among 50 people in the lobby of the station, inside the student center, for the first broadcast. The station reaches listeners in a 20-mile radius of campus.

In back of the small, crowded lobby, WRFL news director Scott Kuhn was preparing for the 4:55 p.m. newscast. Although students were dancing next to his desk, he didn't seem distracted.

Getting the station on the air has been an all-consuming task for the core of students who run it.

On the eve of the first broadcast, Beaty hardly slept. He left the studio at 5:30 a.m. yesterday for a quick break and a shower, then returned two hours later.

”There are always quite a number of details that need to be dealt with,“ said Beaty, a senior in pre-medicine.

Just hours before the broadcast, Beaty was organizing albums, posting notices and trying to figure out how the announcer rotation would be affected by spring vacation next week.

With 90 WRFL staff members, Urch said the station still was interested in training more people — students, alumni and community residents. With graduation and summer vacation approaching, many disc jockey time slots will be open.