Another Origin Story

In the days before internet in Goldstream Valley radio mattered and KSUA was the only source of progressive rock. It was a mismanaged commercial station with minimal oversight and the transmitter failed in 1992, but before it did Mark Beck had an “Alternative” rock show called ‘The Flip Side,’ which was popular with art kids and “wavers” (from the term “New Wave”). Raves were easing out of the underground and drawing bigger crowds of people dressed in black. My brother Tovan was an Electrical Engineering major looking for a side project and took it upon himself to rebuild the transmitter. He also coordinated other students and volunteers with ASUAF to begin broadcasting again as a non-commercial student-run radio station.

In the Spring of 1993 it became apparent that KSUA would live again and the students were polled to determine the new format of the station’s music. Options included Country, Rock, Rap/R&B, Folk, and Edgy Alternative. I was there that day, all those ages ago, when the students of UAF definitively chose Edgy Alternative as their campus’ musical lifestyle.

Since then I’ve served as Program Director twice and taken great pleasure in communicating the importance of alternative media. During the years when we had a closed-circuit TV station as well as radio broadcasting this perspective on genre was applied to video also. The artistic and cultural impetus for alternative media cannot be overstated. It represents the cultural diversity, which makes this community so rich, when compared to other cities its size. It’s not always easy to challenge oneself to play music, with which we are unfamiliar. It requires extra research and pre-programming, but it’s the only way to cultivate truly high-quality DJ’s. KSUA’s emphasis on genre diversity produces artists, who are more widely versed in musical styles and how counter-culture becomes culture.

-Sean Bledsoe