KBPS Broadcasts Live for First Time In 5 Months
Nearly 102 years in, America's oldest student-run radio station is still going strong.
By Nick Oates —
Students at Benson Polytechnic High School began their radio broadcast on Friday by welcoming listeners back. “We are back, broadcasting from the real official Benson campus,” voiced Jason Kurth-Lepoidevin, a senior at Benson who is majoring in radio broadcasting. KBPS is the oldest student-run radio station in the United States, first given a broadcasting license on March 23rd, 1923. However, it was only last week that the station ended one of its longest breaks from live broadcasting in its over 100-year history.
During the summer of 2024, KBPS stopped live broadcasting to move to Benson Tech's newly modernized campus. Its signal on AM 1450 was switched off to prepare for construction on the radio tower, while their online stream played a pre-planned playlist of music and PSAs. Jacob Patterson, the radio broadcasting instructor at Benson and alumni of the program, wishes KBPS came back quicker. “Ever since we left Marshall back in June, I’ve been hoping that we would have seen more progress sooner,” Patterson explained.
The radio building was used as a job site office during the construction of Benson's new campus, meaning KBPS's renovation could only begin after everything else had been finished. Further delaying things, Benson's modernization took longer than expected, causing work on KBPS to begin later than initially anticipated.
“But now, finally, the wait is over,” Patterson continued, “Students are now going through the rotations, doing on-air shifts. But there’s still one piece to the puzzle missing.” The station’s signal on AM 1450 is still offline, but they’re getting closer to bringing it back after multiple setbacks. “I’ve been hearing anywhere from a couple of days to maybe another week or two.”
KBPS will celebrate its 102nd anniversary this March, followed by a live broadcast from Benson’s Tech Show in April — now, from the studios at Benson’s new campus, rather than the temporary setup at Marshall. “It was a long time, and I literally felt like ripping my hair out,” joked Jason on-air. Razor Guerra, another KBPS senior, said “I’m just glad that we’re back, I really did miss being on-air.”
Update: As of November 25th, KBPS's signal on AM 1450 has been restored.