High school radio

High school radio are radio stations located at high schools and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision. The oldest extant high school AM radio station is AM 1450 KBPS in Portland, Oregon. Portland radio station KBPS, first licensed in 1923, is the second oldest radio station overall in the city of Portland. The student body of Benson Polytechnic High School purchased the transmitter and other equipment from Stubbs Electric in Portland for $1,800. Money for the purchase of the station came from student body funds. On March 23, 1923, the student body of Benson was licensed by the federal government to operate a radio station using 200 watts of power on 834 kilocycles. The first call letters of the station were KFIF. The station made its formal debut on the air and was officially dedicated in early May 1923, between the hours of 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., on the opening night of the 5th annual Benson Tech Show. In spring of 1930, the callsign changed from KFIF to KBPS, for Benson Polytechnic High School. In 1941 KBPS stopped sharing its frequency with other stations and moved to 1450 AM on the dial where it remains today. In 1971 the FCC gave the station permission to increase daytime transmitting power to 1,000 watts. Nighttime power was 250 watts. KBPS is now licensed for 1,000 watts 24 hours a day. The KBPS studios, transmitter and 200–foot self-supporting steel tower are located at the rear of the Benson campus. AM 1450 still broadcasts 24/7/365 and the KBPS Radio Broadcasting program at Benson High School still teaches today's students about radio broadcasting and audio content creation.

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KBPS (AM)

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Coordinates: 45°31'38"N 122°39'3"W

KBPS

Portland, Oregon

Frequency: 1450 kHz C-QUAM AM Stereo
Branding: AM 1450 KBPS
First air date: May 4, 1923; 100 years ago
Former call signs: KFIF (1923–1930)
Call sign meaning: Benson Polytechnic School
Power: 1,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates: 45°31'38"N 122°39'3"W
Webcast: Listen Live
Website: kbps.am

KBPS (1450 AM) is a high school radio station in Portland, Oregon, owned by Portland Public Schools, and run by Benson Polytechnic High School students enrolled in its radio broadcasting program. From its founding the station has been based on the Benson campus and staffed by its students.

As part of its standard transmission, KBPS broadcasts in AM Stereo.

History

In May 1921, the Benson Polytechnic School received a government license to operate a "Technical and Training School" station with the call sign 7YK. This station utilized a spark transmitter, which was limited to Morse code dot-and-dash transmissions. In the early 1920s broadcasting was introduced, and arrangements were made to establish a school station. Equipment previously used by a short-lived station, KYG, was purchased by the student body in March 1923, and an application filed for a new broadcasting station to be operated by the students under the direction of teacher Fred Brainard.

The first broadcasting station license, with the call letters KFIF, was issued on March 23, 1923, to the Benson Polytechnic Institute. Equipment tests were begun in April, followed by an informal debut broadcast at 6:00 p.m. on May 4, 1923. A more formal station introduction, coinciding with the start of the fifth annual Benson Technical Show, was broadcast from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m on May 9, with scheduled addresses by school director W. F. Woodward, Benson principal C. E. Cleveland, and student body president Bill Norvell, plus singing by Marguerite Carney.

KFIF's initial assignment was for broadcasting on a wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz), a shared "entertainment" wavelength that required allocating timeslots to individual stations in order to avoid interference. In late 1924 KFIF was reassigned to 1210 kHz, which was followed by assignments to 1400 kHz in 1927, and to 1310 kHz in early 1928. On November 11, 1928, under the provision of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40, KFIF moved to a "local" frequency of 1420 kHz.

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