I first heard about a new radio station coming to Idaho State University at some point during the mid-to-late 1990s. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but a friend I had worked with in commercial radio had asked me to be a reference for her application to become general manager. She didn’t get the job and I basically forgot all about it. At the time I was employed as the Director of Information for the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, the state’s largest agriculture lobbying organization. But as is often the case, change happens and the politics of western vs. eastern Idaho sent my job to the Treasure Valley, without me.

I was working two part-time radio jobs when one day in November of 1999 I got a phone call from an acquaintance at ISU who was on the committee that helped create KISU radio, a fledgling public radio station that debuted on the air June 4, 1999 at 91.1 FM. He said Richard Hetland, the guy that had basically built KISU, was moving back to Arizona and they were desperate to find a replacement. I told him I really wasn’t interested, but he begged me to interview for the job as a favor to him. So I agreed, as a favor, and was stunned when the interview ended and I was welcomed aboard as the new general manager of Idaho’s newest public radio station. My first day at work was the Monday before Thanksgiving. At about noon on Wednesday, Hetland concluded my abbreviated training and walked out the door.

When I was hired at KISU, my boss told me not to go too fast, to walk instead of trying to run. Even though I took his advice seriously, I quickly changed one thing. When KISU went on the air, Hetland came to work five days a week and did everything on the air between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and no way was I going to do that. At the time, student fees were the station’s sole funding source, so I immediately went out and found five more ISU students to work with the four that already handled the hours Hetland hadn’t been hands-on. We had some special students then and as I involved them in making decisions about the station, they gave it their all.

When KISU was born, other than station ID announcements and weather reports there was absolutely no local programming. About two months after I arrived a student from Montpelier, Jeremy Petersen, came to me with an idea for his own music show. Shortly after that, “In House” began airing weekday afternoons. The show is gone now, but Peterson is still hosting great shows, having left KISU for Oregon Public Radio, and now in Denver. He’s one of many talented students who have helped make KISU what it is today.

And what is KISU today? Well, it’s gone from a fledgling station barely breathing at 400 watts of power with hardly any listeners, to one that now has translators (low-power transmitters) in Idaho Falls (91.3) and Rexburg (88.1) with the ability to reach almost a quarter-million potential listeners. In annual listener surveys, KISU is consistently among the top ten stations in a market with over 30 signals to choose from. In retrospect, two significant events took place that helped give the station a solid listener base. The first was the tragic terror attacks of 9/11 that had many glued to their radios during the weeks after, and Morning Edition from National Public Radio (NPR) suddenly gained new listeners by the score, and most didn’t leave. The other, oddly enough for a public radio station, was due to the success of ISU’s women’s basketball team during the 2000-2001 season. ISU’s then-athletic director asked me if KISU could air some women’s basketball games that year because he thought the team might be pretty good. Spot on. Starting with a home win over BYU right after Christmas, the Bengals won 21 straight games and earned a 1st Round NCAA berth against Vanderbilt in Nashville. I managed to find announcers to call every road game that I couldn’t work. When ISU hosted the Big Sky Tournament over 5,000 fans turned out for the title game, and KISU-FM had a brand new group of listeners. Today, the station still broadcasts all women’s basketball games, but also now airs all home soccer and volleyball matches, and most of softball’s home games, including any post-season tournament games those teams play. Public radio “purists” may not like sports, but KISU airs more women’s athletic contests than the number of football and men’s basketball games aired on commercial radio, and it’s a plus for the university when it comes to Athletics’ compliance with Title IX rules. But women’s athletics is just a small part of KISU’s local programming today.

Today, KISU offers excellent local programming, including local news. Among the local programs offered are The Sounds of ISU, featuring music from ISU orchestras, bands and choirs; ASISU Speaks, a weekly ISU issues-related program hosted by student Mashaal Hijazi; Bengal Buzz, a program hosted by the ISU Alumni Association featuring successful graduates; House Call, a medically-oriented program hosted by brothers, Dr. Fahim Rahim and Dr. Naeem Rahim; The Marshall Public Library Show; and other local music shows like Matt’s Movie Trax featuring popular film scores, and The Live Band Club which highlights local musicians and artists from east Idaho and the intermountain area. Dozens of other locally-produced programs have come and gone during the last 17 years, too many to mention and all worthwhile radio listening. KISU also enjoys a growing listening audience in the Upper Snake River valley because we still carry more traditional public radio news and public affairs programs than offered by other public stations in the region. East Idaho may be predominantly conservative, but a continuing influx of scientists and engineers come to the Idaho National Laboratory from all around the world, and many of them are die-hard public radio listeners before they get here. Some write when they donate and say KISU is the best public radio station they’ve ever heard. Of course, not everybody loves KISU-FM, and I don’t expect them to do so. I often hear from students questions like “Why don’t you play the kind of music we like?” My answer is usually something like this, “Well, if you had a choice of hearing your Top 40 or Country music from a commercial station with highly-paid professional announcers via satellite with huge music libraries, or from KISU with amateur announcers and very limited music libraries, which would you choose?” They usually then understand that KISU-FM aims to provide more “niche” programming without having to compete against big-spending, high-powered commercial stations.

Speaking of money, it’s very important in the radio business, even if you’re considered to be a non-commercial, not-for-profit enterprise, which is the case with KISU-FM. As mentioned earlier, when KISU was born, 100-percent of its funding came from student fees at ISU, to the tune of about $106k/annually. That funding has gone up slightly in 17 years, and as GM I consider those dollars to be almost sacred. No state-appropriated funds go to KISU-FM through the university. During that period KISU has more than tripled its revenues with grant funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, from listener donations (which at one time we were prohibited from soliciting) and from “underwriting” sales, which is the equivalent of “neutered” advertising announcements identifying donating businesses or groups without using qualitative words. One struggle we face though, is that when we increase our revenues, public radio networks like NPR, Public Radio International and the BBC charge more for programming. Operating costs go up whether revenues do or not. Dave Molitor, our development director, is the only other full-time employee at KISU, and without his work and generosity of those of you that support the station, there would be no KISU-FM.

KISU-FM has seen over 17 years of growing, stumbling, and just plain hanging in there. No aspirations to be “No. 1”, except in representing Idaho State University and its students in the best way possible, 24/7, 365 days a year. I believe that KISU-FM is doing better than it’s ever done before, but is far from “getting there.” We believe we offer the best programming public radio can provide, from world, national and local producers. It’s not meant to please everyone, and you don’t have to agree with everything you hear to find it valuable. KISU is not a “country station”, or a “rock station”, or a “talk station”. In a lot of ways it has a little to offer for almost everyone. As we like to say, we’re KISU-FM, “Your Ear to the World.”

Jerry Miller grew up on an east Idaho farm, working in commercial radio most of his career before joining KISU- FM. He is the Director of Student Media at ISU, also advising the student newspaper, The Bengal. Miller also is in his 29th year of doing radio play-by-play for ISU Athletics.