KUSF (University of San Francisco)
KUSF is an online-only radio station owned by the University of San Francisco and operated by its students. From 1963 until 2011, the station was a non-commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, broadcast at 90.3 FM MHz.
KUSF history
KUSF began in 1963 as a campus-only AM station managed by the Associated Students of the University of San Francisco. In 1973, the University of San Francisco was offered an FM radio station by a small local Bible college that wished to discontinue its radio operations. USF accepted the offer and on April 25, 1977, KUSF became an FM station broadcasting on the 90.3 frequency. The old AM station later became the student-managed KDNZ.Originally broadcasting six hours a day, KUSF began broadcasting 24 hours a day in 1981. In its early days KUSF was a conventional college station, broadcasting programs of interest to the university and greater San Francisco community. However, KUSF soon garnered attention by playing new underground music: it was one of the first radio stations to play punk rock. Many now-famous acts also first gained exposure on KUSF, most notably The B-52s and Metallica.
In addition to Metallica, the program Rampage Radio was responsible for helping launch the careers of heavy metal bands, or giving them their first exposure in San Francisco, such as Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche, Megadeth, Venom, Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, Anthrax, Overkill, Manowar, Accept, Anvil and Raven, as well as local Bay Area acts Y&T, Metal Church, Exodus, Possessed, Testament, Death Angel, Forbidden, Lȧȧz Rockit, Vio-lence and Heathen.
On January 18, 2011, USF announced plans to sell the 90.3 FM frequency to the Classical Public Radio Network, which is owned by the University of Southern California. In addition, USC announced that it had reached an agreement with Entercom Communications to take over the intellectual property of local classical outlet KDFC, and moved the station's programming to the 90.3 FM frequency. The KUSF intellectual property remained with USF, which launched an upgraded online-only station. The KUSF call sign now belongs to a radio station licensed to serve Glendale, Oregon, United States. Upon announcement of the sale, KUSF locked its doors, shut down its website temporarily and went off the air.
On February 8, 2011, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 to oppose the sale.
A group of former KUSF volunteers formed KXSF San Francisco Community Radio, a low-power FM station broadcasting at 102.5fm in San Francisco. KXSF began broadcasting on September 4, 2018.