WGZS, latest pubradio station, hits the airwaves on Minnesota reservation

After nine years of work, a new 50,000-watt public radio station debuted Wednesday (Sept. 7) on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Minnesota, reports The Pine Journal in Carlton County, along the central-eastern edge of the state. Giizis, the Ojibwe word for moon, inspired call letters WGZS at 89.1 FM. Dan Huculak, operations manager for the station and a member of the tribe, told the newspaper that the station will broadcast music, local news and events, public service announcements, and Ojibwe language and cultural programming. The initial broadcast day will run 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, with weekend hours coming soon.

Riverwalk Jazz archives going to Stanford University

The archives of Riverwalk Jazz, the critically acclaimed PRI show hosted by musician Jim Cullum, are heading to Stanford University. Included are 400 radio programs and a 700-page website for the show, which debuted in 1989. And in January 2013, Stanford's Archive of Recorded Sound will offer a continuous web stream of all Riverwalk programs, including documentaries on the history of jazz from its earliest roots. "Nothing like this is available anywhere else," said Margaret Moos Pick, the program's executive producer.

Montana PBS adds transmitter in state's far northwest

The FCC bestowed a rare gift upon the northwestern Montana town of Kalispell today — a construction permit for a new public TV station, licensed to Montana State University.

As with many other full-power pubTV stations serving rural areas, the commission permitted the licensee to share programs from out of town — in this case, the Montana PBS programming originated at the university’s KUSM in Bozeman, which also airs on KUFM in Missoula and other repeaters in the state.

The signal from Kalispell, 120 miles north of Missoula near Glacier National Park, will cover a population of just 98,700 spread across 7,500 square miles.

The new station will broadcast on Channel 46 with maximum effective radiated power of 23,400 watts.

A church group, Flathead Adventist Radio Inc., filed a competing application for the channel, but it reached a settlement with the university two years ago, according to FCC documents.