KFSR offers forward movement on campus

By Douglas Sulenta
The Collegian

Not many people know it throughout the city or even on campus, but Fresno State has one of the hidden gems of the local music scene.

KFSR (Fresno State Radio), located at 90.7 on the radio dial, plays the most diverse and progressive brand of music you will find anywhere.

I am a self-professed KFSR junkie. When I’m not listening to some conservative talking-head on KMJ, my radio never leaves KFSR.

Feeling disenfranchised by the recent quality (or lack thereof) of music on mainstream radio, I find KFSR to be a friendly and much needed reprieve from the norm.

Occasionally, I like to flip through the radio stations on my dial just to see what’s new and I find that nothing has changed. They still play the same artists they were playing five years ago blathering on about the same garbage they were blathering on about five years ago.

Might I ask, how many times can Mariah Carey reinvent herself? How many times can Puff Daddy, or P. Diddy, or Diddy, change his name?

It’s all so tiring.

Furthermore, on KFSR you won’t be subject to the mass of useless advertising found on other stations. Sometimes I just get sick of these awful radio stations and their advertisers perpetually trying to sell me stuff.

I don’t care about the season premiere of “Desperate Housewives,” and I don’t need a new cellular phone, so please stop trying to sell me one.

If you tune into KFSR expecting to hear the latest Nelly or Green Day, you will be sadly disappointed.

This is not that type of radio station. Again, I said this station is progressive.

What you will hear on this station is a diverse mix of music fit to please the ear of the most discerning of listeners. With an easy and pleasing mix of morning jazz followed by an afternoon of hip-hop, indie rock, local music, reggae, rap and acid jazz just to name a few genres, KFSR features something for everybody.

I hear it everyday. “Fresno sucks. The music here sucks. Los Angeles is awesome. San Francisco is awesome, blah…blah…blah.”

The music being played on KFSR is more progressive and original than anything being played on stations in those cities.

Luckily, KFSR is able to operate without being bound to a playlist passed down by the Clear Channel/Infinity Radio monopoly.

The sad part about this ever so innovative station is that there aren’t too many people who know about it. Not even Fresno State students. In fact, most people I talked to didn’t even know of its existence.

“I didn’t even know we had a radio station,” said Zon Petilla, a Collegian cartoonist. “I wish they would market it more, maybe more students would listen.”

Even though it seems as very few, some students on campus said they have heard about it.

“Listening to local deejays is nice,” said history major Danny Mascola. “I like the diverse programming and hearing stuff that you won’t hear on mainstream radio.”

If nothing else, by listening to KFSR, you may just broaden your horizons a little bit and realize, there is more music out there than what is being crammed down your throat by MTV and the rest of the evil, villainous mainstream media.

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