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EWU postpones closure of longtime jazz radio station

Student Cameron Pearce, who was expected to be the last disk jockey at Eastern Washington University’s jazz radio station 89.5 KEWU-FM, is pictured. The the university planned to close the station at the end of 2023, but now is extending its operations.  (COLIN MULVANY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
By Ellen Dennis ellend@spokesman.com(206) 486-5723

Eastern Washington University will extend operations of a non-commercial jazz radio station that was originally scheduled to close Dec. 31.

The university still plans to permanently close 89.5 KEWU-FM. University officials anticipate keeping the station on the airwaves through the rest of the academic year, according to an announcement made last month.

In August, EWU made public its plan to close the station after 73 years on the air. Extending the closure deadline will allow university officials to tie up loose ends pertaining to radio gear, said EWU spokesperson David Meany.

“There were more complexities surrounding licensing equipment than we imagined at the beginning of August,” Meany said in an interview. “We also decided with the school year – so much going on – that it would be more seamless to do it at the end of the academic year.”

As of this week, answers remained unclear surrounding the fate of the station’s frequency license.

“Nothing is final yet for the frequency,” Meany said. “All I can divulge is we’re looking at different options. … We’ve had different organizations reach out.”

Meany declined to specifically name any of the organizations .

EWU’s decision to close the station was made in the name of today’s changing media landscape. An announcement of the news was met with some confusion and disappointment among listeners and students. University leaders wrote that the decision “did not come lightly.”

Back in August, EWU music program director Jodi Graves told The Spokesman-Review it would be sad to let go of KEWU, but that at the same time, it would be an opportunity for students to try something new, such as podcasting and producing live recordings.

Today, KEWU broadcasts a strong signal throughout Spokane County and well into Kootenai County, including in Coeur d’Alene, according to radio-locator.com. Jazz aficionados will have a few more months to tune into the station if they live in the Inland Northwest, or they can listen online from anywhere in the world through the station’s website.

Originally called KEWC, the station first broadcast a 10-watt signal on April 7, 1950 into the airwaves of the campus of what was then called Eastern Washington College of Education. It operated as a free-form, student-led station and mainly played classical music and local history commentaries, according to the Spokane Historical Project.

The Spokesman-Review’s Feb. 19, 1979, edition indicated that at the time, two other student-led stations still functioned at EWU. First-day freshmen were allowed to take control of KEWC – a station that only played into the dormitory speakers on campus.

More experienced students at the time were handed the reins of KEWC-FM, the 10-watt, non-commercial station.

In 1986, the university increased the station transmitter’s output up to 10,000 watts. That year, the station changed its call name to KEWU and switched to playing exclusively jazz – both recorded and live-band sessions.