On October 27th, 2025, KBVR-FM celebrated its 60th anniversary of live student-run broadcasting.
KBVR-FM started out with humble beginnings, first broadcasting in Shepherd Hall with a 3-foot tall transmitter and a very small team encouraging the core idea of being student run. Denny Miles, the first KBVR sports director in 1965, spoke about his decision to join KBVR-FM in a letter published on the KBVR-FM blog.
“I narrowed it down to two possibilities: Luther House, the OSU Lutheran campus ministry organization, and a proposed campus radio station KBVR-FM… Luther House already had their leadership in place and even with my senior class standing I would just be one of the guys and likely not be able to employ any potential leadership skills in a meaningful way. On the other hand, KBVR was just getting started. Every student would be joining the activity with the same level of seniority,” Miles said.
In 1965, KBVR-FM operated a lot differently than it does today. At the time, all students hosting a show on the air had to have a third-class Federal Communications Commission broadcast license, and KBVR only broadcasted from 6 to 7 p.m. each night. The broadcast range was also incredibly limited to a 10 watt signal, only barely making its way out of campus.
“I was involved in that opening night, but not physically in the studio. My assignment was to use my Honda 90 motorcycle and a portable FM radio, to see how far our signal reached. Our signal wasn’t that great because the results were disappointing.” Miles said.
Over time, the station began to grow and change, starting by first moving into the basement of Snell Hall in 1967, the same year Miles graduated. In 1980, the station upgraded its signal from 10 to its current 350 watts.
More students signed every year as volunteer DJs, and began playing all kinds of music at all hours of the day. In 2015, KBVR moved again to the 4th floor of the newly opened Student Experience Center, where it resides to this day.
Throughout all of the changes over the past 60 years, all of the live radio, recorded podcasts, and sports play-by-plays are either run or supported by students.
To celebrate 60 years on air, KBVR-FM staff invited previous alumni back to share their stories.. Macy Moore, the 2024-2025 station manager, spoke on their experience connecting with KBVR team members of years past.
“Talking to someone who, like, did my job 50 years ago is crazy. To think about how that’s such a long legacy and so sustaining was very… I don’t know, it really made me appreciate the job more than I already did,” Moore said.
The reception allowed previous staff to share what they had done after graduating, and how KBVR helped launch them into media careers. According to Moore, the majority of the last 10 years of station managers have all gotten jobs in media fields after KBVR.
“It’s very fulfilling for me as someone who wants to go into radio and constantly hears everyone (say) ‘radio’s dying’ and hears hate about it, to see people who are five, six, seven years in my age range who are working radio professionally… I was like, ‘I could get a job, like, it’ll happen,’”Moore said.
With celebrations in the rearview, KBVR-FMs current staff is looking to the future of the station. To this day KBVR-FM continues to be entirely student run, with over 130 volunteer DJs and dozens of hours of programming each week.
Amelia Bouck, the current station manager and a 3rd year DJ, says that accessibility and freedom is what makes KBVR-FM special. They described it as a “legacy of psych”, that the excitement of the DJs to express themselves and make KBVR-FM great has built on itself year after year, and is what has kept the lights on for the past 60 years.
“We have a sort of inherent drive in Corvallis to just do this and be really good at it. And I think that sort of intrinsic motivation has kept us on air for so long… It’s just a bunch of really smart, really excited people keeping us running for so long,”Bouck said.
Along with supporting DJs, Bouck and her team are working hard to make the station even better and expand its legacy. Bouck’s goals for this year are focused on getting the station connected with Corvallis beyond campus and helping local Oregon artists get exposure through the airwaves.
Bouck and their team are also working hard to revive 4th Floor Underground, a show from FM’s past where local bands do a performance broadcast live, followed by an exclusive interview with the band
Each of these goals have one thing in common, to help get the community engaged with FM and the volunteer work the DJs do every day.
“Just letting people know what kinds of programming we’re doing, what the DJs themselves are playing, letting them know the variety that we have going on, and how much cool stuff is going on, and just letting them know, ‘hey, we have a radio station here’, that is so important to me,” Bouck said.
To listen to KBVR FM, tune in to the frequency 88.7 FM, online on KBVR-FM’s website, or on the TuneIn app.