Chancellor Kim Wilcox’s recent interview at KUCR, conducted by a panel of student broadcasters, covered topics such as: UCR preparations for the COVID-19 virus, his vision for UCR’s future, UCR as an integral part of the community and Inland Empire, his support for a future KUCR Media Center, leadership advice for UCR’s future change-makers, his favorite music and Desert Island music picks.
“Change is a mark of progress, and there can be none without it.”
-George Graham
UC Riverside is undergoing a transformation, the most significant since the 1990’s when Dr. Raymond Orbach was Chancellor. As one of several examples, a major part of the campus, which has been named “the North District,” formerly the site of Canyon Crest Family Housing (which itself was formerly March Air Field personnel housing, built 70 years ago), has been leveled and cleared, except for the buildings that constitute the studios and offices of KUCR. Looking rather anomalous amidst the empty land, the KUCR buildings are the last original structures standing. Inside these modest buildings, 53 years of community broadcasting has emanated, mostly created by UCR students, but also a number of notable faculty – all of devoted to the vital music, culture and ideas that are the station’s stock-in-trade. Thousands of KUCR alumni have contributed to what most of us regard more akin to an art gallery than a standard FM broadcast station. And, given the time that KUCR has been on the air and the area to which it has broadcast, millions of people have listened to the station at one time or another.
Although we regard these KUCR buildings as historic, in that they have been profiled by Ansel Adams (probably the world’s most famous photographer), a site of former Governor Jerry Brown’s radio show (between his first and second governorship), many leaders and politicians including Ronald Reagan, numerous cultural figures, musical artists ranging from Phillip Glass to Aaron Copland, from Janis Joplin to punk legend Black Flag, to many more. KUCR features science, world affairs, history, economics – representing the enormous talent and knowledge resources of the University of California, along with the energy and creativity of its students. Although we hold all of this to be true and important and connected to our historic buildings, which we love despite their plain exteriors, it is also true that we have outgrown them. We need more space to do that which only KUCR can do – serve this region with original programming, but also to realize a larger mission, into which we have naturally evolved.
KUCR will, in the coming months and few years, move to another location, to become a 21stcentury version of what college radio was in the 20thcentury. What this means is that KUCR retains its award-winning FM broadcasting, which Pew Research studies show remains strong for non-commercial broadcasters, and incorporate a novel poly-modal media enterprise surrounding it. This gives UC Riverside students and faculty the ability to practice media in all its forms, future-proofed as technology adapts and changes. It will also serve the campus and community in other respects, complementing existing programs, while introducing new ones.
UCR Chancellor Dr. Kim Wilcox and Vice Chancellor Gerry Bomotti have pledged to transition KUCR to a new facility, located near the revitalized UCR Barn – an adjacent location which offers some excellent synergies. With the commitment of campus leadership, we are now taking the steps to do this, all the while retaining our schedule of broadcasting, public events, concerts, collaborations and production services.
Stay tuned,
Louis Vandenberg KUCR Director/General Manager, November 8, 2019
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