DENTON, TX (KNTU)  We're in the midst of our Fall 2009 fundraiser and we need your help.

Call 877.565.3688 to make your pledge over the phone, or click here to make an online donation. Our basic budget is funded by the University of North Texas, which owns the FCC license for KNTU, but that doesn't pay for everything the station does or needs.

FM stations between 87.9 and 91.9 on the dial are, by FCC regulation, set up as noncommercial, educational stations otherwise known as public radio. Stations in that realm cannot broadcast commercial advertisements, hence the need to draw revenue from listeners -- those that use and enjoy the programming.

KNTU is unique in that it provides a primarily Jazz format run by students at UNT. Any student enrolled at UNT can apply to work at the station to learn the craft of radio. We have a format for students to follow which is what those venturing into radio broadcasting will find at any commercial station at which they seek to work. But the students do have the opportunity to propose programs here that might never get broadcast anywhere else. Such is the case with Infrequent Exposure (Sat. 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.), The Germane Show (Sun. 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.), Notes from the Underground (Sun. 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.), The North Texas Jukebox (Sun. 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.), Shrock's Block of Rock (Sun. 10:00 p.m to 12:00 a.m.), The Green Guys Tailgate Show (preceeding North Texas football games), and The One in the Morning (Mon. - Thu. 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.).

Students learn how much actual work goes into producing radio programs; it's not just a case of showing up, winging it, and pushing some buttons. We want to provide as many opportunities for these students as we possibly can and that's were your financial support helps. We don't want to have a station staffed only by professionals, we want to be the learning laboratory for creative students to find their voice as they discover the possibilities of radio programming. OK, perhaps I've gotten a bit esoteric, but I want to pull back the curtain a little so you can see what transpires at KNTU.

To give you a broader insight into station operations, the station has only one full-time employee: me, Mark Lambert. The station's General Manager, Russ Campbell, is a faculty member in the Radio-TV-Film Department at UNT and Chief Engineer Christian Vang is also the audio engineer for the RTVF Department. We have nine students in part-time jobs: Trey Peart, program director; Hollie Groos, music director; Lindsay Barber, news director; Tyler Bouldin, sports director; Drew Jacoy, sales director; Katie Bradley, production director; Chela Piacentini, promotions director; Monique Bird, public affairs director (producer/host of McKinney In Focus heard Tue. at 6:30 p.m.); and Shawn Baker, producer/host of NT Jukebox (Sun. 7:00 p.m to 10:00 p.m.). The DJs, news writers/anchors, and sports writers/anchors are all students either volunteering (no pay) or getting credit hours toward their degrees.

As the Program/Operations/News Manager, I work with the DJs and news personnel (alongside Trey Peart, Lindsay Barber, Hollie Groos, Katie Bradley, Monique Bird, Shawn Baker, and Chela Piacentini) to try to maintain a solid on-air sound and competency -- it's daily, hands-on work that I enjoy because I get to help students learn and try to provide you with a quality product. Do we always get it absolutely right? No, but that's part of the learning process for these wonderful UNT students. In the sports and sales realm, it's Russ Campbell who works with Tyler Bouldin and Drew Jacoy, respectively, to do the same thing.

This is probably more information than you expected, or might have ever heard before, about how KNTU operates. But since we're celebrating 40 years of broadcasting at KNTU and we're asking for you to help us fund our endeavors, I wanted to let you get a peek 'behind the curtain' and see just what that wizard wannabe was doing.