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KZSM — From the heart of San Marcos

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Today’s column continues our series examining community radio and exploring the background of KZSM.org. In our July 19 column, we recalled KIND, an unlicensed low-frequency station that provided San Marcos’ first community radio. KIND remained on the air from 1997-2000, until the court ruling that allowed them to broadcast without a license was overturned.

In 2017, KZSM.org took on mission of providing San Martians with community radio. The move to internet radio makes us available well beyond the reach of a low-power terrestrial signal; listeners can tune in with any internet capable device, from anywhere in the world. Friends and families of our Program Hosts and their guests tune in from all over the world. Just go to KZSM.org and click the play button.

The stream they listen to, however, comes directly from at heart of San Marcos—our storefront studio at 216 North Guadalupe. Sitting in the broadcast booth, our DJs feel the city all around them: emergency vehicles from the fire station around the corner briefly disrupt our shows to care for our people; shoppers stroll by; aspiring ballerinas hurry to the studio around the block.

Our programming, also, comes from the heart of San Marcos, Hays County, and our region. Our Monday and Friday noon COVID-19 News Specials keep you informed with the latest statistics and interviews experts and officials, business owners, artists, and your neighbors. Much of our music comes from local performers, sometimes recorded live in our studio.

Your true community radio station offers a place for your interest, your contribution, and your voice. If you have an idea for a program, come and share it with us. Just email kzsmsanmarcos@gmail. com to volunteer.

You can also help KZSM. org in other ways: we are always looking for dedicated volunteers with technical, clerical, administrative, and promotional skills.

Volunteers sustain our programming, but space and equipment cost money, and KZSM.org is a self-supporting non-profit. You can support community radio financially and promote your business at the same time by underwriting one of our shows. For the modest donation of $50 per month, the Program Host will play a promotional announcement about your business every 15 minutes during their one-hour show.

If you are a non-profit, we can create a Public Service Announcement about your services and broadcast it regularly, with no charge.

As an individual, you can help sustain our programming with the “donate” button on our website, KZSM.org.

Tune in; help out.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666