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KAMU Description
KAMU is both a TV station and FM radio station, in one. KAMU functions within
the "Educational Broadcast Services" department of Texas A&M University in
College Station and, while it exists primarily to provide public broadcasting to
the Brazos Valley area, it is also involved in the academic mission of Texas
A&M, from formal instruction in the broadcast arts to on-the-job training for
student announcers, operators, and production assistants at the stations.
KAMU operates two television studios and two radio studios with
state-of-the-art broadcast and production equipment. In addition to the
broadcasts, the station operates contract production units and produces
distance-learning telecourses. Both stations are staffed by a combination of
full-time employees, student workers, and volunteers to provide the necessary
leadership, manpower, and programming.
The KAMU offices and studio are located in the Joe Hiram Moore
Communications Center, a 17,000 square-foot brick building constructed in
1972 on Texas A&M University campus.
The Educational Broadcast Services department of Texas A&M was originally established in
1964 under the name of "Educational Television Program" and had the initial purpose of
providing "electronic visual support of the live instructor through the operation of a
multi-channel closed-circuit instructional television network with RF connections to
classrooms and lecture halls across the campus". Later on, the name was changed to
"Educational Broadcast Services" and the KAMU-TV and KAMU-FM stations were added to
the department.
KAMU-TV began broadcasting on UHF Channel 15 on February 15, 1970 as a public television
station licensed to the university, providing broadcast service to the Texas A&M University
community, the cities of Bryan and College Station, and the surrounding Brazos Valley area.
In 2009, KAMU stopped it's analog broadcast on Ch. 15 and began it's HD broadcast on
Channels 12.1, 12.2, and 12.3. The TV station provides both local and PBS programming
24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week. It offers a variety of programming choices through the use of
multiple channels and transmission types.
KAMU-FM took to the air on March 30, 1977. The radio station operates 24x7 at 90.9
megahertz, and is an affiliate of National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI),
and American Public Media (APM), and others. The programming on the original FM channel
includes classical music, jazz, international music, and much more, including award-winning
news programs from NPR and other producers and distributors. In 2008, KAMU began
broadcasting a second signal on the same frequency for "HD" hi-definition digital radios.
Photo: KAMU-TV staff at the George Bush Presidential
Library and Museum dedication on Nov. 6, 1997.
Courtesy of KAMU TV-FM, Texas A&M University