HIGH-PROFILE BROADCASTING: UNIVERSITY'S KRCU RADIO CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF NPR

Ten years ago Wednesday, KRCU-FM broadcast its first edition of "All Things Considered," the National Public Radio news program that at the time defined the network. It was a milestone in the development of the station, one not everyone welcomed.

The association immediately gave the station a higher profile in the community.

"NPR is the brand name for public radio," station manager Greg Petrowich said.

Wednesday afternoon Petrowich, music director Karen Walker and "A Musical Meander" host Dr. Alan Journet broadcast from the lobby of the University Center to celebrate the anniversary. They gave out 10th anniversary lapel pins and cookies baked by "Cafe Concerto" host and Southeast Missourian food columnist Dr. Tom Harte.

"It seems strange to be chitting and chatting like this and not be asking people for money," Journet quipped, a reference to the station's recently completed fall fund-raising campaign.

To illustrate how far KRCU has come in 10 years, the station brought in a former transmitter that looks like a rejected model of the Star Wars robot R2D2. They recalled having to adjust the transmitter according to the temperature outside.

Journet, who has been a volunteer at the station almost since the beginning in 1976, recalls the debate over whether to sign on with NPR. The station was started as a learning laboratory for Southeast students. "There was a sense that would defeat the purpose," Journet said.

But Petrowich says the effect has been just the opposite, with the station now employing 12 to 15 students at a time in a state-of-the-art broadcasting endeavor.

In the pre-NPR days, students sometimes were on the air talking about fraternity parties, Journet said.

"It's more responsible broadcasting now."

Not all the students who work at KRCU are knowledgeable about classical music, Walker admits. Everyone is provided with phonetic pronunciations.

Walker hosts "Afternoon Classics," a weekday classical music show. She remembers when KRCU only had enough classical music records to program 10 hours worth of shows. Every two weeks, listeners would hear the same shows recycled.

KRCU now is becoming known as a producer of classical programming. "Sunday Night at the Opera" host Barbara Herbert's current series on Verdi has been syndicated not only to a number of stations in the U.S. but also to stations in Australia, New Zealand, Bulgaria and Finland.

During the past 10 years, KRCU has gone to 24-hour-per-day programming and has added a number of other popular NPR programs, including "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Car Talk." And it recently received a grant that will allow the station to increase its coverage area far beyond Cape Girardeau County. The coverage area will increase from 588 square miles to 1,605 square miles.

Some listeners would like the station to add other programs like "Fresh Air" and "Talk of the Nation," but there's only so much air time.

"What we'd love to have is two channels," Petrowich said.