The University of Sioux Falls has filed paperwork with the FCC in order to assign the license for its student-run college radio station KCFS 94.5 FM to Badlands Airtime, which is affiliated with Sioux Falls, South Dakota pawn shop, Badlands Pawn. According to the Asset Purchase Agreement, the sale price for the KCFS license is $1.5 million. Badlands Airtime also submitted a request to the FCC in order to modify the license, in the hopes of changing it from non-commercial to commercial after the FCC grants the license assignment.
The request from Badlands Airtime stipulates, “…the purchase agreement…is expressly conditioned upon grant of the assignment with the station license status modified from noncommercial to commercial, effective upon consummation.”
Badlands Airtime is hoping to launch a radio network that includes several frequencies in the area. It’s also awaiting word from the FCC regarding its application to acquire the license for AM station KZOY and an FM translator.
With this collection of frequencies, Badlands Airtime plans to launch the radio network Guns, Gold & Rock ‘n Roll on Thanksgiving Day, 2015. According to the Badlands Pawn website,
We are relocating a fully operational AM/FM radio station from the Sioux Falls market. We will be converting this station to our in-house station which will launch at 9am, Thanksgiving Day, 2015 when we open Badlands Pawn. This will be the best quality station in the Midwest. Live DJ’s and the best in Badlands Rock 24 hours a day. This station will broadcast live from the pawn shop and the main studio will even be behind glass so the customers of Badlands can watch the station in action while shouting out a request or 2. Of course the station will have the best regional and national DJ’s. It is our intention to simulcast our Guns, Gold & Rock N Roll Radio Network to over 30 stations and towers throughout the Midwest so you will be able to hear the radio station for hundreds and hundreds of miles. With the hi-tech design of the facility, performing acts on the Badlands Stage will be able to be broadcast live on the radio in addition to celebrity appearances and performances.”
According to the University of Sioux Falls’ website,
KCFS – USF’s student operated radio station – is geared toward discovery of new music and the appreciation of familiar music. On a daily basis the station pumps out music to the Sioux Falls area that is designed to enlighten, invoke emotions, create thought and relax or stimulate listeners. After all, that should be the purpose of music: to change perceptions and to encourage new ideas.”
KCFS is affiliated with the school’s Media Studies department and is located in the school’s Media Center, which also houses public radio station KCSD-FM (operated by South Dakota Public Broadcasting). KCSD was licensed to University of Sioux Falls up until 2014. There’s no word yet on how the students at KCFS feel about these proposed changes, but NorthPine.com reports that, “The university will retain the rights to the KCFS callsign, its web domain, and current format.”
