They're not making a big to-do about it, but this is the 10th aniversary of I-91-FM as a Top-40 station.
The Clover Park Technical College station, which is actually at 90.9 on the dial, went on the air in 1955 and has broadcast a variety of formats. It went with the current hits in March 1988, after Tacoma Top-40 station KNBQ-FM became oldies station KBSG-FM.
I-91 music director Beth Valiant said she loves to hear from local artists such as Fushia and Dawn White, though she often has to disappoint them by telling them the station won't play their song.
"It's not that it's not good music, it's just that I can't fit it in our format," she said. "Although we're a college, we're pretty strict about how we structure things."
Yet she tries to define Top-40 as broadly as possible, keeping in touch with bands that might get on the station as the mainstream gets wider.
"We always want to play the mix no one else plays," she said.
Though it's a long way from knocking off the big-time competition, I-91 is doing well against other school-based stations in the Puget Sound area.
I-91 is the No. 1 noncommercial station among teens and young adults, beating NPR affiliates KPLU and KUOW - not that much of a surprise, really. But it's also ahead of KNHC (also known as C-89), the Seattle School District station with a dance music flavor and a high profile north of the Pierce County line.
If you've never heard I-91, what you're missing is hit radio with no commercials.
The station is staffed mostly by students, though they hire professionals to cover late nights and weekends.
One of those pros is Valiant, who has been with I-91 for nine of the past 10 years, either as a student or an employee. She has also worked at KGY-AM and Mixx 96 FM in Olympia, where she lives, as well as at the pre-sports radio KH20-AM in Tacoma.
"When you get out of here you are definitely ready to do anything from entry level work to a good full-time job," Valiant said.
She's been the music director at I-91 for the past five years, and while she occasionally considers leaving for a job at a bigger station, she said she'd rather stick around and watch I-91 grow.
A copyrighted story by Stephanie Simons, from the April 14, 1998 News Tribune. Reprinted with permission.
