KRVS Radio Acadie still thriving after 50 years – KRVS 88.7 FM began as 10-watt station

Megan Wyatt, Daily Advertiser, Dec. 27, 2013

Operations manager James Hebert, center, speaks to Diego Martin-Perez, show producer for the La Vellonera program, as Martin-Perez compiles the program at 88.7 KRVS in Lafayette Dec. 6. / Paul Kieu, The Advertiser

KRVS 88.7 FM began 50 years ago as a 10-watt radio station that could barely be heard off the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus.

If a producer did not show up for his shift, the previous producer would turn the transmitter off and the station ceased to exist for a span of time.

In the early 1980s, the station grew to 100,000 watts and a National Public Radio member station. It was maintained by a full-time staff of five to meet Corporation for Public Broadcasting requirements.

Today, the station streams online worldwide and produces 60 percent of its programs locally.

Although two of the station’s five full-time positions have been empty for more than a year, the station’s staff says KRVS Radio Acadie is thriving and will continue to be a vibrant part of Acadiana for the next 50 years.

KRVS today

KRVS currently has 30 producers, about half of whom donate their services. Some programs have been on air for decades. Others are only weeks old.

And while the programs and producers have changed through the years, the station’s mission to reflect south Louisiana’s culture, language and music has not.

“I love the fact that it’s a living radio station,” said Judith Meriwether, development director for KRVS. “It’s reflecting the fact that we’re a living culture. It’s not like we’re a museum culture.”

The station’s local programs vary from shows such as Pete Bergeron’s “Bonjour, Louisiane” and Lee Kleinpeter’s “Born on the Bayou” to Fernando Perez-Viart’s “Espacio Latino” and Courtney Pitre’s “Bluegrass Highway.”

Among public radio stations, KRVS is well known because of its location and its rich culture.

“We’re blessed with the culture to create programming from,” Meriwhether said. “So we’re able to create so many locally produced programs because there’s so much to work with.”

KRVS now has the ability to bring more musicians into the studio since the renovation of Burke-Hawthorne Hall on the UL campus, which included a redesign to turn the small space into a state-of-the-art studio that is two-thirds bigger than the former one.

The station’s main 1,300-foot transmitter is located in Maxie, just north of Crowley.

The 100,000 watts allow the signal to be heard throughout southwestern Louisiana, from Lake Charles to Baton Rouge and Alexandria to the Gulf of Mexico.

Although the station embraces the area’s traditions and cultures, it also embraces change and technology. All shows are streamed live online, and a new music video series highlights local musicians.

The availability of Internet radio that could have meant trouble for the local station has actually been useful in providing a way for those outside of Louisiana to listen to KRVS’s programs.

“It’s both people who are from Louisiana and who are working other places or maybe are on military bases and are from Louisiana who are listening,” Meriwether said. “France and the Francophone countries, but surprising places like Japan and Scandinavia.”

KRVS through the years

KRVS went on-air in May 1963 and was granted its FM license Aug. 8 of the same year.

The station’s 10 watts could be heard for about six blocks, or the span of the campus, and the majority of the station’s producers were students of the former University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL).

In 1980, KRVS became a sanctioned public broadcasting station. Two years later, it grew to 100,000 watts and became an NPR member station.

What makes KRVS unique today is what made KRVS unique at its start.

No other area radio station or medium can compare to the eclectic offerings of the public radio station that once stood for Radio Voice of Southwestern for USL.

“As the population contributes culturally, we want to reflect what’s happening there. It’s always exciting,” said James Hebert, the station’s operations director. “If we always did the same thing, it would be good, but it would be flat. All the changes are what makes it fun.”

Former general manager David Spizale, who headed the station from 1984 to 2012, describes KRVS as a fun place to be.

Although KRVS had grown to 100,000 watts and an NPR affiliate just before Spizale accepted the position as general manager, he was still able to help guide the station’s development during his tenure.

“By the time I retired, I had actually hired personally everybody at the radio station,” Spizale said. “And so I felt good that a chemistry had evolved that I felt brought the station together.”

What Spizale is most proud of is the complete redesign of KRVS during his final years at the station.

“Seeing that new facility and the painstaking work that it took to put that together, I am extremely proud of being the person that was there during that change,” he said.

The station’s chief engineer, Karl Fontenot, had a lot to do with the technical aspects of the redesign.

“The two biggest changes have been switching from analog to digital and the easier ways to access and control systems,” Fontenot said.

The station has maintained roughly 30 local producers at any given time over its 50 years, Hebert said.

Producer Pete Bergeron has hosted KRVS’s “Bonjour, Louisiane” for about 30 years, making him the one who’s hosted a show at the station the longest.

“His show is a staple for so many people who want to hear the indigenous music in the indigenous language,” Hebert said. “He’s a treasure to us.”

The finances and future of KRVS

State budget cuts have certainly affected KRVS and other auxiliary services of the university, but KRVS continues to receive substantial support from UL, member donations, grants and underwriters.

According to Tom Pears, director of auxiliary operations for UL, the focus has been on improving service to customers, watching every penny and growing revenue.

“We think the correct response is to get better at what we do,” Pears said. “We have plans to grow KRVS and are on track to do so.”

KRVS’s station revenue has grown steadily since 2008, according to Joyce MacDonald, chief of staff and vice president of member partnership for NPR.

“It looks as though they’re doing a fine job with their income and keeping their underwriting together, which is amazing considering the recession and everything happening,” MacDonald said.

The university historically has provided KRVS with office and studio space, salaries for management and operations personnel, and payment for the utilities of the station’s two transmitters.

UL continues to pay these expenses, which were about $500,000 per year from 2008 to 2012 but decreased to about $400,000 in the 2012-2013 fiscal year, according to annual KRVS audit reports.

The current plan is to fill the general manager and marketing coordinator positions in the spring, Pears said.

“We have no plans to cut programming,” Pears said. “As a matter of fact, our plans are to grow on the great programming heritage of KRVS – a dedication to great local programming.”