KNUM-LP explained

KNUM-LP
City:Portland, Oregon
Branding:The Numberz
Frequency:96.7 MHz
Airdate:July 14, 2017[1]
Format:Rap/hip-hop
Erp:11 watts
Haat:90.8m (297.9feet)
Class:L1
Licensing Authority:FCC
Facility Id:196097
Webcast:Listen live
Coordinates:45.5405°N -122.5642°W
Callsign Meaning:NUMberz
Former Callsigns:KZRY-LP (2017–2018)
Owner:Community Alliance of Tenants

KNUM-LP is a low-power FM radio station broadcasting on 96.7 FM in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is owned by the Community Alliance of Tenants and is known as "96.7 The Numberz", airing a rap and hip-hop format. In 2017, a series of strange noises heard from the station gained popular social media attention and speculation, but has since been reclassified into the rap/hip-hop station it is today.

History

On November 15, 2013, the Community Alliance of Tenants, a tenants rights organization, applied to build a new low-power FM radio station on 96.7 MHz in Portland. The Federal Communications Commission approved its application in September 2014 as two of the four applicants for the frequency dropped out and the other two—the Community Alliance and Opal Environmental Justice Oregon—moved their LP facilities to avoid interference with each other.[2] The station filed for its license to cover on September 20, 2017, having gone on air under the call sign KZRY-LP. Behind the founding of the station were two graduates of Grant High School,[3] one of which was a founder of KXRY (branded as "XRAY.FM"). In its initial months on air as KZRY-LP, it aired a loop featuring audio of speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy and from the Apollo 11 mission, Sputnik 1, some music, and programs from XRAY.

A year later, on August 29, 2018, the station began operating normally and changed its call sign to KNUM-LP, reflecting its on-air brand referencing the Portland area to which many black residents have been displaced as a result of gentrification.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Call Sign History .
  2. News: Two LPFMs to Bracket Portland at 96.7 MHz. RadioWorld. Paul. McLane. September 22, 2014. May 27, 2020.
  3. News: The Numberz Is Portland's Only All-Black Radio Station. PDX Monthly. Conner. Reed. May 27, 2020. January 21, 2020.
  4. News: Portland's Only All-Black Radio Station Aims to Be as Diverse as the Community it Serves. Willamette Week. Tiara. Darnell. May 27, 2020. June 19, 2019.