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KSWC-LP

KSWC-LP (94.7 FM) (Jinx Radio) is a radio station operated by students at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, United States. Between 1968 and 2015, the station was a Class D full-power station licensed to broadcast with 9 watts.

Students who were interested in radio formed a radio club at Southwestern in the late 1940s. The students used the facilities of KNIC, a local radio station to learn more about the craft. During the 1960s, Southwestern's radio station used the call letters KLAS and was a 'carrier current' station on the Southwestern campus, broadcasting through the electrical circuits of the dorms and other buildings on campus. Those were the only places KLAS was heard.

On June 4, 1968, Southwestern was granted an official FCC license and began broadcasting with a transmitter purchased from Kappa Mu Psi, a fraternity at Wichita State University, for $125.

After considering different call letters such as WSCW, KSCW, KLAS and KWKS, the official decision was to use the call letters KSWC (Kansas SouthWestern College). Dr. Wallace Gray was acting sponsor for KSWC and the format included programs such as The Sound of Thought With Dr. Wallace Gray (and his faithful floating five) which aired at 8 pm Tuesday evenings and The Lunch Break weekdays at noon. The daily sign on was This is KSWC-FM 88.3 megahertz, signing on the air for another evening of broadcasting. Located on the campus of Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, KSWC-FM is owned by the student body and operated by the radio club of Southwestern College, providing the Winfield area with educational and entertaining features from six to twelve PM seven days a week. We hope you enjoy this evening's program. For over a decade, the station was located at 88.3 FM on the radio dial, but in 1979, new FCC regulations forced the 10-watt station to move into the commercial bandwidth at 100.3 FM, where the station would remain until converting to an LPFM license.

Dr. William DeArmond took over leadership of KSWC in the late 1970s and made many improvements, including the location of the radio station. To that point, the radio station had several different homes. The first was in the Christy Administration Building during the days of the current carrier station. After KSWC became FCC-licensed, the station moved to Stewart Field House, then moved twice within the fieldhouse.

In 1980, KSWC's growth began as the staff grew from 7 students to over 40 by 1984, and broadcast hours increased from 21 hours a week to 105 hours a week. The studio at the time consisted of two small rooms complete with cement floors and gutted plaster walls, but at a cost of over $4000, the studio was completely rebuilt and outfitted with new equipment.

Throughout the early 1980s, KSWC became very popular in the area. Listeners branded KSWC as a non-commercial alternative to other commercial stations in the area, and was the only station with the freedom to play unique music, from indie to grunge, Top 40 to Nashville, funk to punk, gospel to jazz, disco, rock, classical, easy listening, and new wave music.

In 1983–84, KSWC was the victim of two major thefts, which crippled the station. Each theft closed the station for a day. Over $1200 worth of radio equipment was stolen and never recovered. After the second theft, the station installed a grill over the station window, and a radio student donated the use of his own personal equipment for broadcasting.

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