Lamar University’s public radio station 91.3 KVLU will celebrate its 50th anniversary, April 30. The event will be held in the Live Oak Ballroom at the Setzer Student Center from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event will be broadcast live, with special guests from the community attending, including KVLU alumni.
Organizers will interview figures such as LU President Jaime Taylor, Dean of Fine Arts and Communications Golden Wright, former station manager Byron Balentine, and Dale Parrish who has volunteered at KVLU for nearly its entire history. Any guests who want to be interviewed will have an opportunity to as well.
“It’s very exciting,” development director Shannon Harris said. “We’re also going to have live music there. Andre Harness Quartet will be performing. Andre hosts a show here on KVLU, Friday Night Jazz.”
KVLU will have swag bags for the first 50 arrivals, along with a giveaway with a golden ticket for an extra set of goodies.
Station manager Jason Miller said the celebration will be the last day of the spring fundraiser.
“(April 30th) it is the first day that KVLU was on the air,” he said. “We structured our fundraiser around it to be able to conclude on this day. We usually don’t end on a Tuesday but we are to be able to have that be a special day.”
Harris said that in addition to the live recording, they will air the original audio from when KVLU first aired in 1974.
“That features President John Gray, the president of Lamar University at that time,” she said. “We’re going to have a countdown to ‘All Things Considered,’ which is the flagship program of NPR as well as KVLU (which is) the first program that we aired.”
In the last 50 years, KVLU has changed locations. Miller said the KVLU building itself was where the police station stands today, but the inauguration was held in the Setzer Student Center because of the extra space.
“The inaugural broadcast was in the reading room at the time of the Setzer Center, so we’re going to be in the actual location,” Miller said. “I’m not sure exactly where the reading room was, but we’re gonna be in the ballroom, and it’s just kind of cool that it’s in the same place on campus.”
In 1984, KVLU’s 10th anniversary, they changed locations to upstairs in the University Theatre building, where they remain to this day. The station has been mentally preparing for probably a year and actively planning the event for the last six months, Miller said.
“We had Lamar’s Centennial last year, and we had some special things for that on KVLU,” Miller said. “Then we transitioned into this year with our 50th, so we’ve been here half the time that Lamar has with landmark years back to back. So, that’s a pretty cool accomplishment. It’s interesting how it worked out that way, celebrating their Centennial and now here we are, for our 50th.”
Harris said this is a big milestone as the public radio station market in Southeast Texas is unique.
“It really took a concerted effort on the part of a lot of different people of the campus community,” she said. “Individuals in the community as well were really rallying for public radio in Southeast Texas. For it to continue for 50 years really says something about the community and Lamar. We’re just looking forward to the next 50 years.”
For more information, visit kvlu.org.