KSJD began as a student-built educational radio station in Cortez and became a community-owned public-radio service. The station’s history is unusually well recorded by the organization itself, including its shutdown, community effort to restore service, license transfer, expansion to new transmitters, and move into a historic downtown building.
Chronology
- 1986: Electronics instructor Tony Valdez set a broadcast-media project for students at San Juan Basin Vocational-Technical School. His son Anthony Valdez and fellow student Ted Vardell designed and applied for an FCC station license.
- 1987: The school received the license and began building a campus studio.
- 1988: KSJD signed on at 91.5 FM. Students and volunteers produced live programs six to eight hours a day; Desiree Kline served as student manager, with Valdez overseeing operations.
- 1994: KSJD became an NPR member station. The school supported a broadcast-media curriculum using the radio and television operations.
- 2003: After state budget cuts led the technical college to shut the station down, Cortez residents organized the Community Radio Project to preserve it. KSUT entered a license-management agreement and helped restore operations.
- 2006–09: The Community Radio Project assumed management, fundraising, and then the KSJD FCC license. It purchased the Basin Bank Building as a permanent home.
- 2010–12: The project launched KICO at 89.5 FM in Rico and KZET at 90.5 FM near Ute Mountain; KSJD moved into the renovated Basin Bank Building in downtown Cortez in 2012.
- 2015: The Sunflower Theatre opened in the same community hub.
Facilities and community record
The original studios were on the technical-college campus. In 2012, KSJD moved into the former Basin Bank Building in downtown Cortez. The station’s history documents the building’s renovation, volunteer-led programming, and the creation of a community theatre alongside the radio studios. The archive identifies the station as a regional service for Montezuma County and the Four Corners.
Sources and further reading
- KSJD, “A Brief History of KSJD” — station-published chronology and contemporary photographs.
- KSJD, “About” — current service area and community-radio model.
- KSJD, “The Cornerstone Project” — account of the former Basin Industrial Bank building and its conversion to KSJD studios and community space.
Catalog note: The dates and chronology above follow KSJD’s institutional history. KICO and KZET are associated signals documented as part of the Community Radio Project, not alternate call letters for the 91.5 FM facility.
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