1965

In 1965, KSTO started installation of its AM Carrier Current system. The Low Power Broadcast Equipment Company, which installed the equipment, advocated this system, citing the station's ability to utilize the steam tunnels that connect each building as a means of running the necessary wires to connect each residence hall to the station.

After the new system was installed, things ran well for the station. It was a popular medium for students to express their opinions, and its music format reflected the progressive views of the campus at the time. Sports were a prominent part of KSTO's broadcasts, offering many broadcasts of away basketball and football games to those unable to attend events off-campus. The station also had a weekly publication of St. Olaf's "top ten" hits, with information on the music of the time.

In 1973, at the same time of its search for a new home, the station's managers proposed a change in the way in which KSTO was to be operated. The station was facing budget problems, incurred upon them from unexpected breakdowns of their fifteen year old broadcasting equipment. To offset this problem, KSTO requested admittance onto the Student Media Board which would enable them to receive funding from both the college and the Student Activities Committee (SAC) which, at the time, was its primary source of funding. Once the proposal was accepted, KSTO became responsible to not only the students, but to St. Olaf's Administration as well.

In the spring of 1985, the KSTO staff for '85-'86 prepared a report that detailed numerous problems facing the station at that time, and introduced a proposal of changes to insure the station a future on the St. Olaf campus.

The equipment purchased in the sixties had reached an unacceptable level of unreliability, of the eleven transmitters on campus, five broke down regularly. The equipment in the production room was inoperable, which prevented the station form producing the needed advertisements to maintain an influx of outside revenue. Also they cited a series of problems past management had with area businesses--which they said made it almost impossible to deal with these businesses any more. They also looked into the feasibility of moving to an FM signal at that time, but citing a similar study done by Carleton's KRLX, did not believe such a move was feasible due to a lack of available FM frequencies. The report form LBP Inc. said that the system was in good condition, needing only minor repairs to fully function in all ten halls. Despite the report, the necessary funding was not allocated to KSTO. After the spring of 1986, KSTO went off the air.

RE-OPENING

The station did not operate during the 1986-87 school year. But that spring, a group of five students including Dan Brooks, Pat Swanson, Paul Newsom, and Tyler Steben, submitted a proposal to the administration to reinstate KSTO radio as a part of the St. Olaf community. Their proposal requested a $6,500 operating budget, which addressed the changes outlined in the LDB Inc. evaluation of the station's carrier current system. In 1987, KSTO returned to the airwaves, on its AM signal--the same year KRLX made the jump from a carrier current system to their FM signal.

For the next several years KSTO continued to operate on its St. Olaf allocated funds, and even managed to interest some local Northfield businesses in advertising on campus through the medium of radio. Businesses such as Grundy's, Pizza Hut, Domino's, The Rare Pair, and The Quarterback Club all paid modest amounts to advertise through KSTO.

As the years rolled by KSTO's transmitting equipment began to break down and burn out once again. Lack of attention and maintenance along with modernizations to the power grid on the St.Olaf campus weakened KSTO's AM signal by the year. Finally the signal had deteriorated to such an extent that KSTO was no longer receivable in most of the St. Olaf residence halls. Advertisers quickly learned of this deterioration and pulled their sponsorship. KSTO became little more than a group of dedicated employees who tried to persuade a small college campus to listen to a deteriorating AM signal filled with static. Finally some of those dedicated employees decided to do something about it. The staff of the 92/93 school year petitioned the college and the student body to pool money from the CAP fee paid by all students at St.Olaf for a period of three years in order to create an FM conversion fund.

During the 96/97 academic year those funds which had been accumulating for the past three years were made available to KSTO for its FM conversion. The technical director for KSTO for the 96/97 school year was Christian Green- it was he who was given the task of converting KSTO to broadcast an FM signal. Chris began work on this project long before the funds even became available. He researched the possibilities of broadcasting via a conventional broadcast signal which would reach all of the St. Olaf campus, as well as a good part of the city of Northfield. However, he also proposed an interesting alternative to a full scale FM signal. Chris also researched a system of broadcasting via slotted coaxial cable. This would enable KSTO to broadcast only to the residence halls at St. Olaf. It was eventually decided that keeping KSTO as an "on campus" station would be the best course of action. So the planning began. Chris worked closely with Tom Nelson, the Chief Engineer at WCAL, who had been placed in charge of determining how exactly the FM conversion fund was to be used. Together they designed a system using CROWN transmitters strategically placed in several of the residence halls, along with slotted coaxial transmitting cable, to broadcast KSTO throughout the St. Olaf Residence halls. WCAL and KSTO began laying the needed cables and transmitters.

Only a few weeks into the Fall 1996 semester Chris was forced to leave St.Olaf and return to Iowa City for treatment of a cancerous condition. With Chris gone the rest of the KSTO technical staff continued to work towards FM conversion well into 1997. In January of '97 Christian A. Green died of cancer after undergoing various treatments in his home town of Iowa City, Iowa. But he left behind what is perhaps the greatest achievement in the history of KSTO, a fully developed FM campus broadcasting network.

Please follow this link to The Christian A. Green memorial web site, which was created by his friends here at St. Olaf in his memory. His personal web page has been preserved as well.

During the 1999-2000 school year, KSTO was shut down shortly into the first semester for the move into the new Buntrock Commons. Here, it could be seen by all students and visitors during opperation. It reopened in the spring of 2000 and continued with all new equipment and a wonderful new studio.

The broadcasting over Real Audio began in April of 1997 with the first experimental broadcast to the Internet. Using a free RealAudio player, any user on the internet can listen to KSTO at AM quality with a 28.8 modem. KSTO's server "streams" audio to the listener in real time, making it possible to listen to the KSTO broacast live.

In the spring of 2002, the Dennon CD changers which housed the on-air library broke down. The Dennon CD changers had a bad reputation of being terribly slow and tedious to program. However, no system was installed during the following semester to replace the Dennon. In the fall of 2002, the RIAA made webcasting illegal unless broadcasters paid royalties. As a result, KSTO had to terminate its webcast. The station went through a tough fall semester as two of its main music directors quit and management was slow to get things up and running. Finally at the end of the spring semester of 2003, KSTO got a new computer system to house its music. Nevertheless, trouble still lingered at the start of the 2003-2004 school year. The current station manager dropped out of school without telling anyone else on the KSTO staff. Despite the hardship, KSTO stayed strong and got back on its feet.