KUCI 88.9 FM

A student-run, free-form radio station licensed to the University of California, Irvine, operating at 88.9 FM. Owned by the Regents of the University of California, it serves Irvine, Santa Ana, Newport Beach, and surrounding areas of Orange County, and is the county's only independent radio station. The station traces its origins to 1968, when it began as a pirate broadcast operating from a dormitory, playing taped music assembled by engineering student Craig Will. Following a Federal Communications Commission crackdown on unlicensed broadcasts, the station was officially registered in 1969 with funding from the Associated Students of UCI. On October 16, 1969, the FCC granted Program Test Authority to broadcast on 89.9 MHz from a closet studio in the Physical Science Building, with the first song played being "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies. The station relocated and expanded its facilities in 1971 into UCI's Gateway Commons. Now based near the university's Science Library, KUCI maintains a free-form programming philosophy, featuring an eclectic mix of music genres, talk programming, and podcasts. It publishes music reviews and interviews, and student DJs program their own shows. The station is entirely independent of commercial broadcasting structures, supported through university and student-body mechanisms.