05/01/2021
KDVS 90.3FM is the freeform radio institution established in 1968 at the University of California at Davis. The station serves the greater Sacramento vicinity on 90.3 FM, with broadcast heard to an area of two million people, from the Bay Area suburb of Fairfield to the Sierra Foothills (and on a good day, as far away as Incline Village, Nevada). Late 2013 the UC Davis indicated that it was reviewing options for 1960’s-era modernist building that houses KDVS -- Freeborn Hall -- which sits adjacent to the campus Memorial Union building, the heart of the UC Davis campus. Like many other buildings of its age, the structure required seismic retrofit and rehabilitation. A replacement building was first entertained as an addition to the Memorial Union complex, which would have consumed the footprint of Freeborn Hall. This plan was abandoned upon reassessment within a couple years of being proposed. In 2018 a comprehensive architectural plan was drafted outlining the refurbishment of Freeborn: a complete seismic retrofit, ADA accessibility upgrade, and facade restoration. After a year passed, the plan was reassessed, and the campus opted to mark the building for demolition, with no replacement building to take its place. This would essentially render a “hole in the ground” at the center of UC Davis campus. Upon this decision, KDVS was left pondering what its future might be.
KDVS is operated by the Associated Students of the University of California at Davis (ASUCD), a separate nonprofit from the University of California. With the anticipated Freeborn demolition, ASUCD and the University have been in a process of reviewing what other campus buildings might accommodate KDVS. The process has unfortunately come up short. No comparable relocation space to house KDVS has been uncovered on campus or adjacent to campus.
Since then, room spaces a fraction of the size of KDVS’ offices have been contemplated for suitability. However, this would not allow KDVS to function anywhere close to its full potential that it has for the last five decades. Example: At risk is the disposal of part of its vast record collection of tens of thousands of albums, an attached live studio for artists performing live (“Live in Studio A” program), and a central activity space within the station -- a hub in the center that has long served as a nexus for students and community members to congregate, engage in discussion, and do volunteer work. This has been space long-allocated for decades for the incubation of arts, music, and diversity on the UC Davis campus and the greater community. At risk is loss of a cultural pillar of the Davis community that extends creativity, news, public affairs, University of California presence, and UC Davis Aggie Sports throughout the greater Sacramento area.
What is at stake is considerable. Today, local radio and television are all owned by conglomerates in far-off places. Newspapers have fared a worse plight: The Sacramento Bee barely escaped bankruptcy, sold to a hedge fund, while the Sacramento News and Review is attempting to keep its head above water due to the impact of lost advertising from coronavirus. Locally-controlled media is at risk of not existing. As for online content, social media is a closed corporate space infected by acrimonious disinformation, and apps like Spotify do not capture the “live and local” essence. Outlets like KDVS are the last beacons of localism in an era of uncertainty and consolidated media. The demand for local culture today is heightened by the dearth of local music scene and clubs eradicated by coronavirus precautions. The escalation of regional emergencies like fires, power outages, flooding, and other acts of god that eliminate or reduce internet and cell service also leave KDVS as a live grassroots source of information independent of the internet and digital devices to work. KDVS and its volunteers have played an integral part in sustaining local music, including the founding of local performance spots and record stores. KDVS has also acted as guardian of cultural diversity, affording viewpoint and discussion to voices underrepresented in media. KDVS is not just a “public” or “college” station -- it is a product of the community, successfully run by students and the community. It is a tremendous value in the community service it produces and people it reaches given its low operating budget funded by listener donations, business underwriting, and UC Davis students.
There is reason for concern. In the last couple of decades public universities like UC Davis have focused more on straightforward academics, with less investment in well-rounded experiences, culture, and student-derived activities. Universities are not just for classroom instruction. In the age of nascent online secondary schooling, competition has induced the need for brick and mortar campuses to differentiate themselves by touting experiences outside textbooks -- where dynamic thinking skills are accrued. These are vital programs within American higher education centers: programs that promote cultural enlightenment, community service, new paradigms, art, and incubate innovation, immerse in local tradition, and distill zeitgeist and sense of place. This begets quality of life, cultural identity, and fulfilling experiences, and is a magnet for drawing creative new students to the campus. KDVS provides all these aspects.
With the continued monocentric take on education, collapse of social venues from coronavirus, and the gentrification of the Davis community, areas for art, music, and community, student-incubated cultural experiences have been cut or marginalized. This is seen from the current (even prior to COVID-19) virtual absence of concert venues within a college town (e.g., The Palms, The Third and B Center, Cheezers Pizza, The Cantina, The Davis Grad all R.I.P.), the elimination of the Experimental College in 2005, the discontinuation of UC Davis Coffeehouse concerts, the elimination of Freeborn as an entertainment venue, the attempted closure of the UC Davis Domes in 2011, and the cessation of Campus Cinema precipitated by a renovation of Chem 194 that failed to accommodate for motion picture projection anymore. Recently the music memorabilia collection of ex-KZAP DJ Dennis Newhall, formerly the Sacramento Rock & Radio Museum, was acquired in full last year by California State University Sacramento. Some of us had hoped that UC Davis Special Collections could have added to its exciting music poster collection which included several Davis posters.
KDVS runs with a live operator 24 hours/day with ASUCD and independent community funding. UC Davis should make KDVS a priority -- recognizing its cultural significance, economic value, university promotion, and irreplaceable local public service -- by maintaining or boosting its facility space. KDVS should not be downsized or omitted from campus, with it’s historic record library eviscerated. KDVS is important as any other academic department on campus, campus athletics, activities at Mondovi, or campus museum or gallery. Arts, music, cultural diversity, journalism and university-created media should not just subsist as an afterthought of what basement room it can be stuffed in. KDVS is part of the local history and something that makes UC Davis, Davis, and Sacramento a unique place.
