KNDS-LP

KNDS-LP is a low power radio station broadcasting on 96.3 FM in Fargo, North Dakota. The station is operated by the student broadcasting club at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, North Dakota in cooperation with the community-based Radio Free Fargo group.

History

In 1999 students at NDSU worked with Professor Douglas Blanks Hindman to launch ThunderRadio, a Shoutcast Web radio station, and apply for a low-power FM license. After Hindman left NDSU for a position at a university in the state of Washington, Cloy Tobola, who was a doctoral student and graduate assistant at the time, took up the cause. With the help of Tobola and several students, what is now KNDS came together. About the same time, a group affiliated with the Fargo Theatre (later known as Radio Free Fargo) organized to start a community-focused station. These groups combined their efforts and license applications, and KNDS-LP began operating in 2004.

Some have argued that KNDS-LP was created in response to the loss of college radio in Fargo after NDSU-owned KDSU 91.9 FM became a public radio station through North Dakota Public Radio (now Prairie Public) on NDPR's launch in 1999.