KJRN

KJRN (88.3 FM) is a radio station licensed to Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas. The DJs consist of both full-time on-air talent and part-time university students and the station programming is a Christian CCM format.

The signal of the station covers much of Johnson County and parts of southern Tarrant County.

History

The idea for a radio station was proposed in 1968. A gift to the college by Arkansas radio pioneer Raymond Beem financed the station's start-up costs; station planning began in 1973.

The station began as KSUC in 1974. The 88.3 frequency was chosen because it rhymed with the call letters. The studios were located in the school's Heritage Hall in a dorm room.

By 1984 station management decided to abandon the KSUC call letters as the name of the college changed, and applied for replacement calls KJCR, and the station moved from the dorm room to the studios at 304 N. College Drive.

On May 5, 1989, 110-mile per hour winds toppled the station's transmitter, destroying 60 feet of tower sections and two of four antenna elements. In two days the station returned to the air under temporary authorization on a 75-foot tower at 925 watts. Construction began on a new 180' tower by the fall, and was put into use on May 18, 1990. A power increase was granted for 4,000 watts with an ERP of 23,000 watts directed to the west.