KUMM are the call letters for the University of Minnesota, Morris' campus radio station. The station is found live at 89.7 FM when within 10 miles of Morris, MN, or streaming audio at www.kumm.org. The radio station is dedicated to bring the prairie that surrounds Morris the best of Indie Rock/Pop, Hip-Hop, and countless other genres to stimulate the grazing cows just outside of Cyrus.

The structure of the radio station is almost entirely free form. The DJ's choose their own music to play on their show. This cannot be stressed enough. In a world of college radio where even my favorite station, next to KUMM of course, Radio K is 2/3 play list driven; ours and many other college radio stations offer a welcome sigh of relief in the form of creative, original programming, and fun with real radio.

The station has many slogans and logos that pun on its fortunate (in a marketing sense) call letters. The most famous of which is "The only station that puts KUMM in your ear." The main logo and slogan of KUMM is that we are the "U-90 alternative." Instead of a hyphen between "U" and "90", there is a small sperm-like connector. However, the name of the station and the marketing push on the obvious does have its drawbacks, as the requests received from prepubescent boys proves.

Our station, like many college radio stations, has numerous giveaways everyday. I do not understand why all of the corporate radio stations make giveaways a once a month thing when we, a station with very little money, are able to produce quality giveaways that range from free CDs to free concert tickets all day long, everyday.

KUMM is run entirely by student, staff, and community volunteers, except for the five elected positions. Of course, this causes many mistakes to be made, but it is part of the charm of hitting the play button on the CD player, instead of piped-in music from across the country on some other corporate conglomerate station. There are three major rules to the music that is played on KUMM:
1. Four new songs must be played every hour.
2. No top-forty song from any time period can be played.
3. No artist can be played more than once in any given show.
4. No swearing is allowed until after 10 PM. Of course, this one is a little subjective, as I have accidentally played a few tracks that have a swear or two before 10 PM with no ill effects. What can I do though, it is uncontrollable college radio at its finest!
These rules are more than adequate to keep a healthy college radio atmosphere, yet they still allow a particular DJ to take their show in whichever direction he or she chooses.

My personal show style is almost exclusively new Indie Rock to garner street cred among the hipster elite. Okay, not really. I simply enjoy Indie Rock music, like Death Cab for Cutie, Spiritualized, The Shins, The Magnetic Fields, Yo La Tengo, and on and on. The station is also focused to play as much Minnesota music as we get. Such bands as Low, Cloud Cult, Dillinger Four, Atmosphere, and Mark Mallman can be heard. By the way, these are short, subjective lists, which will hold no relevance to college radio ten years from now, unlike some stations whose focus is to drive into the skulls of youth that a particular decade was the best decade for music.

There are five elected positions for KUMM that keep the station ticking. These positions are a director of News, Publicity, Programs, Music, and a Station Manager. These people are the gears and glue that keep the tears of the few--listeners--from spilling in exasperation with the station. (Wow, did that sound like some awful country song?)

The largest happenings that KUMM puts together throughout the year are March Music Madness (MMM), the obligatory Battle of the Bands, which was given the standard station promotional treatment by being dubbed Mortal KUMMbat, and also a fall concert that does not have a clever name. The 2004 MMM lineup features Red Authentic opening for Halloween, Alaska, and the Heiruspecs. The latter two are Minnesota bands, and the former is from Kansas City. In 2003 at the MMM, a Morris student, Jake Rowan, opened for The Firetrucs, Dan Israel and the Cultivators, and the Heiruspecs. 2003 did not have a fall concert due to a lack of funds, and poor planning. The 2002 fall concert featured Art opening for Clair De Lune and Motion City Soundtrack. Mortal KUMMbat in 2003 featured eight bands, with Love Association taking top honors, despite being arrogant pricks.

KUMM is soon to boost its broadcasting capacity. Current plans set in motion way back in the year 2000 call for a new antennae to be attached to the city water tower. This will extend the broadcast range of the station to a clear 20 miles with a fringe range bordering on 40 miles. Unfortunately, this plan was supposed to be completed long ago, but other interests have made it take much longer than it should have. Absolutely though, the project will be complete by the summer of 2004. KUMM has a long and rich history as a truly great service to the campus, community, and to help fulfill the college radio mission across the country.