JMS

Congratulations to our friends at Marfa Public Radio, a brand new station and PRX member launching today in West Texas.

They’re certainly kicking it off in style, with a Valentine’s Day benefit concert starring Willie Nelson and Dan Rather flipping the first switch to start the station. I’m bummed to miss the festivities.

The New York Times has a nice piece about it here.

There will be no more fruitless spinning of the radio dial in far West Texas, a 20,000-square-mile area that has been barren of broadcasting except for a few pirate stations and two small, low-wattage operations.

A 100,000-watt station, the strongest FM signal allowed, with call letters KRTS (93.5 on the dial), will sign on Monday at 4 p.m. Central time when Dan Rather, the former CBS anchor and a native Texan, flips a switch, says a few ceremonial words then cuts away to the National Public Radio program “All Things Considered.”

Marfa Public Radio will be the first radio station offering national and world news to far West Texas, with a potential 50,000 listeners, counting travelers and residents, according to its president. More…