KVSH 101.9FM to Air Monday, October 13

Voice of Vashon will make history at 7am on Monday, October 13 when KVSH 101.9FM begins broadcasting. It will be the first new community FM station to go on the air in the Puget Sound Region.

“We’re proud to announce this wonderful news” said Jean Bosch, President of Voice of Vashon. “It was a big deal when we won FCC approval to build the new FM station on February 21 of this year, and now we will actually say live on the radio ‘This is your community radio station KVSH 101.9 FM, Vashon Island’.”

Fifteen years ago a small group of visionaries, including the late Bill Morosoff dared to dream that Vashon could have its own live radio voice. Now, after generous donations have come in and thousands of volunteer hours were contributed by Islanders, that dream has become a reality.

“This effort has come such a long way since we got started” recalls Jeff Hoyt, one of the pioneers at Voice of Vashon, current board member and KVSH Program Director. “Who would ever have believed when we began that we would have the emergency alert service, a TV station, dynamic website and now our own community FM radio station.”
According to Steve Allen, a veteran broadcast engineer and longtime VoV volunteer, “We have built the transmitter, installed the 35’ mast and antenna on top of the District 19 water tank just south of town and acquired other equipment needed to put the station on the air.”

VoV’s team of volunteers have successfully tested the FM signal several times, indicating that many Vashon Islanders will be able to hear the station at home, at work and in the car. However, the Island is hilly and Vashon is limited by the FCC to a low power transmitter, so it will be impossible to cover the Island 100% with one signal. “Our transmitter equipment tests show the signal is heard loud and clear across much of Vashon-Maury Island.” says VoV vice-president Rick Wallace. “There will be some shadowed areas on our Island of hills and valleys so we are designing a smart phone app for reception in these places.”

Programming for the new station will reflect Vashon’s unique character. “Morning Scramble will be live week day mornings and there will be new comedy programs, shows about community issues, and music ranging from Celtic to R&B, Jazz, Hip Hop, Chamber Music, World Fusion and beyond.” says Hoyt.

In anticipation of putting KVSH on the air, the VoV broadcast team has redesigned and rebuilt the Sunrise Ridge audio production studio to better serve live programming. They have added and improved the space and are installing state of the art broadcast equipment.

 A VoV KVSH app for smart phones and tablets will be available soon, making it possible to listen to KVSH 101.9FM and 1650AM alerts locally and anywhere in the world where there’s cell or wifi service.

Station Manager Susan McCabe expresses the enthusiasm shared by the VoV board, staff and volunteers. “We are very grateful that so many of our island friends and neighbors share our vision of an FM station for Vashon-Maury Island. We are encouraged by the many new ideas Islanders are bringing to KVSH says McCabe. “It’s incredibly exciting. Those of us who’ve worked hard for this radio dream are simply amazed as we see our dream coming true.”

To follow the station’s progress and to download the free VoV KVSH app, visit VoiceOfVashon.org/KVSH.