#19 - Peter Salisbury

If You Denton Know Peter Salisbury, now you do. 

From launching a tiny AM station in his living room to building KUZU 92.9 FM into a 24/7 community-powered radio station, Peter shares how passion, persistence, and local music shaped one of Denton’s most grassroots success stories.

In this episode, Peter talks about growing up in Texas, falling in love with Denton’s music scene, and the long road to securing an FM license. He explains how KUZU operates entirely with volunteers, how anyone in the community can host a show, and why local voices still matter in a world dominated by corporate media.

If you’ve ever wondered how community radio works, how KUZU got started, or how you could become part of Denton’s creative scene, this episode is for you.

⏱️ Key Timestamps

00:00 — Meet Peter Salisbury & the Story of KUZU Radio

Peter shares his background in photography and how he found his creative home in Denton.

04:15 — Growing Up in Texas & Finding Denton

From Houston to Garland to UNT, Peter talks about why Denton became home.

08:40 — The Birth of KUZU: A Radio Station in a Living Room

How an empty bedroom and a small AM transmitter sparked the KUZU idea.

14:20 — From Backyard Radio to FM Licensing

The multi-year journey to securing a Low Power FM license.

20:45 — Building KUZU with Volunteers & Community Support

How friends, board members, and community members helped bring KUZU to life.

26:10 — How KUZU Programming Works

Anyone can apply to host a show and contribute to the station.

31:30 — The Volunteer Model & Funding the Station

Why KUZU runs entirely on volunteers and membership donations.

36:50 — Lessons Learned from Building a Radio Station

Peter reflects on fear, persistence, and learning as he went.

41:10 — KUZU’s Future & Vision for Growth

Plans for expanding programming and eventually owning a dedicated studio.

44:10 — Denton Favorites

Peter shares his favorite local spots to relax and recharge.

🎧 Episode Highlights

• How KUZU started as a tiny AM station in a spare bedroom
• What it takes to secure an FCC radio license
• Why community radio still matters today
• How KUZU operates entirely on volunteers
• How local musicians and creators benefit from the platform
• Why anyone in Denton can host their own radio show
• The story behind KUZU’s first broadcast
• Lessons learned from building something from scratch

📻 About KUZU Radio

KUZU 92.9 FM is Denton’s volunteer-powered community radio station. Broadcasting 24/7, KUZU features freeform programming, local voices, independent music, talk shows, interviews, and creative content from over 50 volunteer producers.

The station exists to amplify local culture, support independent artists, and give everyday community members a voice on the air.

Learn more or apply to host a show:

🌐 kuzu.fm

🍳 Denton Favorites (From Peter)

• Cartwright’s Ranch House — A go-to spot for breakfast and coffee
• Jupiter House — Favorite order: smoked salmon bagel with a mocha
• Norman Roscoe — A favorite stop on the Square

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Big ideas often start small, sometimes in spare bedrooms.
• Community-driven projects can thrive without corporate backing.
• Fear of failure is often the biggest obstacle to starting something meaningful.
• Local media still plays a powerful role in shaping culture.
• Denton’s creative community continues to fuel innovation and collaboration.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

The man who built community radio in Denton, from a shoebox transmitter in his living room to a 24-7 freeform FM station with over 50 volunteer hosts. Today I'm sitting down with Peter Salisbury of Kuzu Radio. Denton's got it all. The food, the music, the art, and of course the people. And behind every corner, there's a story worth sharing. And that's what this podcast is all about. Denton's Best, one conversation at a time. I'm Brad, and this is If You Didn't Know, Now You Know. Welcome back to another episode of If You Didn't Know, I'm excited to have Peter Salisbury here with us from Kuzu. Welcome to the den. Yeah. Just just down the street from your your little place, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

For sure. Yeah. I could throw a baseball and hit it.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Don't throw baseballs at its place. Peter, uh, I'm really excited to get to know you better today. We we met years ago. You were uh you were you did some photography for us as we were kind of starting on the fine arts project. And that's really your background and and what you're you're passionate about and what you make a career in, right? Photography. True, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

That's what I'm came to school here to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Came you came to the University of North Texas for that?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

UNT. I went through the art department. Uh, there are a couple ways to do the photo, you know, uh degree back then, and uh, and you could do journalism or art department.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

I chose the art department and uh yeah, stuck just stuck around.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yeah, yeah. Uh it seemed to jab with me. I I liked it, uh, and I'm still doing photography to this day.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Yeah. Yeah. So so where'd you grow up?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Uh I'm I'm a Texas boy, so okay. Born in Houston. Yeah. Um, but didn't really see much of that. We kind of moved when I was about three. We moved to Denison, which is on the border up there near Sherman. Yeah. That was uh my childhood, and then like middle school, uh moved to Garland and then college, moved here and stuck around.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Been in Denton ever since.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah. Well, I I feel like I say this on nearly every podcast, but or every episode, but uh we've had a lot of a lot of that where you come, somebody's come for school here and they just stick around.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

There is for sure a magnetic quality about Denton. Yeah. Yeah. That you know, it sinks its talons into you. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

I like that pun. That's a good one. Yeah, well, it does. And we're glad you're here. We're glad you stuck around. I'm really excited to learn more about Kuzu today. And uh, you know, Jason Reimer kind of reconnected us, I think, a little bit. And and he says, he says Kuzu is just one of the most, you know, hidden treasures of of Denton, you know, and well kept secret, but it's such a treasure for Denton. And so I want to kind of shed some light on it and let's see what it is.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Oh, so that's what we we hope to grow into for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Very cool. Well, let's let's talk about kind of how you how you got this idea. I mean, again, if photography is your background, what in the world are you doing in radio and how'd you get it? How'd you stumble into this?

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Well, yeah, I mean, all because I was, you know, into music my whole life as well. Okay. You know, uh, so my parents growing up, you know, gave us piano lists. I had a brother who's three years older than me, and we both had piano lessons, right? Guitar lessons, you know, learning like Mary had a little lamb on the acoustic, you know, a little junior acoustic when I was young. And so, uh, and growing up, you know, my brother was into music too, and we kind of dabbled in playing at home. You know, my brother's a drummer, and I kind of play guitar and other instruments, and uh, you know, through uh middle school and high school, uh kind of dabbled in bands and stuff like that. And so, you know, I always had a kind of a music angle, but it was never like my, you know, the the thing I felt like that was gonna be my career or something. It was always just a passion, you know, hobby.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Do you have a particular genre that you like to perform and or listen to? Are they the same?

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Oh, uh well, what I like to listen to is kind of across the board. Um, but back then, you know, the uh, you know, the first band I was in was called The Bloody Index Fingers. And it was me and my buddy Joe Beth. She was uh a friend of mine we were from from my church I went to, and we made goofy songs on acoustics like Yellow Pages and The Man on the Pez Container, and you know, super big hits, you know. Yeah. Uh but uh uh, you know, and then you know, high school band was called the Jacobins, and we like we thought we were very serious. We really thought we were gonna like be touring in England and stuff behind. Yeah, okay. So what big idea music? That was like um, you know, but just kind of indie kind of stuff, you know. Indie Raw, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Cool. So the the do the does the man on the pez dispenser, does that get played on Koozie now? You need to play that.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

No, I should put it on, honestly. I do have a recording, and so maybe I will put I'd like to hear that. The bloody index fingers, yeah. Yeah, that's great. Shout out, Joe Beth.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

There you go. I love it. So so it was what, 2017? It was probably earlier than that. I guess Kuzu started in 2017. Is that when it officially launched?

SPEAKER_01 5:27

That's when we officially launched, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

But your idea for it probably was several years before that.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yeah, yeah. It took a while to get going, you know. Um, I mean, you know, the initial uh thing we did, my wife Erin uh and I started a little AM station, you know, at our house. That's kind of how the whole thing started. And that just kind of, you know, honestly, our our 18-year-old uh son moved out and we had an empty room in the house, and uh I bought an AM transmitter and we turned it into a little radio station room. So kind of spontaneous, fun idea, but you know, it came from a real place of of being in the music community here, right? Um seeing what the community had um and what was missing, right? And you know, I'd have some discussions with friends over the years, like, oh yeah, you know, wish we could do this, or wish you know this town had this. So, you know, one of the things that was missing uh was a radio station that represented like the kind of the local scene and music that was going on a little more. Uh UNT station was uh at the time was was full on jazz. Um and uh which is an awesome station. It has now to change. Yeah, it's actually called 88.1 Indy, I believe. Yeah. Uh so they a lot of 90s music and stuff. Right, right. Um but at the time, yeah, it was all all jazz. It didn't necessarily, we felt, represent the local scene that was going on, which felt, you know, it was pretty active. Um, you know, I moved here uh in '92. Okay. So 1992, uh, and moved in Bruce Hall. There was a lot of music going on. Yeah, so Bruce Hall, you know, I went through like Bruce Hall Jam, punk rock weenie roast, all that stuff, and then you know, shows down on Fry Street, you know, Fry Street Fair, right? All that time period. And then there was like Karma Cafe at the time. Had great shows there going on, and then and you know, and then the Argo opened up, and that was like heroic, yeah, you know, old venue here in town, and that curtailed into rubber gloves and dance, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

What was the what was the venue kind of on the the far south side of uh Fry Street there? It was kind of the last one just right across from Canada. Oh, Rick's place. Rick's that's right, yeah, yeah. Rick's had a bunch of shows. Yeah, it seemed like Trip and Daisy's. Oh, yeah, Trippin Daisy would come through.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

I saw them, and they had all their, you know, multiple projectors going and stuff inside Rick's. So cool. Yeah, so anyway, it's that's that was, you know, and groups like the Good Bad Art Collective doing events and stuff at times. So I was, you know, that was the environment I was growing up in and getting inspired by. Right. And so when it came time, you know, when I felt like I could maybe contribute something back, you know, that's you know what I thought was like, well, let's try and do radio, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

So on the AM uh station that you set up, is that was that running 24-7 or was that just it was, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

It was actually an iPod that was that ran for years. Like it's I should turn it into Apple or something and write a letter or something like it, it went for years and never died. Uh it did kind of swell up a little bit, but yeah. Uh no, yeah. The uh that was gone 24-7, and then you know, early on we would just get on at random times, you know, hanging out with friends late night. We just hop on and start playing music and talk to no one, you know. Yeah, yeah. And uh and then you know, I started having friends show interest in actually doing shows and coming.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Like this podcast, we talk to each other, but nobody listens. No, you know, you never know. You never know. It's kind of the beauty and the romance of it too, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Yeah, you know, you're talking just your voice is just going out to the air and you don't know who it's too many. There's something kind of special about that.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Uh but yeah, it you know, it started out pretty slow like that, and friends started coming over and doing shows regularly. Uh you know, one of which, uh, you know, I I think we talked about for the Sarah Ruth, her show, Tiger D, uh, which she started with our our buddy Nevada Hill, who passed away. Um, but they started way back in the 1670 AM days, you know, and she's still doing her show, you know, curtailed it into Kuzu and kept it going. Oh, cool. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

That's neat. So you transitioned, or at one point said, let's go to a try and get an FM uh license.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

I mean, well, not really that, you know, honestly, that wasn't that idea. Okay. Um, you know, and at the same time, I knew that uh 1670 it was such a small neighborhood kind of broadcast. And at one point we lived on the square, so it was broadcast on the square, so that was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Yeah, what kind of range would it have?

SPEAKER_01 10:23

The range with that was very, you know, it's very strange how radio waves reflect off things and what you can and on a small broadcast where you can pick it up spontaneously sometimes. So it'd pop up over town, but really a strong, a strong broadcast, maybe just for a half mile radius. Wow. Or just a few blocks of a neighborhood, you know. Um and or definitely around the square, right? Around the immediate square area. Yeah. And uh so, but then there'd be weird times where someone's like, oh, I was like a mile away, and it popped on. And I was like, okay, but you know, we were just doing that and had a little blog and talked about the shows and stuff. And because of that, um, we got contacted by um this uh a community group, like a radio group called Common Frequency.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Um there's several different groups kind of like that, grassroots groups, uh trying to uh culminate uh ideas of you know getting local voices back on the radio. Okay. Uh in this atmosphere that we're in where you know conglomerates own just thousands of stations and everything sounds the same. Right. So they saw what we were doing, um, and they're like, hey, there's a window coming up, there's an opportunity. We see what you're doing on small AM. It's like you can actually get a real license station uh and let us tell you about it. So that's where kind of all the them reaching out to us. Well, that's neat.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

That's really neat. To know that that you at least got heard far enough away, uh, you know, away. Yeah, somebody notices. That's really cool. So they kind of help you with the process because I'm sure it's not an easy process to get that license. Right. I mean, so for AM, what anybody can kind of just say I'm gonna start.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Well, yeah, I didn't explain that too much. So the the the transmitter I got for AM um was under regulations called part 15. Okay. So FCC put out regulations part 15 transmissions, which allows anyone to transmit without a license if you're under certain constraints, right? Yeah. And one of those is wattage. So uh uh that shoebox uh you know transmitter was 0.1 watt, so 100 milliwatts. Okay, and that's the limit it can it can do in and you know the antenna could only be like a certain length, and the ground, you know, the uh the grounding lead, you could only be certain, all these regulations, you know. We tried to abide by those and do it like legit, because you know, honestly, there were you know, I knew other people. There's uh someone up in Oklahoma, uh Norman that was doing you know, pirate radio back then was kind of something some people were doing getting illegal equipment, you know, without license and and trying to broadcast as long as it could before they got pulled down. I mean that sounds romantic, but I I didn't want to get pulled down. I wanted to like build something that could last.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

So you stayed under that what those constraints and honestly like something you'll you know, maybe even in real estate you've used this. Like sometimes the real estate guys uh they'll put a little transmitter outside of a house and say, Tune into the station and you can hear the info. Or you'll see going down the highway, you'll see tune into this. The Christmas lights that are set to music, stuff like that, and different uh you know, even like uh wireless doorbell is under part 15 regulation.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

So like, yeah, okay. So they just they took that regulation and this one guy built a beefed up transmitter that to make it you know usable for like a quote unquote community radio, a small AM radio station. So that's what we use.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Okay, so to go from that to really trying to get licensed as an FM station.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Oh, it was a much bigger deal.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Quite a leap, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yeah, quite a leap. You know, and that's when you know they informed us about what we could apply for, yeah. Which at the time was brand brand new, right? So it's an LPFM, so that's what we are. That's uh stands for low power FM station, low power frequency modulation. Okay. Um and so a quick relation to to like that uh that 0.1 watt we were allowed with the AM. So LPFM station allows you 100 watts. Oh so quite a bit more from what we're doing AM, yeah, but still vastly under what a station like UNT station can do. So, you know, uh LPFM like us uh can is capped at 100 watts. Well, the station UNT is 100,000 watts. Wow. 100,000. Okay. That's why there's goes.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

And that that really just yeah, just translates into how far translates to range, basically, is your wattage.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yeah. And so uh they uh basically, you know, it was it was common frequency, the people that reach out to us, uh Prometheus Project and these other groups that lobbied in Congress uh for a long time to make this possible. Um against the larger broadcasters' wishes, you know. Yeah. Uh they I think it was around 2000 is when this idea LPFM actually came into regulation and into bills in Congress. And right after they kind of came forward with a bill and made that a reality, um, the National Association of Broadcasters lobbied in Congress and got it shut down for like a decade, for like 10 years. And then it wasn't until 2010 when it kind of came back, and there's a I think the uh Community Radio Act got passed in 2010 and it you know solidified it. That's when you know these groups started reaching out to people like me. And so in 2013 is when the window was gonna open for us to apply.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

I see.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

So they started, you know, working with us towards getting that application going. Lots of you know, radio engineering involved, which they helped with. Uh they helped us with.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

So when did when did you start the process? What year did you start the process?

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Uh they contacted us like yeah, just just before 2013. So just right around then is when the Kuzu project officially kind of.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

So it took four years to get that license.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Oh yeah. So there was uh a long uh you know the process of application, right? And then going through that. And then what you get is a license, a permit to build the station. Okay. Right. And they give you like 18 months. Here's this 18 months, you gotta build it in this time period. Okay. You can ask for extension if you want, you get one extension. Uh and so, and then once you build it out uh and you are ready to go when you start your broadcast, then you tell them, you just notify them's like, hey, we're running, we're going. Wow. And they, you know, they get you your license.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

So that had to take in quite a number of hours and lots of time to for you to dedicate to lots, lots of time.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah. A lot of time. Uh, you know, uh for all of us, it wouldn't just me, you know, at this point, you know, I I pulled in a whole team of my friends that are are now part of the board. Uh and we, you know, from the once I I got the application going, we all started working on the project and and building out, you know, the foundation for it and what it could become. Um but the whole application process definitely had some help with the numbers.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

So did you're a nonprofit. Kuzu's a nonprofit, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

You didn't have to be a nonprofit to do this.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

You don't uh well you do. Oh, you do? You don't have to be a 501c3. Okay. You you did there were requirements to to get f LPFM license. Um you had to be uh a nonprofit with standing in the community. So you couldn't just create it right away. I see. Um uh lots of you know, other things that there were checkpoints that that gave you good marks, like are you gonna have a studio, right? Are you gonna have an official studio site and all that kind of stuff? Is it gonna be up to community and uh all all these different uh things you know, like check, check, check, check, check. Um uh but yeah, and so that was part of you know the process of of applying uh for for the license. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

And and so uh you you establish that nonprofit, you've got, like you said, some of your friends that kind of jumped on the board and and and helped you out and and still still do. I mean still operate now as a nonprofit. And really most of the funding, or I guess all the funding comes through uh most of it's from membership.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Yeah, from listeners out there. Thank you so much, y'all. Thank you. Uh yeah, uh I I'd say, you know, we pull in about 30,000 a year from membership. Um and uh a little bit uh uh augmented in there from uh you know uh a few events that we throw throughout the year, and then a little bit more from uh uh merch sales and stuff, merchandise. And so, you know, right around 40 or so, maybe on a good year is where where our our budget is, you know, and that allows us to pay for everything. We pretty much skate by breaking even every year.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Um so you're not drawing drawing a large salary from this.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Uh no one is drawing a salary, right? Nobody's getting paid at all. No one's getting paid at Kuzu. Everyone that works for Kuzu or does a show on Kuzu does it on a completely 100 volunteer uh basis, yeah. So that's cool. Yeah, all the money that people donate directly goes back into funding the project. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Well, I want to I want to go back to the beginning and then I want to dive into this this whole uh thing about who who actually makes the content for the for the radio station. But yeah, when I guess when you first got that license and you went live for that first time, did you put on the first show or did you kind of open it up or have what did you do to open it?

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Well, uh, you know, there were we had a few test broadcasts, right? And so our very first test broadcasts uh we did uh play an album, an unreleased album uh from uh our friend Nevada, who I said had a show on our AM station with Sarah Ruth, yeah uh who continues her show's contagia. Um that was her partner in crime on her show in 1670. Uh he passed away. He was in a band called Blooded Head and uh passed away before the album got released. And so for our first test broadcast, we decided to air the album. Uh and so we played it and drove around, you know, went to the far extent of the broadcast, you know, and uh it was pretty special moment. I'm sure, you know, uh just for wow, it sounds great. This is working. This is working, yeah, amazing. And then also, you know, thinking about Nevada, him being on the air, wishing he could have been there in that moment with us, you know. So it was it's been a sweet but very special moment.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

I bet.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah. And then uh yeah, that first day, that first day, I was a part of uh, you know, the initial broadcast. We had some uh some songs lined up uh uh to kick off the day. And that felt that first uh 24 hours for sure at least, it might have been even more. Uh we played all local music, all Denton based music. Okay. You know, and we want to set a precedent for that, that we were here to represent and support the music community in this area uh like no other station has done before.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Cool. Yeah. So tell me, let's go now to where your content today comes from. I know you've got various producers, and like you said, none of them are paid, they're all just kind of wanted, they apply to do this. How what's the process?

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Uh so uh, and anyone can do this. I invite all of you. Uh you can go to k-u-zu-u.fm. Uh look on how to uh apply for uh to become a producer for Kuzu. Uh you can just apply, come up with an idea for a show, uh several questions on how to you know explain what your idea is and stuff, but um and you send that in about once a year. Um we'll look through all that. We we we don't edit out people, we invite everyone, anyone who turns in an idea, we invite them to the first training session, uh, get them an idea of what they're getting into, you know. Uh, and uh it just a matter of that, just a few training sessions. We get you hooked up with a mentor, and then you get on the air. More quickly and uh keeping it, you know. I mean, everyone's very green when they get on on the air. And it's like a little nerve wracking.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Kind of when you start them, you slot them like in the middle of the night, and then they get hooked up or how to do that.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Whatever their slot is, is their slot. It's kind of like you know, throwing them in the pool to teach them to swim.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

So they say, Hey, here's the idea for my show. I think you would they they they tell you when they'd like it to do it.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah, for the based on our current schedule, yeah. Okay, yeah. We try and work with them with their schedule and stuff. And you know, you can you can also uh people can get on and do a live show. Some people come in live, yeah, some people do pre-recorded. So, you know, then and in that respect, it's possible to do a slot, like if you had to work or something, you can have a pre-recorded slot and and automate your metadata and all that kind of stuff. So uh, you know, people kind of work it into their sketch, and we work with with everyone to try to help them get on.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

And so what's the commitment from a producer that wants to do a show? Is it I mean, how long is the show? How often are they?

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Oh well, the options that most people pick from uh we offer like an hour or a two-hour show. Um and uh you know, nothing really shorter, although we did have uh Peggy Hinkle Wolf, who used to be with DC, she had uh a local news show, which is more like a five to six minute segment that she would do each week. So we're we're fine with that and open to any uh ideas. Honestly, that's some research table, but generally it's like an hour or two hour show.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

And uh weekly.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Oh, uh weekly, it could be weekly, it could be bi-weekly or bi-monthly, however you want to think about it. Yeah, or once a month. Okay. Uh we're we're cool with that. Yeah. If if that's all you can devote is one show a month, we are happy to accommodate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

And so do you have you have producers taking you 24-7 right now? Various producers, or are y'all filling in some gaps?

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Uh there are gaps. Um, so um, you know, we could we could look on basically, you know, our our morning is starting to fill up. Uh, and then from around three or four to midnight is pretty full. Yeah. Uh so there are definitely some holes for people to fill in for sure. We got we got plenty of space for more producers out there.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Come on, go ahead. You got ideas. Let's go. Peter's all about them.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Talking to you.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

So k-u-zu-.fm is where.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

That's our website, and you can take a look and uh take a look at our schedule and see the programs, think about how your idea might fight fit into our current programming. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

And so you you you mentioned earlier before we show we were talking about most mostly music, but there are some kind of talk uh radio components or uh typically it's maybe they're talking about the songs and then they play them, that kind of oh sure.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

Well, we definitely encourage our producers to uh not just get on and yeah make a playlist. We we want, you know, the the whole point um uh of the station is to so that people can hear local voices. You know, uh that's part of the ideal uh an LPFM and what our purpose is uh of our nonprofit. It has an educational component to it. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Man, I I got some ideas. I'm hoping other people got some ideas. This is this is quite a uh hidden treasure that I'm excited to learn more about and kind of dive in.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

But like you said, there's a lot of music-based shows. Yeah, we do have some interviews and stuff. Uh uh, but yeah, we're open to any idea.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Um so if you want to be a broadcaster or producer, here we go. Now's your chance.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

You've got a real shot at it. For all you budding theater people, you know, come up with a radio play or something. That'd be fun. I don't know. There's all kinds of ideas, you know, that people have kind of tossed around that haven't been produced yet. Uh so there's tons of room for growth on Kuze.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

And there's probably even if you don't come up with your own content, just like music, the a lot of this is playing other artists, but same thing with a uh a radio play. I'm sure there's yeah, scripts out there that you could just read. Reinvent. Or reinvent. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I've got a niece that might be really into that. Let's see if we can get her on.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Yeah, and you know, we pay uh royalties uh to uh to all the the normal big you know publishing rights uh uh organizations and stuff. So people can pretty much play anything musically they can find. Um and we always, you know, like we say, we we leave that open to the producer, um the DJ that comes on the air. Like we do not tell anyone what to play. Very unlike other stations.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

You're not you can't you're not telling what not to play. You don't get it.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

We're not telling them anything. It is completely up to them as long as they abide by Kuzu policies and FCC regulations.

unknown 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Oh, that's neat. Yeah. So is it are have any of your producers won a Marconi? Is that a Marconi?

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Not yet, but I'm hoping someday.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Maybe someday, yeah. But you play in that same realm, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Technically, we uh you know, we have received uh uh local awards, you know. Um we've had producers get uh best radio show. We've uh been deemed a rest best radio station by uh some different publications you know throughout the years we've been on the air, uh you know, like Dallas Observer, uh Big D Magazine, um stuff like that. So we've been uh very gracious in accepting those. Yeah. And like uh thank you uh for uh you know recognizing our our you know. Yeah, our efforts and what we've added to the the radio landscape here locally.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Yeah. Well last thing on some of your producers, you've got some some young talent, right? Some young producers.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

How how young do they go as far as uh we've had I think we the youngest we had was 11? Is that right? Or I forget, right? Uh and then we do have uh uh one of our youth producers that got into the program, I think he might have been 13, uh Chandler. Uh he's now like graduated high school or something, and he's still doing a show. Like it's amazing, it's awesome. Uh he's our our our golden child, you know, yeah for that program. Uh but we've had uh I think three three youth producers come through, and we have had a um a youth intern come through and learn about radio production and how the station works in the background. He's part of Cone School and with his his project, he wanted to come and do an internship. So we helped in that.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

Do you get a lot of the students from UNT that in the in that are in the room?

SPEAKER_01 29:18

We you know, we we do uh we get contacted by them uh about other kinds of things like uh other operations in the classroom, like you know, uh projects and stuff they're dealing with and questions they might have. Right. Um we don't necessarily get a whole lot uh of uh youth that are in their uh early 20s that want to do a show.

unknown 29:41

Man.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

I think in college, me and my buddies, we would have loved to have a big talk show.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Absolutely, that is an area where we need to reach out more, yeah. Honestly, yeah. It's not I don't think it's I think there's kids out there. I think we need to reach them somehow.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

I do too. Yeah. Well, let's spread the word. That's awesome. So you're approaching nine years now on FM. I mean, I'm sure, like you said, it was just so much blood, sweat, and tears go went into to setting it up, and obviously all the time it takes to continue to run it. Uh, I mean, if you could go back and tell yourself, hey, you might want to change this or do this or think about this. I mean, any anything you're like, I mean, we all go through these times where I wish I had this.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Yeah, uh, I would say don't be so afraid.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Uh, you know, that was uh a big thing for us doing this whole project. You know, we none of us had ever built a radio station before Go Figure, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Uh none of us had ever worked in radio like that. Um, so every step of the way, you know, down from, like I said, the application process we described, going through the Kickstarter, trying to raise funds, and then actually, you know, boots on the ground, you know, how do we get a 30-foot antenna array 115 feet up in the air on a tower down the street? Yeah. It's like we had to figure all that out. So, you know, I was like calling, like figuring out who manufacturer of a tower and calling them and talking to like the owner's son and figuring out like the diameter of a leg of a tower at 115 feet, and like so he get the right straps. It was just like insane stuff like that. Details of something we we didn't we didn't realize. And uh so you know, a lot of that was just hard work just figuring stuff out, but the fear factor coming in of just like didn't want to mess up, you know, felt like this was an important thing for town. We didn't want to mess up, didn't want to lose it. Uh you know, very we strained a lot in our training. Don't say cuss words, you know, right, you know, we don't want to get fined. We were very afraid for uh the first few years of of getting fined or getting complaints, you know. So um I would say looking back, you know, and it has I we've never got a complaint, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So looking back, I'm just like, maybe not be so afraid and stressed about stuff like that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Well, I think just in general, your story just hey, just get out there, put yourself out there. There's usually not a lot of harm that comes in, and a lot of times a lot of good that comes out of it. And so yeah, you definitely did that. And I mean look what you've accomplished. It's it's really cool. I mean, I I think it's kind of probably as you were describing, uh, doing all these steps and learning as you go. It's kind of like uh the old how do you eat eat an elephant, right? I mean, just one bite at a time. So you just started whatever project somebody has in mind, something really big and cool, it just starts just little bites at a time.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

That's so true. And it's important to keep that in mind and take it step by step. Yeah. And you know, not gonna be a good thing. And see the smear see the small uh progress. Yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

All right. Well, so where I guess lastly, where you know, again, the the website for sure is where they find most of the information.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Um yeah, cuzu.fm. Uh yeah, and we're you know, we have big plans uh to grow and grow. Uh we want more uh more and more citizens on the air and representing our town uh more fully. We uh, you know, we're at a space right up here next to you, but uh, you know, eventually, you know, long-term plan, five, ten-year plan, would we love to eventually own our own studio. We'd love to build our own tower and just have, you know.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

So your your your frequency covers most of Denton or is it kind of dentin' proper right now?

SPEAKER_01 33:32

Definitely everything inside the loop. So you know, right uh and a little bit further. Uh if you're going north, just the the way our you know our antenna has a cardioid pattern and it's facing north. So uh the project projection of it goes a little bit further further north, you can like almost get to the lake sometimes in here. It's like it goes like a good eight miles north. But yeah, not so much when you try and go down 377, very different, right?

SPEAKER_02 33:59

So like yeah, oh man. Well, kudos to you, Peter. This has been, I mean, this has been really cool to learn more about it and just understand kind of what went into to making Kuzu what it is, and and I know you've got big, big aspirations for it. So anything we can do to help or our listeners, y'all jump in there, let's get some more content. Yeah, well, thank this.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

This helps a lot, just getting the word out there. You know, we've probably trained over a hundred people so far uh uh in radio production. And we'd like to double that in the next uh in the next nine years, right? Um, but uh uh yeah, yeah. Don't be afraid. Uh if you got any ideas, get in contact with us.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Don't be shy now. So, all right, we always end a couple of questions. Where what do you have a favorite restaurant or a place you'd like to hang out in Denton? I'm sure you get a few.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Well, I mean, honestly, a lot lately. Uh, you know, I'm in my 50s now and I'm feeling much older, and I find myself sneaking away and going to cart rides by myself and having breakfast and coffee. I'll see you there. Yeah, I'm usually there for lunch.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

So, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Yeah, another place on the square. Well, for talking about favorites, uh, Jupiter House. I like Jupiter House. I always get the same thing at the places I go to. I always get the number 13 bagel with with what's on the with uh salmon salmon bagel. And then I get I get a mocha shake. I make a great mocha shake.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

Yeah, okay, haven't tried that. Very cool. All right. Well, you also get a hat from Norman Roscoe.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

So awesome. Oh, Eric's favorite hat. Yeah, honestly, that's one of my favorite stores to walk through uh on the square. Yes, for the merch. How cool. I get to pick one of those?

SPEAKER_02 35:47

You get to pick one. Oh, hell yeah. I gotta do the DTX. Yeah, that's so cool. It's too much like MTV for you to not go there. I know.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

It's like that. Thanks, Eric. There you go. And all the folks at Norn Roscoe.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

That's right. Looks good on you, Peter. Thanks for joining us. If you didn't know Peter Salisbury and Kuzu Radio before today, now you do. Thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Thank you.