CHENEY, Wash. — Listener-supported, student-run, 24-hour jazz radio is bidding farewell to the Inland Northwest.
KEWU-FM, Eastern Washington University’s 73-year-running jazz station will be no more after this year, according to a release from the school.
The station has been a part of the university’s culture, and the listening repertoire of people across the region since 1950, when it was founded as a free-form student station.
It remained that way until 1986, when it switched over to playing a wide variety of jazz.
At the end of the year, another dramatic change is due, marked by a grand finale celebration featuring EWU jazz musicians.
In the release, the school said the decision to shutter the station didn’t come about lightly, and that program faculty and university administrators supported the move.
“KEWU has provided quality entertainment as well as classic and contemporary jazz to the Inland Northwest for nearly 74 years, and we are proud of that accomplishment,” says EWU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jonathan Anderson. “With how dynamically the media landscape is changing there will be new opportunities for the university to explore.”
The end of the radio station won’t necessarily be the end of the program, however. Anderson said the school will look at other broadcasting options, such as podcasting.
For now, avid listeners can expect jazz music every day for the next three months.
