KMSU celebrates 60 years on-air with new app

By JULIA LIN Editor in Chief

Celebrating 60 years on air, KMSU launched a new app that allows users to listen to their favorite shows on demand.

First licensed in 1963, KMSU is one of Minnesota’s oldest, non-commercial and educational FM stations. Starting out operating at 10-watts, the station has grown into a 20,000-watt station that can be heard across southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.

The station grew in popularity during its first year when KMSU became the first station in the U.S. to provide Russian language lessons over the air.

Jan. 7, 1963, was its first broadcast under John Hodowanic, who was known for going above and beyond to make the station a success, according to a former student worker.

Dwayne Megaw, general manager at KMSU, hopes to make the same impact as they branch out into the multimedia space with their new app.

“The other piece was getting

The Minnesota Polytechnic and Applied Learning Institute (MinnPoly) partners with other colleges in the state, notably Saint Paul College.

MSU President Edward Inch cut a ceremonial ribbon at the college with SPC President Deidra Peaslee on Jan. 11 to celebrate the launch of the partnership.

The campus has a recently renovated engineering laboratory where students can complete an MSU fouryear degree on the SPC campus.

This will allow a broader range of students from different areas to get MSU degrees without needing to be in Mankato, as well as travel opportunities for MSU staff.

Other MinnPoly partnership locations are Twin Cities Engineering in Bloomington and Iron Range Engineering and Bell Engineering in Virginia, MN.

Although MinnPoly is not exclusively an engineering institute, this major is one of the more prominent in the program due to its project-based nature in the field.

“It’s built off of our engineering program, but it goes beyond engineering,” Dr. Brian Martensen, executive director of MinnPoly, said.

Martensen said MinnPoly’s development, which has been in the works for roughly five years, is based on Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolu-