Author: /u/jhwells

I was betting on October 1, but it looks like the main studio is ready to go live tomorrow, August 24, 2022 at high noon.

Word is things will kick off at 12:00 PM with a brief celebration of the return to live radio and the new schedule officially begins.

Roark is back with Wide Open Spaces 9-noon and Border Radio will be on in the afternoons, both Monday-Friday.

The HD2 / Streaming channel is also getting a new schedule. Besides re-broadcasts of HD1/FM programs it has some interesting looking original programming as well. Currently the live HD 2 schedule isn’t up, but a static screenshot is public.

• 90.1 / HD1 Schedule: https://confessor.kpft.org/playlist/pub_sched.php
• HD2 Schedule: https://kpft.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/HD2-v17-Sheet1-1.jpg
• 90.1/HD 1 Mobile Friendly Schedule: https://mighty90.net/index.php/fm-hd1-schedule#year=2022&month=9&day=23&view=week
• HD2 Mobile Friendly Schedule: https://mighty90.net/index.php/hd2-schedule#year=2022&month=9&day=23&view=week (new schedule in progress)

If you’re new to KPFT and curious about the programming available https://mighty90.net/index.php/90-1-kpft/30-second-spotlight has short previews of every show on the current schedule and will be updated to reflect the newest programming within a week.

(not a fundraising pitch, but if you can spare a few bucks…)

It’s been a hard few years for the mighty 90.

FM 90.1 turned 52 this year, but after COVID caused the shutdown of the studio at 419 Lovett Blvd the building fell victim to humidity and mold. It was sold and demolished in the past year.

Enough money was made from the sale to purchase a new home on Caroline street and the station just wrapped up a fundraiser that made slightly over $50,000 to pay for remodeling and setup in their new space.

As a cost saving measure earlier in the summer the paid General Manager was let go and Sandy Weinmann, long time host of Deadbeat, became the interim general manager.

Under his leadership the station is revamping the schedule, due to premiere with the opening of the new studio and return to in-person live broadcasting. Hopefully it will move away from the syndicated national programming and automated playlists the two previous managers pushed into the schedule ( https://confessor.kpft.org/playlist/pub_sched.php )

The new schedule is tentatively planned to launch in the first part of September and right now the mid-September schedule at https://confessor.kpft.org/playlist/pub_sched.php?dte=1662267600&op=next is a blank slate of possibilities.

One confirmed change is that Roark Smith will be coming back on the air in some capacity. Roark has about 20 years of history with KPFT and was judged the best radio DJ in Texas for several years in a row during his last run on KPFT so it’s exciting to hear him back on the air.

Although you have to work just a little bit to find them, they have outstanding musical programming in nearly every genre and are worth the effort.

90.1 on the radio, https://kpft.org/ on the web, or https://tunein.com/radio/KPFT-901-s20327/ on the TuneIn app.