Newsletters, program guides and scrapbooks from the local KUAF 91.3 radio station are now available for use in the Special Collections department of Mullins Library.
The KUAF National Public Radio Records were donated by KUAF in 2015, the year the station celebrated its 30-year anniversary. Since its inception, KUAF has grown from a 10-watt student station to a 100,000-watt National Public Radio affiliate.
“KUAF wanted to donate the materials to Special Collections to make sure our history was being preserved,” said Leigh Wood, KUAF membership director. “The evolution of the station over the past 33 years has been tremendous, and we wanted to make sure the programs, people and events of the station were remembered into the future. We also donated these items in conjunction with a larger project that is still underway — digitizing and archiving the entire Ozarks at Large catalog, with episodes beginning in 1990. With the help of two generous grants from the Women’s Giving Circle, we are closing in on having every episode cataloged, and when they are ultimately moved into Special Collections, the audio will be available anywhere in the world in a searchable database.”
The program guides detail what songs and segments were on the air through the decades. Scrapbooks include newspaper clippings and photographs. This collection will be of use to researchers interested in public radio, particulary students and faculty in the Journalism and Communications programs on campus. University Libraries serve the campus as well as the general public, and these materials are available for anyone to view and use.