KGHP celebrates 20 years on air

Volunteers, students have kept radio station running

Paige Richmond

of the Gateway

It’s been two decades since KGHP, the community radio station that operates at Peninsula High School, first went on the air.

Although the technology has changed, the station is still run the same way: With a combination of local volunteers and students who create their own radio programs.

“There’s a lot of people that are absolutely enamored with radio,” said Leland Smith, instructor for PHS’ radio and communications class. “It’s the most fun you can have in the media.”

Enthusiasm for radio is the reason why KGHP was founded in 1986 — and why some of the station’s founders are still involved. Keith Stiles was part of the original brainstorming session with several other community members, including then-Peninsula School District Superintendent Tom Hulst and PHS teacher Milton Boyd.

“We thought that Gig Harbor ought to have a presence on the air,” Stiles said.

Stiles was there when Don Hoffman, KGHP’s first program director, switched the station on in 1988.

Stiles, now in his 80s, is still committed to the station today: He continues to host a Saturday morning show, during which he plays music from the 1920s through the 1960s.

But things aren’t the same at KGHP as they were when Stiles started volunteering there; they’ve improved.

For one, the station now operates 24 hours a day, and has been since 1999, when it acquired its first automation system. That system allows KGHP to play pre-recorded shows and music when there are no volunteers or students in the office to run the equipment.

It’s helped the station, Smith said, since years ago only dead air would play when no one was at the mic. Often, Stiles would serve as the broadcast pinch-hitter if a volunteer was unable to make a scheduled show.

Automation has solved that.

There’s also more volunteers at the station these days: About 25 citizens were involved in KGHP in the 1980s; now, there are 16 volunteers and 40 students on the air. Student participation has continued to grow in the past 20 years.

And just last year, the station brought in its first full-time station manager, Spencer Abersole. A 1988 PHS graduate, Abersole has added “vision and energy” to KGHP, program director Diane Coleman said.

Some things at KGHP won’t ever change, such as the radio station’s commitment to providing live, on-air programming as much as possible.

That live aspect, both Smith and Stiles said, is one way the station can provide a service to the community. It’s also what makes radio a unique format.

“There’s a focus when you’re live,” said Coleman, who hosts a show on KGHP with Sue Richmond. “You have to step up to the plate, and speak clearly and speak now.”

Listen to KGHP

KGHP is broadcast on 89.3, 89.9 and 93.7 FM in the Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula areas. For more information, visit www.kghp.org.

Reach Reporter and Columnist Paige Richmond at 253-853-9243 or by e-mail at paige.richmond@gateline.com.