1948 - A group of college students at Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) under the direction of Professor Burrell Hansen forms the USAC Radio Guild. The guild broadcasts to dormitories on campus using a method of transmission called carrier current.
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1951 - Lee Frischknecht graduates from Utah State Agricultural College with a degree in speech and radio. He is the first student manager of the USAC Radio Guild. He later serves as NPR's second president.
1952 - Don Quayle completes an undergraduate degree at Utah State Agricultural College. He later serves as NPR's first president.
April 13, 1953 - UPR’s forerunner KVSC "Voice of State College" becomes Utah’s oldest non-commercial educational FM radio service. It broadcasts with the power of 10 watts, reaching all of Logan and possibly as far as Smithfield and Hyrum.
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Initially, KVSC broadcast only a few hours a day on weekdays.
1960s - KVSC/KUSU-FM expands broadcast schedule to 7 days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight.
1961 - KVSC changes to KUSU-FM to reflect the change from Utah State Agricultural College to Utah State University. KUSU-FM was originally the companion to KUSU-TV, Channel 12, which was on the air from 1965 until 1970.
1964-65 - Station engineer Boyd Humpherys builds a new transmitter from little more than spare parts. It has a power output of 1,000 watts, reaching all of Cache Valley except Richmond and northward.
1970 - Don Quayle serves as the first president of NPR, until 1973.
1972 - KUSU-FM receives a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which enables it to meet the necessary standard to become a member of the fledgling NPR network.
KUSU-FM begins broadcasting Logan City Council meetings on the air.
1973 - Lee Frischknecht serves as second president of NPR until 1977.
April 1973 - KUSU-FM celebrates its 20th birthday. Jerry Allen is station manager and Richard Meng is program director. All other radio staffers are students.
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1979 - Morning Edition premiers as an NPR program and begins airing on Utah Public Radio.
May 14, 1979 - Utah Public Radio participates in the groundbreaking ceremony for the nation’s first satellite delivery system for a radio network. KUSU-FM is the flagship station for the Public Radio Satellite System network. KUSU breaks ground for the first satellite network downlink with a gold shovel, with a 30-minute nationwide broadcast.
1980s - UPR begins to work on building a translator network across Utah. As the network grows, then-station manager Jerry Allen decides the station needs a name to reflect this new statewide reach. The result is Utah Public Radio.
1982 - Utah Public Radio begins broadcasting in Laketown/Garden City and Randolph.
April 30, 1982 - In response to funding reductions from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Utah Public Radio holds its first pledge drive, with a goal of raising $5,000. Over 10 days, 233 people donate a total of $5,147.
The Deseret News writes about the historic Pledge Drive: “One public radio supporter, Isabel Katana of Logan, was the first listener to call with a pledge – $100 – and half an hour later showed up at the radio station in her jogging suit to deliver the money.”
1983 - UPR acquires a radio translator in Rockville and begins broadcasting there.
January 1983 - Utah Public Radio expands its broadcast schedule to 24 hours a day.
August 1983 - NPR finds itself in financial uncertainty and averts bankruptcy by negotiating an emergency loan from the CPB. Along with the loan, NPR organizes "The Drive to Survive," a three-day fundraiser asking member stations to help raise funds to keep NPR afloat. Utah Public Radio raises more than $4,000 during the fundraiser.
1984 - Utah Public Radio begins broadcasting in Milford.
1986 - UPR expands coverage to Jensen.
1988 - UPR celebrates its 35th anniversary, with a staff of seven full-time employees and 12-15 part-time students. Jerry Allen is station manager, Richard Meng is program director, and Lee Austin is the news director.
UPR also begins service in Tabiona this year.
1989 - UPR acquires and begins broadcasting on a radio translator in Soda Springs, Idaho.
1993 - Utah Public Radio expands service to 89.1 in Washington County and Parowan.
1995 - Access Utah airs for the first time. Hosted by Lee Austin, the show combined several UPR programs into one long-form public affairs hour.
1996 - UPR expands coverage to Hanksville, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Teasdale.
1997 - Utah Public Radio expands service to broadcast in Emery County, Panguitch, 90.9 St. George and Price.
1998 - Utah Public Radio expands broadcast coverage to Roosevelt.
1999 - Utah Public Radio begins broadcasting in Cedar City, Levan, Vernal, Monroe and Ogden.
2000 - UPR expands coverage to Delta.
By this year, UPR has a small online presence at upr.org.
2001 - Utah Public Radio expands service to Brigham City.
2003 - UPR celebrates 50 years of service. Staff include Lee Austin as program director, Bryan Earl as development director, Craig Hislop, Shauna Madson, Richard Meng as general manager, Shalayne Smith Needham as producer, Cliff Smith as engineer, Tom Williams as operations coordinator, Nora Zambreno, Kirsten Swanson, Scott Nybo, Nancy Kerr and Tyler Riggs.
August 10, 2003 - UPR launches Synecdoche, a new program pairing local authors with local actors, with a live broadcast at local bookstore Chapter Two Books. The program is produced by Marina Hall.
2005 - UPR begins broadcasting in Provo.
2007 - Utah Public Radio expands service to broadcast in Fillmore at 95.7 and Montpelier, Idaho at 106.9.
This year, StoryCorps also visits Logan to record residents' stories.
January 17, 2007 - The Cache Chamber of Commerce awards UPR Program Director Lee Austin and Development Director Bryan Earl the "Small Business Journalist" award.
August 2007 - Approximately 240 people participate in 120 interviews while the StoryCorps MobileBooth comes to Logan.
2008 - UPR begins broadcasting classical music 24/7 on its HD2 network UPR Too. This year UPR also launches popular nature program Wild About Utah, as well as a partnership with the Utah Climate Center.
January 21, 2008 - First live Access Utah broadcast from the State Capitol on the opening day of the 2008 Legislative Session.
February 14, 2008 - UPR sponsors NPR Reporter Mandalit del Barco on a visit to USU.
April 2008 - Corey Flintoff, then-reporter for NPR, visits UPR and USU.
June 3, 2008 - "The Splendid Table" begins airing on UPR, at the request of listeners.
April 2009 - Don Quayle visits USU.
July 9, 2009 - Barbara Bradley Hagerty, religion correspondent for NPR, visits Logan and Utah Public Radio.
October 7, 2009 - "Living on Earth" host Steve Curwood visits USU and Utah Public Radio.
April 14, 2010 - Utah Public Radio holds a one-day fundraiser instead of a traditional week-long member drive, aiming to raise $82,000 for operations and program costs. The theme is "Last Day First," Every donor receives a mug designed by Cache Valley artist Jerry Fuhriman.
September 2010 - UPR upgrades its signal in the Uintah Basin to a full-power station.
November 3, 2010 - Anne Garrels, senior foreign correspondent for NPR, visits USU as a guest of UPR.
2011 - Utah Public Radio begins broadcasting in Green River.
February 17, 2011 - Mandalit del Barco, NPR correspondent, returns to Logan to speak at USU and join Access Utah as a special guest.
April 12, 2011 - UPR launches its spring member drive with a goal of $120,000, the largest goal in station history. The station raises $85,000, more than previous spring fund drives have raised.
2012 - UPR expands coverage to Orderville.
January 9, 2012 - Utah Public Radio begins broadcasting local news every evening at 5:30.
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2013 - The annual UPR art mug contest begins, heading into the spring member drive. Art mugs had been offered as thank you gifts in years prior, but this launched the contest as an annual event.
May 2, 2013 - The StoryCorps MobileBooth comes to St. George.
October 17, 2013 - Zorba Paster visits Logan and Moab with UPR.
April 17, 2015 - Don Quayle dies. Listen here to UPR's report remembering him.
July 2, 2015 - The StoryCorps MobileBooth comes to Vernal. Listen here to StoryCorps Vernal segments.
August 10, 2015 - Utah Public Radio updates its broadcast schedule in response to a listener survey and begins broadcasting Here & Now, more BBC programming, Live Wire!, The Moth and Radiolab. UPR also partners with The Salt Lake Tribune to air Behind the Headlines, which was then hosted by Jennifer Napier-Pearce.
April 4, 2016 - Utah Public Radio hosts the Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, for events in Logan.
Jesse Walker
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Jesse Walker
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March 17, 2017 - Zorba Paster, host of Zorba Paster on Your Health visits Logan and UPR.
2018 - The UPR app launches, with initial funding coming from UPR members Carl and Shari Berger.
Summer 2018 - UnDisciplined, hosted by Matthew LaPlante, begins airing.
2019 - Utah Public Radio participates in StoryCorps' One Small Step project.
March 2019 - Kerry Bringhurst and Tom Williams assume duties as co-station managers.
August 2021 - UPR Tres begins broadcasting Spanish-language programing on HD3.
2022 - Utah Public Radio joins several other media organizations to work together on solutions journalism for Great Salt Lake in the Great Salt Lake Collaborative.
January 2023 - UPR partners with The Salt Lake Tribune to hire northern Utah reporter Jacob Scholl.
February 2023 - Former NPR Correspondent Corey Flintoff visits Logan to institute the Corey Flintoff Student Intern Endowment.
April 2023 - Utah Public Radio partners with StoryCorps to record the stories of Logan and Cache Valley residents.
September 2023 - UPR celebrates its 70th anniversary. Tom Williams and Kerry Bringhurst are co-managers, Friend Weller is chief engineer, Sheri Quinn is news director, Katie Swain is membership director, Debbie Andrew is underwriting director, Shalayne Smith Needham is a senior producer, Emily Colby is web manager and staff assistant, and Nick Porath is a producer.