KGNU 88.5 FM: live radio from Boulder

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Dusting off the needle…

Boulder, United States

KGNU 88.5 FM

Half the town has a shift.

Bluegrass, dub, and opera on the same weekly grid.

KGNU went on the air on 24 May 1978 from a one-room cottage beside Boulder Creek, licensed to the Boulder Community Broadcast Association on the premise that the people listening ought to be the people talking. It has been volunteer-produced ever since, helped convene the Grassroots Radio Coalition in 1996 so community stations could compare notes, and spent $4.1 million on AM 1390 in 2004 to put the same signal across Denver. In May 2026 it moved into a permanent home on 14th Street in downtown Boulder.

The grid is built one show at a time by volunteers: Gospel Chime Hour at breakfast, Old Grass Gnu Grass and Blues Legacy through the week, Jazz Lives, Corriente for the music of Latin America, Seolta Gael for the Irish hour, Reggae Bloodlines and Dub Palace on the weekend, The Opera Box, and Eclipse, Colorado's longest-running hip hop show. Pacifica and BBC newscasts sit between them.

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Boulder, United States

KGNU 88.5 FM

Half the town has a shift.

Bluegrass, dub, and opera on the same weekly grid.

KGNU went on the air on 24 May 1978 from a one-room cottage beside Boulder Creek, licensed to the Boulder Community Broadcast Association on the premise that the people listening ought to be the people talking. It has been volunteer-produced ever since, helped convene the Grassroots Radio Coalition in 1996 so community stations could compare notes, and spent $4.1 million on AM 1390 in 2004 to put the same signal across Denver. In May 2026 it moved into a permanent home on 14th Street in downtown Boulder.

The grid is built one show at a time by volunteers: Gospel Chime Hour at breakfast, Old Grass Gnu Grass and Blues Legacy through the week, Jazz Lives, Corriente for the music of Latin America, Seolta Gael for the Irish hour, Reggae Bloodlines and Dub Palace on the weekend, The Opera Box, and Eclipse, Colorado's longest-running hip hop show. Pacifica and BBC newscasts sit between them.