Students who have missed Iowa State radio station KUSR will not have to wait much longer for the sound of music.

KUSR will be back on the air no later than the beginning of the fall semester, Assistant General Manager Jason Looft said.

News Director Jay Wacker expects an earlier return to the airwaves. “We’ll be on the air by July 20 or Aug. 1, barring huge problems,” he said.

KUSR officials have been working to get the student radio station back on the air since they stopped broadcasting on Nov. 1, 1995. Licensing conflicts, minor conflicts with the FCC, the federal government shutdown and student turnover have caused problems for the station, Looft said.

The Government of the Student Body delayed the station as well, Program Director Steve Juon said. The station’s account was frozen when KUSR went off the air and the station was initially zero-funded for fiscal year 1996-1997. After representatives from KUSR went back to the GSB, the senate agreed to fund the radio station for next year.

“We were right all along. Some accounting nitwit thought he could save some money by zeroing us out,” Juon said.

With the funding, the station was able to purchase a new sound board that will provide much better sound quality, Wacker said. However, wiring the new sound board has been time consuming, he said.

“I’ve been working on it for three and a half weeks. The week before summer school I worked 80 hours,” Wacker said.

This week, station officials hope to readjust the tower on the Physics building for their new 88.5 frequency. Unfortunately, the weather has been a major setback for adjusting the tower, Looft said.

“The weather has to be nearly perfect. There needs to be no wind, rain, lightning or thunderstorm possibilities,” Looft said.

After technical improvements are completed the station will need to train the new disc jockeys on the equipment for one to two weeks, Looft said.

“We’re not gonna be half-assed about going on the air,” Juon said. “When we do it we’re gonna do it right.”

The station will switch the broadcast frequency from 91.5 to 88.5. The station will also change its name to KURE [University Radio Entertainment], Juon said. “We’ve got the remedy. It’s the KURE. That could be our new slogan.”

A comeback party with lots of giveaways could be in the mix when the station goes back on, Looft said. “We have over 200 CDs to be given away,” he said.

Many students have missed the station, Juon said. “I know KUSR has been missed. We had something no one else had — we always served the audience and gave them what they wanted to hear.”

Student managers are still taking applications for the board of directors, management positions and disc jockeys, Wacker said.

“We’ve gotten some great applications, but we want more. Being involved with this radio station is a great experience,” Juon said.