KRUI is an educational laboratory for students who are interested in learning about radio and the broadcast industry. They operate 24/7 to provide the UI campus and Iowa City community with unique programming. Their shows include alternative music, news, sports and talk shows, and can be heard on their two stations, 89.7 FM and The Lab.

The radio station plays music you won’t hear in the Top 40. It also offers a number of specialty shows that cover a variety of areas. Most importantly, the mission of KRUI is to provide students with a chance to go beyond the classroom. Students are introduced to the live atmosphere of radio broadcasting, and have an open invitation to be innovative and explore new interests.

On March 28, 1984, KRUI hit the airwaves with its first show. Since that day, KRUI has continued to grow, and this year marks its 30th anniversary.

Greg Thomas has been involved with KRUI since 1997. He was a DJ and director during his undergraduate and graduate years at UI. He has continued to be involved with the station as a member of Student Broadcasters Incorporated, the FM license holder and governing board for KRUI. He now acts as the “historian and archivist.”

“I’ve stayed with KRUI for the love of the station and the alternative culture it represents,” says Thomas. “KRUI has done a number of great things in its 30 years, but the growth still continues and is exciting to watch.”

Thomas enjoys working with students at KRUI and knows that the station gives students a chance to run a radio station in every facet. Thomas lists marketing, underwriting, broadcast journalism, audio production, content writing, and web development as a few of the skills students are able to learn and practice.

Every day the station receives crate loads of CDs of new artists and musicians. Most artists who make it big were first played on college radio stations. It’s how the music industry works, and KRUI appreciates being a part of the process and having the opportunity to share music that isn’t heard on commercial stations. It’s the same concept for news, sports and talk shows. Students cover what doesn’t normally get a lot of airtime. KRUI does not measure the success of the station show by the number of listeners or the amount of hits they receive on their website.

“I think the most important gauge of success at KRUI is measured by the number of students involved at the station and multitude of opportunities presented to those students,” says Thomas. “KRUI is committed to serve as an educational laboratory and the more students that are able to develop professionally, the greater the success of the station.”

Perhaps working at KRUI led some alumni to now hold positions in TV news, screenwriting, and radio broadcasting. One monumental alumni of the station is Diablo Cody, now Oscar winner, who went on to be the screenwriter for “Juno.”

The success of the show can be seen through its 30 years of growth and perseverance. It has allocated new state-of-the-art equipment by writing proposals and is now hosted in the IMU. Passionate students who have held positions as leaders for KRUI have helped to pave a path of excellence for the program that plans to keep growing in the years to come.

“We have one of the largest student staffs on campus,” says Thomas, “and since anyone on campus or in the community can turn on a radio or grab a stream and be a part of the KRUI experience, we have to be among the most accessible student organizations on campus.”