Today, Power 88 (KCEP) broadcasts hip-hop, R&B and public service programming to 200,000 weekly listeners in Southern Nevada. 52 years ago, that all started with just 10 watts in a back closet.
A new documentary The Story of KCEP: The Little Station that Could … Not Stop tells the little-known history of the station’s beginnings and many milestones throughout the decades. It presents an opportunity to learn about “the People’s Station” that has been serving the community since 1972.
Without spoiling the juicy details, a little bit of history about KCEP: It all started when the Economic Opportunity Board of Clark County received a license from the Federal Communications Commission to have a radio station to train people in radio broadcasting. Before the station’s first general manager Marvin Logan came along, the station wasn’t really living up to its full potential.
“It wasn’t officially a radio station. They had someone just playing music,” documentary director and co-producer Craig Knight tells the Weekly. “People did hear KCEP on the air, but it was only on the air for a certain amount of hours, and would go away. It wasn’t anything official. … It was a back closet type of thing.”
Logan saw an opportunity, tracked down the Economic Opportunity Board and offered to convert the back-room operation into a legitimate studio radio station.
“It was being run out of a trailer for a few years before eventually ending up at the [Historic] Westside School,” says Knight, who has been general manager of KCEP since 2007.
The station operates out of the Historic Westside School today. And they’ve stayed true to their mission of serving the community with non-commercial, listener-supported radio. In recent years, they’ve put forward a Vote In Power campaign, encouraging listeners to exercise their voting rights and providing information and pathways to do that.
“In 2020, I was hearing from a lot of senior citizens who were very disappointed. And because COVID was happening … they felt like they couldn’t participate in the election, going to the polls, because of the virus. Then there was the situation where the president at the time Donald Trump assigned a new postmaster, and the postmaster started removing [mail-sorting] machines … so they were upset that their vote might not make it with the mail-in ballot [and] might not be counted.”
That sparked the idea to have an event at the election department where everyone could drive through in their car. The Drop It Like It’s Hot Ballot Drop-Off Parade had hundreds of cars roll through the election department, granting peace of mind to many residents who felt like their options to participate in the election were limited.
It’s just one example of how KCEP connects the community with vital information and resources.
“It’s a requirement that we have to continuously be educating the community. One of the biggest challenges is always fundraising and acquiring grants. It’s always a challenge. We are a public radio station. We sound like a commercial station, but we’re not,” Knight says.
“It’s called public radio because the public has to be invested in it.”
Knight hopes the documentary will raise awareness about how KCEP is invested in the community, and inspire people to donate. Those interested in donating can do so at their website power88lv.com.
Knight also advises keeping an eye on the website and social media accounts for announcements about future screenings of the documentary, and the station’s 52nd anniversary coming up in October.
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