May 31, 1983
The station call letters change from WPRG to KLSU.
Dez Crawford, a KLSU deejay from 1980 to 1983, speaks about her late husband and former station manager David Crawford and his successful petition to Congressman Billy Tauzin to change the station call letters. Dez Crawford Oral History Interview, Mss. 4700.2593, LLMVC, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, La.
View Transcript
DEZ CRAWFORD: He [David Crawford, Dez Crawford's late husband] wanted the radio station not to be the orphan, red-haired stepchild of the university. And he struggled to get funding. Things like chairs . . . I mean, everything from chairs to tape, to degaussers, to a microphone that didn't collapse every time you put it up in the air [laughs]. To finally successfully lobbying Congressman Billy Tauzin to get a power increase for the station, which we already had in hand. He worked very hard for that. He went to Congressman Tauzin and said, you know, "Right now, we're WPRG." We used the PRG which was randomly thrown at us when WLSU . . . Somebody didn't do the paperwork, and we lost WLSU to the University of Wisconsin at Lacrosse. WLSU, Wisconsin Lacrosse State University, because somebody didn't bother to re-apply for the name. I don't recall what year that was, but that was a couple years before he [Dave] started. And he went to Billy Tauzin and said, "Look, we're like . . . You can throw a rock from the Mississippi River from the edge of campus. The "K" and "W" border is right there. Can you petition the FCC for an exemption?" And Congressman Tauzin did and we got that exemption. That's how we got KLSU back. And Wisconsin Lacrosse State University had to settle for something else. And because Congressman Tauzin was so magnanimous, he spoke to the FCC in this very compelling way to make them say that, you know, "We had this first and we want it back."
My understanding is that that was a very low wattage station that basically broadcast to the dorms. And we were trying to do something and expand our influence on the community and provide more coverage and to expand the School of Journalism. He made some very compelling arguments. Dave wrote most of the arguments that were presented to the FCC, and he worked with Congressman Tauzin and we got . . . Thanks to Dave, we got KLSU back.
Dez Crawford, a KLSU deejay from 1980 to 1983, speaks about her late husband and former station manager David Crawford and his successful petition to Congressman Billy Tauzin to change the station call letters. Dez Crawford Oral History Interview, Mss. 4700.2593, LLMVC, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, La.
View Transcript
DEZ CRAWFORD: He [David Crawford, Dez Crawford's late husband] wanted the radio station not to be the orphan, red-haired stepchild of the university. And he struggled to get funding. Things like chairs . . . I mean, everything from chairs to tape, to degaussers, to a microphone that didn't collapse every time you put it up in the air [laughs]. To finally successfully lobbying Congressman Billy Tauzin to get a power increase for the station, which we already had in hand. He worked very hard for that. He went to Congressman Tauzin and said, you know, "Right now, we're WPRG." We used the PRG which was randomly thrown at us when WLSU . . . Somebody didn't do the paperwork, and we lost WLSU to the University of Wisconsin at Lacrosse. WLSU, Wisconsin Lacrosse State University, because somebody didn't bother to re-apply for the name. I don't recall what year that was, but that was a couple years before he [Dave] started. And he went to Billy Tauzin and said, "Look, we're like . . . You can throw a rock from the Mississippi River from the edge of campus. The "K" and "W" border is right there. Can you petition the FCC for an exemption?" And Congressman Tauzin did and we got that exemption. That's how we got KLSU back. And Wisconsin Lacrosse State University had to settle for something else. And because Congressman Tauzin was so magnanimous, he spoke to the FCC in this very compelling way to make them say that, you know, "We had this first and we want it back."
My understanding is that that was a very low wattage station that basically broadcast to the dorms. And we were trying to do something and expand our influence on the community and provide more coverage and to expand the School of Journalism. He made some very compelling arguments. Dave wrote most of the arguments that were presented to the FCC, and he worked with Congressman Tauzin and we got . . . Thanks to Dave, we got KLSU back.
