KXSC RadioKXSC Radio

USC's own KUSC went all-classical in 1973, leaving the undergraduates nowhere to play anything else, so a group of them started their own station in 1975 under a first general manager, Bob Moore, who had to talk the faculty into a studio before a record went out. KSCR ran carrier-current on 1560 AM, wired into the campus cafeteria and the dorms. In 1998 someone boosted its unlicensed FM transmitter until the signal carried almost to LAX; the FCC found them, and an early online stream was the only reason the station survived.

It took the KXSC call sign in 2010 and has been internet-only since lightning destroyed the AM transmitter in 2019. Barry 'The Bear' Levine has held a shift since 1997 and is past a thousand episodes; one hour of his can run college rock straight into hardcore punk, and whoever follows might bring neo-soul, hazy dream pop, hyperpop or eighties synth-pop.