KUKQ Phoenix Launches Online; We Speak With Nancy Stevens, Craven Moorehead, and Jonathan L
See also: KUKQ Returns to Phoenix (via the Internet)
The new online station bearing the call letters of bygone Phoenix radio station KUKQ has launched, streaming online at kukq.com. As we reported last week, the site's connection to the original radio station isn't literal -- though Facebook comments about the "return" of the station suggest listeners are excited about the call letters being used again.
"We want the attitude of the old KUKQ," says Nancy Stevens, a producer for Sandusky Radio Phoenix (which operates local stations KUPD, KDKB, and KSLX). Stevens launched the new site with former X103.9 SkaPunk host Craven Moorehead. The last incarnation of KUKQ went off the air in 1996.
"We're breaking new music, reaching out there to find new things as opposed to just playing the old stuff over and over and over again," Stevens says.
"We want this to be a place for new music and all the great older alternative that has no home. We will not be Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Nirvana on an infinite loop because all the FMs already have that covered," Moorehead says. "You can hear Soundgarden on any rock FM in the valley but you can't music from LCD Soundsystem, Bad Religion, Arcade Fire, Frank Turner, Sleigh Bells, or Oingo Boingo, and that is what we aim to correct."
Though the station's schedule isn't yet set in stone, Stevens says that the format will mostly be alternative, though specialty shows will feature genres like electronic, dubstep, and hip-hop. As of now, the all-volunteer station is commercial free, but sponsors will be introduced once the station is "up and running," according to Stevens. It's unclear how any advertising revenue the station generates would be used. 
Patrick Odell Sleigh Bells, one of the bands heard on internet station KUKQ
"The creative freedom is nice but our main goal is to just play music for a community of people who have been shunned by the FM dial," says Moorehead. His SkaPunk programming, including programs like "We're a Happy Family" and "Woodbanger's Ball" comprise the bulk of the current programming, and tuning in I heard Moorehead play songs by The Cure, Sleigh Bells, Gotye, Spoon, Black Joe Lewis and The Honey Bears, and Brand New.
"It's like an adventure," Stevens says. "I was at the Edge for 10 years, and when X went away -- I'll never call it X -- but when the Edge went away, to me, outside looking in, it was like a huge void. So I met with Craven, and I said we need to figure out a way to get the format back out there into the market, because they are too many things out there that make sense."
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