KOAC (AM)

KOAC (550 AM) is a non-commercial, listener supported, public radio station licensed to Corvallis, Oregon.

[3] Due to its transmitter power and location near the bottom of the AM dial, the signal during the day, covers most of Oregon's densely populated areas.

[6] KOAC was one of a number of AM stations started by universities in the early days of radio as a way to experiment in the new medium and train future broadcasters.

Starting in the 1950s, the board signed on a number of simulcast radio stations in Portland, Eugene and other communities.

The network was then spun-off from the Board of Higher Education and became a separate state agency known as Oregon Public Broadcasting.

KOAC announcer broadcasting from the studios in Covell Hall at Oregon State University (1929).
KOAC Radio building, circa 1941
Field reporter Arnold Ebert entertains listeners during his parody of an interview with a cow (1950).