secondary production studio after wires in the main studio board burned out. Throughout the late 1980s, WUSM broadcast a more mainstream alternative format than most college radio stations because it was the only station in the format on the South Coast; the nearest rock station was in Providence. The station changed its call letters from WUSM to WSMU-FM in 1989. The change allowed another university to trade in call letters it did not want. The University of Southern Mississippi had operated its student radio station as WMSU since the 1970s. When the WUSM calls were made available, they were picked up the next month by that station which now operates as WUSM-FM; that university's president, Aubrey Lucas, announced the change on air, and the station's program manager said, "Obviously we would rather have anything other than MSU". The station's variety format had several long-running features. DJ Don Dread's reggae show "Roots Radical" went on the air in 1982 and only left WUMD's air in 2012 when he died of a brain tumor. UMD move to 89.3 and sale to EMF In 1993, UMass Dartmouth made an application to build a new radio station at 89.3 MHz, which would have a wider coverage area and be able to serve more listeners. (The application came a year after an adjacent-channel Boston station, WBUR-FM, proposed to have WSMU relocate in order to improve its own coverage area.) The application was approved by the Federal Communications Commission in 2003, and in 2006, construction was completed on WUMD. In January 2006, the university sold the WSMU-FM license for $700,000 to the Educational Media Foundation, with the transmission facility remaining at the university; the sale price helped fund the construction of the new WUMD facility. The sale was a notable step forward for EMF, which prior to acquiring WSMU-FM had little presence in New England due to the price and scarcity of stations in the area; it was also cited as the "first major foray" by FM Christian broadcasting into the region. UMass Dartmouth programming moved from 91.1 to 89.3 in June 2006, enabling K-Love programming to debut on the new WTKL in early July. References External links K-Love radio stations Dartmouth, Massachusetts Mass media in Bristol County, Massachusetts Radio stations established in 1974 1974 establishments in Massachusetts Educational Media Foundation radio stations TKL