KALA 88.5 FM


KALA-FM is the award-winning radio station from St. Ambrose University.

Located on the second floor of the Galvin Fine Arts and Communication Center, KALA's mission is to provide a broadcast quality learning lab for St. Ambrose University's communication students and to serve the Quad Cities community with diverse music, news, and information.

KALA broadcasts diverse programming, including jazz, blues, R&B and hip-hop, Latino and Spanish language programming, gospel and public service segments. Occasional live music, features, news, podcasts, and live home/remote coverage of St. Ambrose University sports events can also be heard on 88.5FM and KALA-FM HD2 106.1FM. You can also hear our podcasts on SoundCloud. Program underwriting and production rates are available upon request.

KALA-FM awards five $3,000 scholarships each academic year to St. Ambrose students in good academic standing. Three of the five scholarships are awarded to returning students. The remaining two scholarships are awarded to first-year and/or transfer students. Scholarship recipients work in the radio station throughout the academic year gaining valuable real-world experience in broadcasting, marketing and communications, and production. Students do not need to be a Communication major to apply.

KALA Public Inspection File Listen to KALA

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KALA-FM 88.5 and 106.1
50 Years of Public radio at SAU

KALA serves the Quad Cities and the University while providing a unique opportunity for SAU students to have a real-world broadcast experience.

Support KALA

Would you like to support KALA while getting your business/organization announced on the air at the same time? If so, we have a couple of ways you can do just that!

As a non-commercial, educational FM radio station, KALA is prohibited by federal law from making promotional announcements for for-profit enterprises. However, at the same time, we must notify our listeners of those enterprises who have supported programming on KALA. In light of this, KALA has two ways you can have announcements about your business/organization made on KALA.

You Can Be A KALA Community Supporter

The first way is being a KALA Community Supporter, especially for non-profit organizations. Announcements can air for 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations in 30-second lengths (usually) scheduled to promote the organization, its activities, or a specific event. These types of announcements are commonly referred to as Public Service Announcements, or PSAs. To learn more about how to get a PSA on the air click here.

You Can Be A KALA Booster

The second way is to join us as a KALA Booster. This would be the perfect opportunity for an individual, or for-profit business, to be acknowledged that they support the programming on KALA. This type of message would be considered an underwriting announcement and must follow strict Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines. The content of this announcement is KALA's responsibility, and this announcement is an acknowledgement and NOT a commercial. The announcement can give, according to FCC rules: name of business, address, phone number, type of business, and value neutral aural logograms of the supporter. Individuals can also be recognized with their name as a supporter of KALA programming.

Join us at one of these donation levels:
1 (One) Announcement - $15
10 Announcements - $150
20 Announcements - $250
50 Announcements - $500
100 Announcements - $750
200 Announcements - $1,000

*PLEASE NOTE - Announcements MAY include the following:

  • Underwriter's name
  • Bonafide company slogan
  • Location of business
  • Phone number and /or website
  • Years in business
  • Value-neutral descriptions of products or business
  • Trade names, products or service listing which help identify the business
  • Description of the target market

Announcements MAY NOT include:

  • Comparative descriptions or language
  • Qualitative description or language
  • Pricing information
  • Calls to actions
  • Inducements to buy, sell, rent or lease

The KALA Booster may likely be included with other supporters grouped together. All donations to KALA must be paid in advance to the station manager before announcements are aired.  Announcements can air within a week, month, year, etc. It's up to the contributor. The client chooses a schedule convenient for both the organization/business and KALA Radio to schedule the announcements. Announcements can only be changed once within a 30-day period. Additional modifications will be charged $25 per update.

Please remember, underwriting announcements on KALA are NOT COMMERCIALS, but are a way you can acknowledge your support of this station. They can contain very important information about your business for our listeners. Ultimately, they tell others you care about our station, our programming, and our listeners. Each announcement will be accepted on a case-by-case basis at KALA. There is no "grandfathered" or alternative underwriting schedules accepted other than this official document. KALA reserves the right to not accept underwriting or public service announcements for any reason.

Download the Underwriting Contract Agreement (pdf)

Production Facility

Studio production is a separate category of the services KALA may provide. In the production studio, KALA has the ability to produce commercial spots that can be aired elsewhere, industrial productions, and narration-complete with talent/script preparation. KALA has a complete and fully-licensed music and sound effects library available. The per-hour (or portion of any hour) rate for production at KALA is $50, and at least one hour must be paid for in advance. Any time scheduled after 5 p.m. weekdays and any time on weekends will be charged an additional $20 per hour. Studio usage must be arranged through the station manager AND will be supervised by at least one of our departmental staff members. KALA does NOT rent equipment. Payment is required in advance for at least one hour of production at the time of scheduling with the station manager.

How to reach us:
OFFICE LINE (563) 333-6219
REQUEST LINE (563) 333-6216
FAX (563) 333-6218
kalafm.org
kala@sau.edu
MAILING ADDRESS 518 W Locust St., Davenport, IA 52803

Get Your Public Service Announcement On the Air

KALA (FM) makes every effort we can to keep our community up to date with information about area events. Public service announcements (PSAs) are read over the air live at no cost to non-profit organizations. There is no guarantee as to how many times your community event will be announced, but this is a FREE service.

Public service announcements MUST be sent to KALA at least 2 (two) weeks in advance of the event date. All announcements need to be typed or neatly printed. We need to know the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and WHY of the non-profit event. A contact name, phone number or e-mail address is appreciated, in case we have questions about your announcement.

IF YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT IS INTENDED FOR THE SPANISH/HISPANIC FORMAT, we require that to be in the Spanish language because we do not have staff available to translate those messages.

Please do not call in announcements to the KALA office or request line. For legal purposes, we cannot take information over the telephone. Also, due to the busy nature in the studio and various activities during a "live" radio show, the KALA request line is restricted to music requests ONLY and not to be used for station business.

YOU CAN SEND YOUR PUBLIC SERVICE INFORMATION THREE WAYS:

U.S. Mail: KALA-FM, 518 W. Locust Street, Davenport, IA 52803
FAX: (563) 333-6218
kala@sau.edu

KALA cannot accept public service announcements from a third party source. Announcements should be from a bona fide non-profit organization, church, or community group. KALA (FM) is prohibited from accepting political advertising because we are a non-commercial radio station. Pre-recorded and scheduled announcements from legitimate non-profit organizations can be arranged. Contact the KALA Office for more details, at (563) 333-6219.

Any announcement that reaches us late or does not meet our requirements CANNOT be considered for broadcast. A 24-hour KALA public service announcement information help line has been established at (563) 333-6450. Messages can be left there should you have further questions.

You may also download a suggested submission form (Acrobat Reader PDF format):
ENGLISH PSA FORM 
SPANISH PSA FORM

Staff

David Baker, General Manager

Jordan Franks, Production Specialist

Contact


Dave Baker, General Manager

KALA Radio
Galvin Fine Arts Center
518 W. Locust St.
Davenport, IA 52803
563-333-6219
KALA@sau.edu

So, what's next?

Are you ready to take the next step? Click on the visit button below to learn more about our virtual and in-person visit options.