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Born 22 years ago as a pirate radio station rigged up in a dormitory closet, KUCI-FM has evolved into a smartly run alternative-rock outlet with an ever-growing staff, budget and cult following.
But UC Irvine's student-run station for years has been bursting at the seams of its feeble signal, which evaporates from one's car radio within minutes of driving beyond the city limits.
"We're too big for our britches," says Shari Bagwell, the station's general manager.
Soon, though, KUCI may finally get to loosen its belt a bit. The Federal Communications Commission recently approved the station's request to boost its power more than eightfold.
If the station can raise the estimated $75,000 it needs to buy new equipment, within 18 months it will increase its strength from 24 to 200 watts. It will also convert to a signal that will make it easier to pick up on a car antenna, and for the first time, it will send out its intrepid musical mix in stereo.
Currently, KUCI (88.9) reaches from its campus transmitter to certain pockets in Corona del Mar, Anaheim, Tustin and Garden Grove. Station staff members expect the expanded signal will overcome daunting hillsides and other obstacles to reach listeners as far away as Placentia and Huntington Beach.
"We'll definitely make it to the beaches" south of the campus, where potential listeners are now cut off by hills, Bagwell says.
The station made four previous attempts to apply for FCC approval but...