Recognized as the Twin Cities’ public radio voice for jazz, roots music, and education, Jazz88 is a program of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS). Students participate in KBEM’s hands-on educational program, which focuses on all aspects of broadcasting and production. Students who develop their skills and select broadcasting experience can gain significant on-air time. A Brief History The broadcasting education program that spawned KBEM was established at Minneapolis Vocational High School in the mid-1960s. The station signed on in 1970, carrying a widely varied checkerboard of programming. In 1983, it moved to new facilities in North High School as part of the District’s desegregation initiative and it continues to reside there today. Jazz music became the main programming focus in the mid-1980s and the station started to build a loyal and sizeable audience. Today, Jazz88 is financially self-sufficient through listener donations, grants, partnerships, and business support, taking no cash subsidy from the school district. The Radio curriculum now teaches general professional and academic skills and media literacy through project-based work on and off the air. The majority of students involved with the Radio curriculum and school-year Jazz With Class program attend North High School, but students from all around the city participate as reporters for the School News segment, and as summer employees through the Step-Up program. You can listen live at 88.5 FM or by visiting www.jazz88.fm.