Seventeen years, one transmitter, thousands of voices.
Copperline began in a converted dentist's office with a second-hand transmitter and a sign-up sheet at the farmers market. Today the station occupies a 4,000-square-foot studio and trains two dozen new volunteers every year.
How Copperline grew
- 2009
First broadcast
A three-watt signal from a rented dentist's office on 4th Avenue, with eleven volunteers and one microphone.
- 2013
94.1 FM licence
The Federal Communications Commission granted us a full community licence, and the transmitter moved to Mount Lemmon.
- 2017
The Noon Desk begins
Our own news programme started with two reporters, a borrowed laptop and a weekly budget of eighty dollars.
- 2021
Bilingual line-up
La Hora Nueva went daily and now reaches more than 9,000 Spanish-speaking households.
- 2026
Studio expansion
A new live room opened for Saturday Sessions with room for a thirty-person audience.
The voices behind the microphones
Station manager Marisol Vega leads a core team of paid staff and a rotating crew of volunteer hosts.
- Marisol VegaStation manager and host of Desert Blues
- Teo MarquezProgramme director and Drive Time host
- Alicia MorenoNews director, The Noon Desk
- Dale OrtizOvernight host and volunteer coordinator
