Zak Wood / Colorado Daily

Sally Voyles, a CU junior and Radio 1190 DJ, poses for a photo in the station's studio in the basement of the UMC.

Zak Wood / Colorado Daily

Radio 1190 DJ Alex Boguniewicz announces the next songs he'll play while on the air Monday.

Zak Wood / Colorado Daily

Marika Emerson looks through the library of CDs at Radio 1190.

Katherine Peterson has -- by far -- the coolest job on campus.

As music director at the University of Colorado's Radio 1190 (KVCU 1190 AM), she pretty much just listens to new music.

All day long.

"Most of my job is listening to music and making decisions about music," says Peterson, a senior majoring in applied mathematics. "I can do that all while I'm studying and doing homework."

Peterson is sitting in Radio 1190's offices in the basement of the University Memorial Center, where the station on Tuesday will mark its 10th anniversary on the air in Boulder. The station's staff has been celebrating the occasion all year, and will formally mark the milestone with a Nov. 21 concert in Denver.

The non-commercial station, run mainly by students, is going strong, and can be heard on the AM dial from Castle Rock to Fort Collins -- and online from anywhere in the world. Radio 1190 recently was nominated by the College Music Journal as one of the top student-run, non-FM stations in the country.

"1190 has a lot of heart," says Mike Flanagan, the station's general manager. "Because the mission is so worthy, their whole reason for living is not to make a ton of money . . . their mission is to actually put good music out."

In the basement

Radio 1190's basement offices are lined with vibrant music posters, album covers, cubes of vinyl and walls and walls of CDs. Precisely 19,000 of them.

A dozen volunteers jump from room to room, browsing albums, working on Macs, compiling playlists, listening to music and, most importantly, talking music.

The on-air studio door is open, leaving those free to wander in and out.

DJ Alex Boguniewicz is compiling the hour's playlist as the sounds of David Byrne's "Social Studies," Gritty Kitty's "Summer Rain," Begushkin's "Gone to Hell," Cold War Kids' "Mexican Dogs" and Bloc Party's "This Modern Love" fill the room.

Sam Sacher, the student general manager, is observing and room hopping. Peterson sits at her desk leafing through three large stacks of brand-new CDs.

The station has come along away since CU's first radio outlet, KUCB, debuted in 1978 -- and spent the next 20 years broadcasting into the Boulder campus' dorms, where few tuned in. In the late '90s, however, broadcast company Jacor donated 1190 AM to CU when it purchased KTCL (93.3 FM) and needed to unload one of its Denver-area signals to meet federal ownership guidelines.

Since then, 1190 has made a reputation for veering far from the mainstream.

"We play music that you can't hear on any other radio station," Peterson says.

Heart and soul

Peterson says the main reason the independent station really stands apart from others is not only the music selection, but also the dedication of the staff -- most of whom are volunteers, and take serious pride in their work.

"All the DJs here really care about music and are really passionate about the radio station," she says.

Flanagan, the general manager, agrees.

Since the station relies mainly on funding from donors, is equipped with 15-16 student managers, volunteers and a handful of community members, Radio 1190 can keep existing frugally while still producing a good product, he says.

"Money is not our major motivation," says Flanagan, who has been involved in radio since he was 16. "Putting out really good radio is. The staff put their heart and souls into it.

"So as long as we've got interested young people, we're going to have an interesting radio station."

Variety show

Flanagan credits 1190's success with its wide variety of programming.

"We're really unique," says Flanagan, who has been with 1190 since 2005. "We don't limit ourselves to a restricted playlist. We change things out quite a bit."

Specialty programs include "Route 78 West," which plays "honky tonk trucker's 78s and rarities"; "Under the Mattress," which includes a first hour of '50s underground followed by a 10-minute surf interlude, then some '60s underground; DJ Johnny Trash, who spins old-school punk; Bhangra, Bollywood and more with "Beats From the East"; and, of course, the station's renowned "Basementalism," which features underground hip-hop.

"We have people who gravitate towards certain eras and they bring a lot to that," Flanagan says. "They're doing it for the love of music."

Peterson came aboard in 2005 because she wanted to learn more about music. She hosts the "Local Shakedown" on Friday afternoons, which pays homage to the local music scene.

Peterson likes having a voice on the air.

"You don't really have a sense of how many people are listening to you, because you really only get a couple calls during your show," she says. "A lot of times it feels like you are playing music for yourself and talking on the radio and maybe nobody's even listening."

But she does like the fact that there are people listening and she is getting good music out to the masses.

Flanagan says Radio 1190 offers a good hands-on experience for student DJs.

"There's nothing like going on the air and knowing that thousands of people are listening," he says.