KMUE, the northern Humboldt broadcast of KMUD licensed in Redway, was upgraded to an HD signal and moved March 21 from 88.3 to 88.1 on the dial after a year and a half of planning by Redwood Community Radio staff. The move was funded in part by a matching grant through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

”We think people will really enjoy this new signal,” said station manager Sarah Reid, “not only does it give us additional Digital signals that could broadcast other content in the future, but it also gives us a much clearer digital signal now and increase the power of our analog signal eight times.”

”There is no need to buy a new radio you just need to switch to the new frequency, 88.1,” said Technical Director Simon Frech, “but if you do buy a new HD radio you will receive our signal clear and pop-free.”

Fundraising remains underway while the work is done.

”We had to fulfill certain objectives to release the funds from CPB so have been paying some of that up front,” Reid said. KMUE will host a May fundraiser to help pay for the upgrade.

”I hope that people will enjoy the new signal and come out to our Wine Tasting May 12th to both celebrate and help support the improvement,” she said.

Listeners can contact KMUE or leave a voice message on the upgrade comment line at 932-5677. “We are still fine tuning and working out some bugs so we encourage listeners to call us and give us feed back about what they are hearing in their areas,” Reid said.

The upgrade is the first in a series to be made by Redwood Community Radio. Later this year they will be upgrading their KMUD 91.1 frequency in Garberville and will upgrade their translator, 99.5 in Shelter Cove. Unlike the KMUE upgrade, these frequencies will stay the same.