88.1 The One is KNTU-FM
KNTU is licensed to the University of North Texas and is on the air 24 hours, every day of the year, broadcasting with 100,000 watts at 88.1 FM.
The station's format is primarily Jazz, but also includes specialty programs that can be created and hosted by students; as of December 2021, there are not any of these type shows on the air, but a pair of students are hosting a podcast titled The Main Event. KNTU also offers educational and special interest programs, including news, sports, locally-produced information/issues programs, and features.
KNTU's purpose is essentially three-fold:
- To serve the public interest with news, public affairs, and entertainment programming for the McKinney, Denton, Dallas-Fort Worth area.
- To provide news and information of community interest about the University of North Texas.
- To provide an industry-standards environment in which students learn about radio broadcasting.
KNTU's on-air staff is mostly volunteer -- some students sign up to earn practicum credit toward their degrees -- with the station offering an excellent opportunity for UNT students to gain valuable broadcast experience in a variety of areas, including programming and production, news and sports announcing, sales and development, and station administration. The station has eight mid-level student managers who work part time, paid positions that usually last for a full year; sometimes a student manager graduates and leaves before working a full year.
All UNT students are eligible to work at KNTU. The studios are in the Radio/TV/Film & Performing Arts (RTFP) Building on the Denton campus of the University of North Texas. There are three Media Arts staff members providing guidance to the students: General Manager Dan Balla, Program/News/Operations Manager Mark Lambert, and Chief Engineer Randy Smith.