About KMQT and Darbus

KMQT (Kumquat Radio) is a little internet radio station based in the basement of my home in northern Utah, powered by AzuraCast. Below, you can read the history of this little station and all about Darbus, the owner.

KMQT History:

Ever since my oldest brother, Mr. A, had a little radio transmitter built from an electronics experiment kit, I've been interested in DJ-ing, though not professionally. Then, in either 1988 or 1989 (I think), I bought an FM wireless microphone. I taped it to a shelf, and I would broadcast music with it. It was very primitive. I had to turn my tape player up full blast to be able to play the music loud enough for the listeners to hear it. Plus, it would pick up all of the other noises in the "studio" (my bedroom). The station was called KTEN and was broadcast on 102.7 FM.

In 1990, Mr. A, was able to wire an electronics experiment kit that I had and create an AM transmitter for me. It was great! No more loud music. No more background noise. I kept the KTEN call sign, but the broadcast frequency was changed to 1000 AM

Sometime during all of this shuffle, I briefly used the call letters KMQT. I wanted to find a call sign that actually spelled a word. So, I went looking in the dictionary for words that could easily be spelled (or abbreviated) with four letters. I came to 'kumquat'. I thought that it was just random enough and silly enough to use, that I chose that to be the word of choice. Hence the call letters, KMQT.

Later down the road, Mr. A took an FM wireless microphone similar to the one I had previously used and wired it so that I could plug the audio directly into it. This was great. I finally had the ability to broadcast on FM again but without the loud music or background noise. By this time, the amount of music and equipment that I owned had expanded somewhat. I changed my call letters to KVDQ and the frequency was changed to 102.9 FM.

As the years passed, the station took a back seat in my life. In 1994, Mr. A and another brother, Mr. B, started making tapes for the three of us to pass around and listen to. These tapes were like little radio shows. I decided that I wanted to do this, also. So, for a year I made weekly "broadcast" tapes, as well. At the time, my show was called The Kumquat Show. There would be a theme on one side of the tape and my top 10 songs and a song of the week on the other side. Then came another long break.

In 2001, Mr. B had discovered this new thing: Internet radio. He signed up with Live365 and started doing a weekly show. I had decided that would be really fun to do. He graciously donated one of his radio stations to me to be able to upload music to and to maintain. I called my new station KVDQ Online. I did a weekly broadcast, and everything was going great. In early 2002, I changed the name of the station to KMQT (Kumquat Radio). Lack of listeners and desire to broadcast caused me to shut the station down. I made another attempt at broadcasting in 2003. Once again, lack of listeners and enthusiasm for the station caused me to quit.

In mid-2007, I signed up for my own Live365 station. I again called it KMQT (Kumquat Radio). I had music uploaded to the station, and I did a weekly live broadcast on Fridays called The Darbus Show. Everything was going well. But, as usual, I stopped broadcasting due to lack of listeners and desire.

In late 2009, I caught the broadcasting bug yet again. Instead of broadcasting with Live365, I decided to broadcast to my audience straight from my computer. There is no station, per se, but the weekly broadcast, The Darbus Show, was brought back to life on January 1, 2010 and aired every Friday evening at 6:00 p.m., Mountain Time. The Darbus Show only lasted about 5 weeks in this format.

In 2011, I once again attempted to start an internet station, once again using the KVDQ Online name. Unfortunately, this station never got off the ground. I don't remember exactly what happened. I believe it was because I lacked the funds to pay for the service.

Fast forward to now. KMQT (Kumquat Radio) is back playing the sweetest music mix on the 'net. The Darbus Show is also back, airing every Friday night.

About Darbus:

Hello. My name is Darbus. I am the owner and operator of KMQT (Kumquat Radio) and the host of The Darbus Show. I entered this world in mid-September 1976. I am the youngest of 4 boys in my family. Two out of my three brothers are huge fans of music. So, what happened to the other one? He likes books. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's probably actually better for him.

Instead, I followed in the footsteps of the other two. My oldest, Mr. A, has been collecting music for 40+ years. The other brother, Mr. B, has been for over 30 years. Their music libraries would rival those of the local music store. It is from them that I gained my love of recorded music. I have been officially building up my music library for about 35 years. The amount of music that I have is nothing compared to the other two, but I've been known to impress people with my collection. I'm not saying this to boast, but rather to illustrate how much I like the stuff.

I've been DJ-ing music, though not professionally, for about 35 years. I started by operating a little station that was nothing more than an FM microphone. I have occasionally been called upon to play music for a few parties here and there, but that's about it. I do like playing music and sharing it with whoever will listen. That's why I'm glad that we now have Internet radio. Internet radio makes this hobby of mine a lot easier to do. I'll admit, though, that I do get disappointed when I have nobody to listen to me broadcast.

I'm a fan of most every kind of music. I have a little bit of everything in my collection. During the early 1990s, my music of choice was Rap & Hip-Hop (back before it was all Gangsta Rap). During the mid to late 1990s, I switched to Alternative. In the past two decades, though, I've become a fan of mostly Electronic and Techno.

My favorite artists include (in no particular order) "Weird Al" Yankovic, Enigma, The Chemical Brothers, Kraftwerk, Nine Inch Nails, Basement Jaxx, The Crystal Method, Daft Punk, They Might Be Giants, Yanni, and many more.