On his rounds as a postman in Cupertino, he doesn't always listen to the radio station where he has spun records since 1972--KKUP, 91.5 FM.

But to him, that's the point.

KKUP, which is run completely by volunteers and operates free from corporate control, plays the personal preferences of whoever's in the studio. "We're not a one-trick pony," Hathaway says. "Commercial radio gives you the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry of music. We're more like Baskin-Robbins."

Hathaway started as a deejay for the station in 1972, hauling in his own Western swing music records to play on the station that calls Cupertino its home. Though the listener-supported station now operates out of a storefront in Santa Clara, it still reflects its roots; every Sunday Hathaway hosts the three-hour Cupertino Barndance program, which features his favorites in bluegrass and honky tonk.

"That's why I haven't gotten burned out--I play what I enjoy," he says. Programs range from public affairs and poetry reading to New Age and oldies music. It's said around the station that KKUP plays the most reggae of any radio station in the country.

Enough listeners in the South Bay area hear their personal preferences on the station to keep it afloat with their donations. But station manager Louise Streck says finances can be a struggle. "We're one of the last 100 percent listener-sponsored stations in the country. There's no funding from the government or corporations," she says. "We get by on small donations, though every once in a while, we'll get a $1,000 pledge. The people drive us."

This has always been the theme at KKUP. The station originated at Pinewood Private School in Los Altos in 1969 when the principal decided to give up on the school's educational radio station, called KPSR. A group of five college students, including several from De Anza College, formed the Radio Club of Cupertino and applied for KPSR's license with the help of the Cupertino Jaycees.

The initial application was denied, but the group joined forces with the parks and recreation department in Cupertino, which saw the radio station as a way to reach out to the city's youth. The FCC accepted the second application, but the proposed call letters of KCUP were denied, and KKUP became the accepted substitute.

Studio space was eventually found in the vacant Water Department building on Pasadena Avenue. The city allowed the club to rent the space for $1 a year. A transmitter shack and tower atop Mt. Tomita were also leased for the same sum. After preparing the studio space and transmitter for action, KKUP began broadcasting in May 1972.

Hathaway became aware of the station shortly after it started up, and with a friend who was enrolled in a radio broadcasting class at Foothill College, decided to take the FCC test required of all deejays at that time. "I passed it, and she didn't," Hathaway says with a laugh. "I decided just to do it as an avocation. It was an outlet to play the country music I loved."

Around the same time, Hathaway began delivering mail in Cupertino. He recalls his disbelief about the legitimacy of Apple Computers after completing his rounds through the young company's campus. In 1978, he took over the Cupertino Barndance program from its originator, musician Cornell Hurd, and the program is now the longest running on KKUP.

Hathaway has developed a following over the years, and is even called to speak at country music events because of his expertise. "Everyone here has a real passion for what they do," he says.

Streck's involvement with the station came about much later--her husband has hosted a reggae show for a number of years and used to roller skate to the station with a backpack of records. She took on the station manager role three years ago and handles the administrative duties, including listener pledges and complaints. Streck also handles the personality conflicts that naturally pop up among the diverse group of deejays--KKUP has a staff of about 150.

"Everyone has an opinion," Streck says with a smile. "But people love it and want to stay. We want to keep staff spots open for people who want to give it a try, but that's hard sometimes." She says that deejays drive in from as far away as Santa Cruz and Fort Bragg to get their moment on the airwaves. Hathaway lives in Hercules. KKUP calls itself the station of the people, both for the support of its 20,000 listeners and about 1,350 subscribers, but also for reflecting the musical tastes of the regular folks who sit behind the microphone.

The station had to move to Santa Clara in 1995 due to rising rent in Cupertino but still maintains a mailing address in Cupertino in keeping with its FCC license.

While Steck says the signal has come in for her as far south as Soledad and Bakersfield, it's a little unstable over parts of Cupertino, the city where KKUP started.

"We're trying to put boosters in," she says.