Tune the radio dial to 88.1 FM any time of day or night and the sounds of the KWVA, the University’s student radio station, will fill the air – but what you may not be hearing is a student.
Depending on the time of year – the summer schedule tends to have fewer students participating – approximately half of the DJs at KWVA are community members. Time slots are assigned based on seniority and availability, meaning students are not always assigned to daytime shows. KWVA managers say this is normal, but some students at the station, as well as a member of the student senate, have questioned why a station owned by the University and paid for primarily by student fees gives time slots – particularly those during the day – to non-students.
KWVA DJ and former News Director Timothy Sutton has also worked at other radio stations and said that the process of being assigned to a new time slot can be complicated, but that every DJ, student or not, will start out working the late-night shift.
“The nature of the radio industry is that when you start, you start doing the worst hours possible. This is true for radio stations as a whole,” he said.
General Manager Charlotte Nisser said the station’s training process requires both students and community members to begin working in the late-night shifts. New DJs typically train in the early morning for a minimum of three months before being allowed to move up to the more coveted daytime slots. They not only have to learn the ins and outs of the job but also have to be aware of broadcasting laws, she said.
Nisser said FCC regulations, which have recently been increased to a fine of $325,000 for any radio station airing indecent material, put an extra burden on the station to ensure its DJs are completely aware of what they are allowed to broadcast.
“There is an incredible liability to putting someone on the air during the day until they’re properly trained, not only on the equipment but on what they can say on the air and what music they’re allowed to play,” she said.
After DJs are trained, the station attempts to move them to different time slots as vacancies become available but switching times may not be as easy as it sounds.
Student Carl Adelson has been a DJ at the station for a year and has run the same Sunday 2 to 4 a.m. shift since he started. After his training period ended Adelson asked thenew shift and was told there were no daytime slots available.
Those slots were occupied by DJs who had been at the station longer and were unwilling to give up their time slots. He said there are students working during the day but many DJs are
community members.
“I feel like students should have some priority,” Adelson said.
Community member DJs, who asked not to be identified for fear of making the station appear polarized, said that transmission does not stop at the edge of campus and having them broadens
the station’s perspectives and appeal. The station gives them the freedom to play what they want without corporate influence.
With 150 volunteer DJs working at the station, Nisser said that scheduling can be a problem and prime-time slots are not always open. Many DJs don’t have their own slots and serve only as substitutes for when the regular staff is not available. There are simply not enough hours in a week to accommodate
everyone, she said.
The station exists to educate and help students learn about the radio industry, especially if they are interested in continuing to work in broadcasting in the future, Nisser and Sutton said.
“We want to keep in mind that students may be here temporarily,” Sutton said, “but we want to have a system they can progress through based on where they’re going.”
Nisser also said KWVA wants to do everything it can to teach its student volunteers how the system works and that the learning
process involves working unusual hours.
“We’re trying to serve as an educational environment and this teaches students how to deal with operating 24 hours a day.”
While KWVA is not required to operate around the clock, stations that do not operate on a 24-hour schedule can be forced into a timeshare situation in which they have to share their frequency with other broadcasters.
Nisser said there is no reason for the station to run on a limited
time schedule because there is enough interest for a 24-hour broadcast.
Having a staff of both community members and students is vital to the station’s ability to stay on-air day and night because students are simply not available 24 hours per day, seven days per week and 365 days per year.
Community members are “invaluable” because they help fill
time slots when students are not available, either due to classes or to school breaks, Nisser said.
Sutton said that while some DJs may be annoyed at having to start out working a late-night shift, there does not seem to be tension between the students and community members on staff.
“There’s not always a clear line between who’s a student and who’s a community member. I consider KWVA to also be a community radio station,” he said.
Nisser also said volunteers from outside the University are important parts of making the station valuable to the entire
community. The station tries to ensure that at least 50 percent of its DJs are students in order to maintain a balance of students and community members on staff.
“Historically we’ve looked at serving the community, so it makes sense,” she said. “We have to work in the best interests of the community.”
While the station does work with both community members and students in order to meet the needs of all its listeners, the staff is interested in taking a closer look at the process of assigning
time slots. Nisser said the station is always re-evaluating its procedures and is currently taking a look at its training process.
Static at KWVA
Daily Emerald
July 19, 2006
Richard Bryck, a graduate student in psychology, has a Friday show on Kwva. Edwin Butler (left), who is a non-student community member, has a radio show on Wednesdays at 881. FM KWVA.
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