Spinning Indie 50 State Tour: Stop 17 - Virginia's WTJU

Since 2008, I've been gradually making my way through the United States in an attempt to profile a college radio station from every state in order to bring to light some of the intriguing radio stations located in both expected and unexpected places in every corner of the country. So far, I've made virtual trips to Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota, Nevada, West Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, California, Nebraska, Idaho, Tennessee and South Carolina. My next stop on the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour is WTJU at University of Virginia.

WTJU has been around for 55 years, having been founded in 1957 at University of Virginia. WTJU was the second station started up by the Department of Speech and Drama (the first station, campus-only AM carrier current station WUVA, began in 1947 and is now an FM commercial station). By 1963, WTJU became a separate student organization. In the years since its founding, the station has increased the number of broadcast hours, has added community volunteers, and has branched out from its early staple of classical music programming to a wide range of sounds as well as a variety of public affairs programs.

WTJU's Current Air Studio Board (Photo: WTJU)

In honor of WTJU's 50th anniversary in 2007, a special section of WTJU's website was created in order to compile tidbits of the station's history as well as to archive audio and materials from anniversary celebrations. This June, in honor of the station's 55th anniversary celebration, WTJU General Manager Nathan Moore reached out to me. He told me that around 150 people attended the 55th anniversary event on June 2, 2012. Alumni were able to tour the station, get back on the air, and attend a reception and after-party. Moore told me that efforts to archive the station's history are ongoing and plans are in the works for a "searchable digital public archive of WTJUs history."

Moore told me that this year's anniversary party gave him an interesting glimpse into how the station and the university had changed over the years. He explained, "In 1970, WTJU was still a virtually all classical station. It was also all male – UVA didn’t accept women (except to the Nursing school) until Fall 1970. The station’s student management looked something like this. By 1980, the student management looked like this. It was a wild, sometimes anarchic place with rock, jazz, classical, and a few folk shows. The Rock Director had to remind DJs to not smoke pot in the studio. She had to put a stop to a DJ doing lines off one of the turntables."

WTJU DJ in 1966 (Photo: WTJU)

He also explained that WTJU was full of indie rock luminaries in the 1980s and 1990s. According to Moore, "The 1980s and early 1990s at WTJU were the first heyday of college radio – at least as we think of college radio today. Stephen Malkmus was a DJ. James McNew (from Yo La Tengo), David Berman (from Silver Jews), and Rob Sheffield (Rolling Stone critic) were DJs. And a whole lot of other tremendous and passionate people who went on to do other great things, but who aren’t so well known for their work in the music industry."


Moore told me that WTJU didn't have any paid staff until 1993, when the station hired Chuck Taylor as its full-time General Manager.  Taylor retired in 2010 and was replaced by Burr Beard. Soon after Beard was hired, he proposed major programming changes at the station (which I reported on for Radio Survivor in June 2010). His proposal sparked outcry among WTJU's volunteers and even led to the creation of a website called WTJU in Crisis, described as "a clearing-house for the community to encourage full transparency of the changes that are being made to WTJU, The Sound Choice in Central Virginia." By October, 2010, Burr resigned from WTJU. Moore replaced him as General Manager in April, 2011.

Moore, a former college radio DJ himself, answered some questions for me over email in order to give me a sense of how WTJU is doing today. In our interview he talks about efforts to recruit more students to the station, the role of physical music at the station, and how WTJU is enmeshed in the local music scene in Charlottesville, Virginia.

WTJU Live from the Lawn  Protest Rally, which WTJU broadcast live

Pictured (l to r): Lewis Reining, news producer, Tyler Magill, rock DJ, 

Dave Moore (in black shirt, also a rock DJ), and John Casteen, former UVA President. 

(Photo: WTJU)

Spinning Indie: What's your background in radio? Were you involved with other college radio stations?

Nathan Moore:  I started as a college radio DJ at WWVU in Morgantown, WV back in 1998 [and] was a rock DJ for all four years of my college tenure and a talk show host, jazz DJ, and News Director for two years. After graduating, I went to grad school in Madison, Wisconsin [and] got involved as a volunteer at WORT, the community radio station up there. In 2004, I was hired as the full-time News & Public Affairs Director at WORT. In 2007, I was hired as the National Programming Coordinator for Pacifica Radio, and then from 2009-2011, I was the General Administrator at Free Speech Radio News.

Spinning Indie: How are your efforts going to recruit more students? What percentage students/what percentage community members do you have on-air?

Nathan Moore: Efforts are ongoing. Progress, but there's more to do. Last year, we did some outreach tabling, flyer drops, and publicity through UVA departments. This year, we're also putting together three free concerts geared toward campus, including an election night concert and a pretty big battle of the bands style event in the spring. Non-student community members still constitute the large majority of on-air staff, though all our departments are working on bringing in more students. It's easiest to recruit more students for rock, news/talk, and folk & world. A bit harder for classical and jazz, though we've gotten a few more student DJs in those departments, too.

WTJU in 1959 (Photo: Daily Progress) 

Spinning Indie: Do you have music in your collection dating back to the early years of the station? Any favorite gems?

Nathan Moore: Oh geez, probably. WTJU was a nearly all-classical format from its founding in 1957 until 1970 or so, and we have a lot of very old classical LPs. But I honestly haven't taken a thorough inventory. I'm a little bit too young to have grown up with vinyl as the dominant technology, but a little too old to embrace it as a hip way to listen to music.

Spinning Indie: Does WTJU add vinyl? cassettes? How big is your collection of vinyl and do DJs embrace it?

Nathan Moore: Definitely vinyl. Our rock department auto-adds vinyl. Cassettes no. We don't even have a cassette deck hooked up to a  board anymore, though we do have a cassette deck in the production studio rack, should we ever need to pull some old audio off of an old tape. A lot of DJs here are definitely into vinyl. Old-timers and undergrads alike. I'm pretty sure we're the last station in town playing vinyl on-air.

Spinning Indie: Do you add digital releases?

Nathan Moore: Yes, though we mostly still get CDs from the labels. But yeah, in the last six months or so, we installed a 12 TB music server. We add new music to it, as well as ripping our CD collection to it. It's a rather tedious process, but it'll open up new creative possibilities once it reaches critical mass.

WTJU's Recently Revamped Production/News & Talk Studio (Photo: WTJU)

Spinning Indie: Do you have any specific programs/specialty shows that are unique to WTJU or stand out as being different from anything else on radio?

Nathan Moore: A few that come to mind:

-- Soulful Situation: Dixiefried southern soul, uptown northern R&B. Classic tracks presented with much bravado by Rumcove (aka Robin Tomlin). Monday afternoons 12-2pm.

-- Gamut: the gamut of classical music from the middle ages to present. The DJ (Ralph Graves) has never repeated a track since he started hosting the program in 1984. Wednesday mornings 6-9am.

-- The Broadcasting System: A truly freeform radio show that speaks to the incredibly independent spirit of WTJU. Host Tyler Magill recently played Stereolab, Ornette Coleman, and the sounds of woodpeckers in the same half-hour. And it kind of worked. Mondays 2-4pm.

-- Deepest South: This is probably my favorite new show that we rolled out with our July program changes. It's this tremendous genre-agnostic show that redefines how we listen to Latin communities across the globe. Steve Villereal and Anne Dunckel alternate, Thursdays 12-2pm.

Beta Bridge at UVA painted for the WTJU Rock Marathon Fundraiser (Photo: WTJU)

Spinning Indie: What is WTJU's role in the local music scene?

Nathan Moore: We support the local music scene and it supports us. We do artist interviews and live on-air performances, and we play  a lot of local bands' albums. We even have a weekly folk show called "Around This Town" that features artists coming to town in the next seven days. We do promotional trades for a lot of shows. We provide a platform for an awful lot of live music, especially in the local folk & roots music scene. We aired eight or nine live shows from venues around the area in the last year. All of this crosses genres, too – our folk department has been the most active in the local scene, but the rock, jazz, and classical departments have been doing all of this, too.

Spinning Indie: Can you tell me a bit about your new public affairs shows?

Nathan Moore: There's a ton of public radio in Charlottesville – three NPR services, in fact, which is a lot for a market this size. But they're all translators for stations that are elsewhere in the state, which means they're not covering Charlottesville stories with the kind of depth and discussion that they deserve.

Our new show "Soundboard" dives into hyperlocal Charlottesville affairs and also connects national stories to our community, weekdays 9-10am. Right now, we're only producing the Thursday and Friday shows locally, but that'll expand to five mornings in the coming months. The Friday edition of Soundboard is a terrific partnership between us, the alt-weekly C'Ville, and Charlottesville Tomorrow, a hyperlocal online news site. I host the Thursday edition, and I especially like to connect national stories to Charlottesville. We're slated to roll out some weekly recurring segments as the show expands, including: backyard gardening, true stories & improv, natural history, and wine & food.  (Albemarle County is home to more than a dozen wineries.) I'm also working on a content partnership with the daily student newspaper at UVA.

Spinning Indie: Does WTJU interact with the broader college radio community? Do you have friends at nearby stations?

Nathan Moore: Sure. We were also one of the participating stations in the inaugural College Radio Day last year, and we have a contingent that attends MACRoCk each year – the Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference. We also are very much part of the community radio scene. We're friends with WRIR in Richmond, and I’ve got connections throughout the NFCB world.


Thanks to Nathan Moore for taking the time to chat with me about WTJU. Stick around to see where the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour ends up next...

Spinning Indie 50 State Tour: Stop 16 - South Carolina's WSBF

After a too long hiatus, the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour returns with an all-new virtual trip to a college radio station somewhere in the United States. The aim of this series is to bring to light some of the intriguing radio stations located in both expected and unexpected places in every corner of the U.S.

The 15 college radio stations that I've featured thus far include stations in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota, Nevada, West Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, California, Nebraska, Idaho, and Tennessee.

The time around we venture to South Carolina to learn more about Clemson University radio station WSBF. In existence for more than 50 years, the initial idea for WSBF was conceived by Clemson freshman Van Fair in 1956. After writing a paper for his English class about why Clemson should have a radio station, he began the process of making that desire into a reality. In 1957 he teamed up with other interested students, including one who was running a pirate AM station out of his dorm room. In late 1957 the call letters WSBF were selected and the carrier current campus-only station was built in 1958 and went on the air on May 1, 1958. WSBF then began the process to transition to an FCC-licensed FM station and began FM broadcasts in 1960. In his accounting of the early days of the station, Fair writes, "I know that my experiences at WSBF prepared me as much for life as my Clemson education did." The WSBF website's history section includes reminiscences from a number of former DJs and it's a nice way to get a flavor for the place. There's also a section containing WSBF alumni biographies.

Today WSBF airs an alternative music format with a mix of new music and specialty music shows. They also produce a live music show called "Live Sessions" that is also filmed with the help of their campus TV station and posted to the WSBF You Tube channel.

According to WSBF's General Manager Joe Dubrowski, new music (or "rotation") shows are required to play at least 75% material from the station's new music section and also cannot play material by artists who have had a top 100 Billboard hit or a Gold album.

Dubrowski said that there is still music in the library from the early days of the station. He told me, "We have an extensive library of music dating back to the early days of the station. Our vinyl collection is not in perfect alphabetical order, but if you spend some time looking through it, there are some gems. I like to spend some time reading the reviews and seeing what people had to say about the early works of now legendary artists." He also mentioned that there are some long-running shows on the station, including the Sunday night "Protogressive Show" hosted by Joe Della-Fera for 22 years.

In his email interview with me, Dubrowski also talks WSBF's annual Spring Music and Art show and how the station fits in with the local music scene in Clemson, South Carolina.

2007 Live Sessions Flyer

(courtesy WSBF)

Spinning Indie: Your station has a lengthy history. What are your favorite tidbits/scandals from your station's past?

Joe Dubrowski, WSBF General Manager: My favorite part of station history is the infamous “ball gag” incident. A few station DJs decided they would express themselves in a rather unusual way at the Clemson University First Friday Parade. Their dress and antics at the event got us banned from the parade until just recently.

Spinning Indie: Do most students at Clemson know about the station? Do a lot of students listen to the station? Is the staff/DJs mostly students?

Joe Dubrowski: Clemson is a big school and there are a lot of activities to get involved in, but being a part of WSBF is the best choice any student could make. When I first came to Clemson 5 years ago, I would say that most students did not know about WSBF. However, some big promotional efforts in the last several years have raised awareness. Currently, I'd say that most students know that we are here. Most of our staff is made up of students but we do have a group of graduate students and community members and we have had professors and other Clemson University staff in the past. To my knowledge, we are the only student organization on campus that allows and encourages membership by non-students.

Spinning Indie: What's the local music scene like and how is WSBF involved with that scene?

Joe Dubrowski: The local music scene in Clemson is, let's say, developing. The biggest challenge in Clemson is the lack of any dedicated music venue. The only choice for artists is a handful of bars, none of which have an ideal set up. Anytime WSBF puts on a show downtown, we bring our own equipment and sometimes we even rent and assemble a stage for the performers.With that said, we have a unique role in our community because of the lack of an established scene. In many ways, we really ARE the music scene. WSBF has developed a loyal following and many people will come out to our shows regardless of the genre. It's pretty cool to see the diverse crowds at our shows. It feels good to see a dedicated group of people who enjoy supporting live music and their local radio station.

Spinning Indie: Can you tell me a bit about the festivals that you've produced?

Joe Dubrowski: The WSBF Spring Music and Arts Festival is currently in its 4th year and I'm always excited to see the growth of the event from year to year.  This all day event showcases national and local musicians, artists, vendors, and businesses. WSBF Spring Music & Arts Festival is a service-oriented event that aims to collect donated goods to be provided to the neighboring communities where it is needed most... WSBF Spring Fest IV... [took] place on Friday, April 13th at Tiger Park in Clemson, SC.

Spinning Indie: Do you listen to other college radio stations? Who do you admire?

Joe Dubrowski: I love WUSC in Columbia at the University of South Carolina. A lot of us listen to them and we have a good, friendly relationship. In the past we have co-sponsored some shows and events. Last year, we invited the DJs at WREK at Georgia Tech up to Clemson and had a fun time hanging out with them. We are also jealous of their 100,000 watt output power! I think it is important that college radio stations support and learn from each other, especially with the current state of college radio.

Spinning Indie: Anything else?

Joe Dubrowski: I'd just like to mention our recent partnership with RadioFlag. RadioFlag is an Internet social media website that connects radio stations with a focus on college, community, and independent radio. With their help, we have seen our listenership increase. We are one of only a few stations to receive an award from them as a "Spirited College Radio Station". In addition, we are the southeast representative on their College Radio Advisory Board. I am excited about our future collaborations and can’t thank them enough for their continued support.

I'd also like to extend a big thanks to Spinning Indie for this interview and featuring us in the 50 State Tour Series. For more info on WSBF you may visit our website at wsbf.net or facebook.com/wsbf881. We are also on twitter @WSBF_FM.

Spinning Indie 50 State Tour: Stop 15 - Tennessee's WRVU

Just in time for Spring Break, the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour returns with an all-new virtual trip to a college radio station somewhere in the United States. The aim of this series is to bring to light some of the intriguing radio stations located in both expected and unexpected places in every corner of the U.S.

The 14 college radio stations that I've featured thus far include stations in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota, Nevada, West Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, California, Nebraska and Idaho.

This time around, we venture to Tennessee to learn more about the Vanderbilt University station WRVU. They have been on my radar recently, as they've had some controversy brewing over a decision last December to reduce the number of non-student DJs over their airwaves. I was impressed that not only did WRVU General Manager Mikil Taylor reach out to me to see if I'd like to profile his station, but that he also didn't shy away from my barrage of questions about the brouhaha over community DJ involvement at WRVU.

In his interview with me, Mikil explains why they reduced the number of non-student DJs at WRVU and points out the impact that this move has had on their schedule. He also goes into detail about the history of the station, talks about their connection with the local music scene in Nashville, and explains how they bond with another local college radio station (WMTS at Middle Tennessee State University) every year through a kickball competition. On to our interview:

WRVU Control Room

(Photo courtesy Mikil Taylor)

Spinning Indie: In December 2009 WRVU placed a cap on the number of non-student DJs on the air. This decision to drop 25 shows hosted by community DJs has sparked criticism by station staff and listeners. Can you explain why a cap was placed on community involvement?

Mikil Taylor: Last fall, the board that owns WRVU, which consists of 5 students and 3 faculty members of Vanderbilt, grew concerned about the amount of airtime that was being devoted to those with no affiliation with the University. By last fall, the number was at about 50 or 60, and growing by 5 or 10 a semester.

Due to the nature of most, although by no means all, community DJs, they have tight schedules and can usually only DJ during the prime spots on weeknights and weekends. The general practice at WRVU was to create a list of "untouchable" shows and place them in their normal spots (that list had grown to about 20), then students and other affiliates, and then community members.

However, since students often have a much freer schedule, many community members would not have spots available to them to DJ when their spots came up. Thus, we moved students to other spots they could do, normally during mid-weekdays, and put the community members in. We broke our own rules in doing that, but it had been the practice since I had been here to get everyone in, in any way possible.

Should I have changed it back to what the rules said? Absolutely, and WRVU now runs that way. This unfortunately led to a few formerly "untouchable" shows losing their timeslots, but at some point we had to face the question as to what was more important: Educating students or providing good non-mainstream music in unfamiliar genres? Considering we are funded mainly by Student Activity Fees and were founded as a learning tool for students, emphasizing students has to be the priority. The board wanted to make sure that happened.

The Board has had a policy in their bylaws since 2003 that no one who wasn't affiliated with Vanderbilt University was to be a regular contributor to any of their publications (This Board also owns the student newspaper). This included a sentence for WRVU, saying they could provide exceptions as they saw fit. Last fall, they essentially changed that sentence to say that they could set a limit on the number of exceptions they could provide, a number that was to be set each year. They asked me for assistance in setting the number, and I failed to do enough research and preparation in arriving at a number. I believe the number 25 is a little low, and I think the increase in shows run by autorotation reflect that. Luckily, this number will be revisited before the fall semester, and I plan on lobbying for an increase.

Essentially, I think the issues boiled down to this:

- The board wanted to emphasize students, and feared that having over half of the DJs at WRVU be unaffiliated with Vanderbilt was crowding out students. In addition to the crowding out of times, they also felt that potential student DJs were discouraged by the number of older DJs at the station. Considering our funding, they did not want to do anything to discourage student participation.

- The drastic increase in community participation was going to eventually lead to a cap of some sort, and the board felt that now was a good time.

- WRVU is the only organization on campus that allows those not affiliated with the University to have access to buildings after-hours. The board felt the number given that privilege posed a security risk, especially given how little they knew about them. They have since began to collect more information about community DJs, including a copy of their drivers license just in case anything goes wrong.

I have talked to a few board members, and they are certainly open to the possibility of changing the policy next semester. However, there will need to be really good evidence and reasoning behind any proposal. I am currently in the process of gathering historical data to support our case.

WRVU Office
(Photo Courtesy Mikil Taylor)

Spinning Indie: What role do community and student DJs play at the station today?

Mikil: As per VSC bylaw, WRVU is entirely run by undergraduate students. Djs can be undergraduates, graduate students, alumni, faculty/staff, or community members. Even though we are run by students, we get a lot of help from all the Djs. There are a lot of people who know just about everything about the industry and help us tremendously when we try to plan stuff. The contacts, knowledge, and experience many of these people have is a great source of knowledge to draw from.

In addition, some of the old e-staff members are still at the station and are always there to help through a bind. In bringing non-students into the station to interact with the students, I think that WRVU is one of the best stations in the country. We're not overrun and ruled by people with an unspoken power like some stations that allow non-students; we're run by students. I like that, and I think it makes WRVU consistently changing. We don't have to worry about commercial considerations, so we play whatever we want.

There's something to be said for continuity and having a recognizable schedule or sound, but we're in college and don't have to consistently worry about that to stay afloat. Our Djs are very sympathetic to that mission, so we get 6am punk rock, a schedule that seems to do a squaredance, and that great feeling that you get when you drive down the road, flip on the radio to hear a show you don't recognize, and be blown away by the quality of the staff here.

I think one thing that's been lost in all this hubub is that there are still 25 fantastic community DJs at WRVU, in addition to the 70 or so students, faculty members, and alumni also doing great shows. It's tough to find ways to get everyone to interact outside of their shows, but we're trying a few ways. I think that's one of the biggest challenges of a station like this: How do you get everyone to stay and talk to one another and do more than their two hours and leave? It's a question I hope we can answer.

We get a lot of volunteers, student and otherwise, for some of our special events around Vanderbilt. One of my particular favorites is called "WRVU on the Wall", where we sit outside the cafeteria and blast music for an hour. It's open to any DJ who wants to do it, and we've got a bit of a waiting list to run them. It's a really cool shift from the dark windowless studio to being outside in 70-degree weather playing for people who can show their appreciation right there. We've had a pretty great reaction toit from students, many of whom didn't even know we existed.

WRVU (Photo Courtesy Mikil Taylor)

Spinning Indie: How did WRVU decide which DJs/shows to eliminate? Were any of them long-running programs?

The executive staff of WRVU, which is made up of students, sat down in December and put together a list of shows we recommended to stay at WRVU. We considered length of time at WRVU, type of music played, how helpful the DJ was (i.e. showing up at station events, programming CDs, generally making our lives easier), and other things. We submitted the proposal to the board, and most of our recommendations were accepted.

Anybody who was there can tell you that it was not an easy process. There really wasn't anyone who applied that wasn't entirely qualified. It sucks having to turn away so many great Djs, all of whom could do great shows. In the end, it was a case of having 50 or 60 great applicants and only 25 spots.

Spinning Indie: Has it been easy to fill the eliminated shifts? If not, are there plans to bring back any former DJs?

Mikil: We had an increase of about 10 unfilled hours as a result of board's decision, mostly in the middle of the day during the week, and some late-night shifts. We can't bring back any former DJs until a DJ on the list decides to leave WRVU or the board tells us we can go over 25 community Djs. They have put off reconsidering the number until the end of the summer. We're really sad to see a lot of these Djs go, and are working towards a good solution, as I mentioned before.

One of the main hopes is that these spots will be filled with more students. I think we've done a great job of increasing student awareness about WRVU this last year. We had about 30 students train last semester, and I think we're at about 20 right now.



Spinning Indie: I've heard that radio at Vanderbilt dates back to the 1950s. Can you tell me a bit about the station's history and/or some interesting bits of trivia about WRVU?

Mikil: We're extremely lucky to have the founder of the station as a current DJ, nearly 60 years after he started broadcasting from his dorm. His name is Ken Berryhill, and his show (Ken's Country Classics and The Old Record Shop) runs Mondays 12-2pm. Here's an interesting story about how it all got started, so long ago.

Also, the guy who wrote "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" used to be a Music Director here in the 70's. I don't know whether to be proud or slightly ashamed. We actually have a lot of music people who used to work at WRVU still around in Nashville, like the General Manager of Lightning 100, the local adult-contemporary station. As far as commercial stations go, it's about as good as it gets, so we're pretty happy to have that tie-in.

WRVU Music Library
(Photo courtesy Mikil Taylor)

Spinning Indie: Do you have music in your collection dating back to the early years of the station? Any favorite gems?

Mikil: I've never combed through the vinyl collections, but it looks like we've sold off most of our old music in favor of the new, especially the vinyl. We don't have very much space to store music, so we have to do periodic clean-outs of the library to keep new stuff flowing in. That, combined with the lack of any one studio location for the last 50 years and occasional water damage, looks to have reduced our old collections to very little.

Spinning Indie: Does WRVU still add vinyl? How big is your collection of vinyl and do DJs embrace it?

Mikil: We have some vinyl, although we've sold off most of it, since we just don't have enough space to hold it all. All we have left are some blues and hip-hop. We do get some vinyl, and add it on occasion, but it's nothing compared to the torrent of CDs we get. It's tough to find DJs willing to play vinyl, although there are always those who won't play anything but that.

Prepping for WRVU CD Sale
(Photo courtesy Mikil Taylor)

Spinning Indie: Are you guys set up to add digital releases?

Mikil: We're currently working towards doing that. We are adding a lot of our music library into a digital archive. However, our system may or may not support digital releases, because of some strange rules governing the software. Like many things here, it's a work in progress.

WRVU Rotation CDs
(Photo courtesy Mikil Taylor)

Spinning Indie: Are there any specific rules about the music that gets added to your stations? Are DJs required to play anything in particular? Is there anything they aren't allowed to play?

Mikil: We require about 2/3rds to 3/4ths of Djs to play music from our new rotation, which consists of the music we get sent. The number of songs a DJ is required to play generally depends on how long they've been here, and ranges from 3 to 7 per hour. There's about 50-100 CDs or more in there, so people can have a lot to choose from. We try to add music from a host of different genres, from indie to metal to blues to folk to rock. We also require all rotation shows to play at least one local artist per hour, to promote Nashville's music, and to let people know that Nashville isn't just country. We get a lot of great music made here, and WRVU does what it can to showcase that.

Spinning Indie: What's the longest running show/DJ at the station?

Mikil: I think Ken Berryhill can officially be considered the first WRVU DJ, since he sowed the seeds over 50 years ago. Even at his age, his voice is just perfect for the radio. Listening to his show brings you back into the days of old-time radio. You can actually catch a copy of his latest show on WRVU.org by clicking on Archived Audio and finding "Ken's Country Classics" and "The Old Record Shop."

WRVU Production Studio
(Photo courtesy Mikil Taylor)

Spinning Indie: Do you have any specific programs/specialty shows that are unique to WRVU or stand out as being different from anything else on radio?

Mikil: Being the country music capitol of the world, we get some fantastic country shows here, like the aforementioned Ken Berryhill-run programs, Hipbilly Jamboree, and the Honky Tonk Jukebox. We also have a really cool show called Nashville Jumps, focusing on Jump blues. A few blues shows (Spoonful, the Sky is Crying, and The Delta Groove), Metal shows (The Gauntlet and Out Ov The Coffin), and Punk shows (Loud Love, Misplaced Tracks, etc). A Liberal talk show that's followed by a conservative one run by students, and then later in the week are two sports shows run by students.

I particularly like Sacred Hymns, which is a fantastic collection of Gregorian chants and the like. Sound of the Bayou (cajun), Colombian Party Cartel (Colombian music), and Viva VAIA (Brazilian!), just to name a few.

If I absolutely had to pick some favorites, these would be in that list:

Nashville Jumps (a description of his genre can be found here).

Liberadio (Liberal talk radio, always interesting to hear in the home of the National Tea Party Convention).

Sacred Hymns. (His description: A unique program featuring Eastern Orthodox Christian Liturgical chant and acapella singing as the expression of an ancient Judeo-Christian Liturgical Tradition of nearly 3000 years combining Beauty and Worship.)

I could probably go on and on, but for the sake of my sanity (and my spring break), I'll leave it at that.


Spinning Indie: What role do you guys play in the local music scene in Nashville?

Mikil: We promote local shows, play local music, encourage our Djs to bring in local artists to interview and promote. Many of our Djs work closely with local musicians here, and we're always trying to bring in more local talent. We also require most of the shows here to play music by local artists during their show. Considering how easy it is for a local band to be played on WRVU, I'm surprised we don't get more submissions. We could probably do a better job of promoting all that.

Spinning Indie: Tell me a bit about the local college radio scene and how you've connected with folks from other stations nearby.

Mikil: There aren't many nearby "college radio" stations. There are a few stations run from colleges, but we mainly hold the banner of college radio for Nashville. We love WMTS, which is about an hour south of Nashville at MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University), but it doesn't reach all the way up here. We play them in kickball each year, and are currently scheduling the next game for the next few weeks. We're currently ahead in the all-time standings 2-0, and are hoping to increase our win total soon. Recently, to my happy surprise, Belmont University in Nashville just recently reached out to us, as they're looking to restart their internet radio station soon. We'll be doing what we can to make that happen.

Spinning Indie: Is there anything else you want to share about WRVU?

Mikil: WRVU is one of the most powerful college radio stations situated in one of the biggest music cities in the world. Despite this, we are not affiliated with any broadcast school. At many colleges, this would mean that WRVU was underfunded and consistently in danger of being sold off. We're extremely lucky to have a very supportive university and governing board. We never
have any substantive trouble with money nor are we in danger of going away any time soon.

The lack of a broadcast school means that WRVU can concentrate on students and music, without having to create a structure similar to any other station. We don't promise anyone a job at another station, so we don't have to be like any other station. I think that frees us up to do so much more, and to play some fantastic music. I'm not alone in remembering my first time listening to WRVU very fondly. After listening to nothing but the 12-song rotations of most stations around Nashville, I was very happy to find WRVU. It would be rare to hear the same 12 songs in a week here, let alone 30 times a day.

Spinning Indie 50 State Tour: Stop 14 - Idaho's KUOI

Welcome back to the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour, my virtual journey through all 50 states in an effort to bring attention to noteworthy college radio stations in every pocket of the United States.

The 13 college radio stations that I've featured thus far include stations in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota, Nevada, West Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, California and Nebraska.

Today we head over to Idaho to learn more about University of Idaho station KUOI in Moscow. Thanks to Station Manager Mike Siemens for taking the time to speak with me by phone about KUOI.

In existence since 1945, KUOI is a freeform college radio station that claims to have the largest music library of any college station in the Pacific Northwest. The staff of DJs is made up of both community volunteers (10 to 20%) and students, with many also involved in bands (including Cougar LS, Stable Comings, Tim Blood & the Gut Panthers, Rhythmmemory, and This Kid's Not Supposed to be in the Family Portrait) and the local music scene.

According to their website:

"KUOI Radio’s story began like so many fairy-tales. From the obscurity of an attic in northern Idaho, several clever amateurs strung transmitting electrical wire through steam tunnels, thereby bringing two daily hours of music and Shakespearean drama to student residences. It’s fitting that the term 'Broadcasting' comes from the farming word for spreading seeds in all directions. KUOI in its early years was not only an outlet for new wireless media but a experimental training ground for journalists and engineers."

Recently KUOI has been hosting a number of experimental music shows, including some events taking place this weekend surrounding the exhibit "WeekSpot: Midi Glock and Soft Synth," running through this Saturday, Feb. 13. Running in tandem with the sound installation are some live events, including one tonight with Shelby Turner & Co. and a show tomorrow night with Steve von Till (doing material from his Harvestman and solo projects).

KUOI in the 1960s
(Photo courtesy KUOI)

Although Station Manager Mike Siemens told me that he's more focused on "right now," KUOI has a 65+ year history that is nicely documented on their website with stories and photos. In his phone interview with me, Mike shared some additional historical tidbits, talked about the station's role in the Moscow music scene, and pointed out some of the shows that are unique to KUOI.

KUOI in the 1970s
(Photo courtesy KUOI)

Spinning Indie: What's the overall mission/programming philosophy of KUOI?

Mike Siemens: "[It's a] free format radio station…true free format…anything goes.... [shows are] like personal mix tapes and there are no restrictions on DJs besides FCC rules"

They Even Had a KUOI Van!!

Spinning Indie: Your station has a lengthy history. What are your favorite tidbits from your station's past?

Mike: "It’s pretty cool how we started out with a couple of guys in an attic who got a block's worth of telephone cable, [but I'm] more focused on right now…"


Spinning Indie: Any long-time shows? When did they begin?

Mike: "A couple have been on for over 10 years. One is 40 Acres and a Clone Mule (Leigh Robartes has been on the air at KUOI for over 20 years). 'A History of Sound Recordings' host James Donely has done over 350 consecutive shows."

Spinning Indie: Do you have music in your library dating back to the early days of the station? Any favorite examples? Does it get played?

Mike: "Yeah, we do."

[Mike then told me a story about how a former Station Manager hated Frank Zappa and broke some of his records in half. The Music Director really liked Zappa, so he hid the records. To this day, people at KUOI continue to find "little caches" of Zappa records in nooks and crannies around the station.]

"our library is huge…we still have all of our vinyl and we encourage DJs to use the library…most DJs don’t bring computers or iPods and there are a lot of only vinyl DJs"

Spinning Indie: Are there any programs/specialty shows that are unique to KUOI or stand out as being different from anything else on radio?

Mike: "Everybody does different shows… it's eclectic…there's the 'Haiku Heavy Metalist Show' and one guy does a radio play every other Saturday. This guy who used to work at Bloodshot does a show called Audiodrome, playing mostly Australian rock. It's pretty bad ass."

KUOI Today (via the webcam)

Spinning Indie: Is there certain music that DJs are required to play? Is there anything that DJs aren't allowed to play?

Mike: "Usually if they’re playing bad music a station fan will call. If they’re playing top 40 shit."

Spinning Indie: How does your MD decide what music to add?

Mike: "In general it's an even spread of music across every genre. The current MD has also been bringing in heavier sounds."

Spinning Indie: Do you add and play a lot of vinyl?

Mike: "Yeah…We add vinyl all the time…usually whenever it comes in. And DJs play it. I haven't bought a CD in 3 years, but buy vinyl."



Spinning Indie: Do most students at University of Idaho know about the station? Do a lot of students listen to the station?

Mike: "Yeah. It’s gone through its high points and low points…We’re putting out a lot of good shows…and pull out speakers and amps and set up in broadcasts in the Commons and hand out flyers…I think it’s really important….to get out there."

Spinning Indie: What’s the station’s connection with the local music scene in Moscow?

Mike: "Its awesome. Concerts out here are awesome and often 200 people will show up. A lot of the guys….in prominent bands around here are involved with station. Right now we’re just enjoying the wealth that is Moscow. It’s kind of like a safe place. I just don’t really want to live in a city."

KUOI Record Library

(Photo courtesy KUOI)

Spinning Indie: I'm amazed that you have your record library online for anyone to search. How many items are in your library and is everything searchable?

Mike: "No idea…It's pretty huge."

Spinning Indie: Do you listen to other college radio stations? Who do you admire? What's the college radio scene like in your area?

Mile: "KVRX—I met those guys awhile back. The Austin Community radio station in Spokane is alright, but is hard to get out here. The Pullman station is only 8 miles away and Lewis and Clark's station is an hour away…Local college stations will make promos for each other if doing shows and will hand out flyers for each other. Competition…what’s that? There’s room for everybody."

Spinning Indie: Anything else to share?

Mike: "The station is student owned and operated and is run on dirt and blood and sweat."

Spinning Indie 50 State Tour: Stop 13- Nebraska's KRNU

There's been a burst of energy on the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour, as I've begun pestering some of the stations who have been on my interview wish list for awhile. As you might recall, I'm making my way through all 50 states in order to highlight some of the amazing radio stations that might not be familiar to people who live in other parts of the country.

This virtual tour of radio stations has so far included stops in 12 states, including Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota, Nevada, West Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana and California.

Next up, I'm happy to share with you a virtual trip to Nebraska, to learn more about University of Nebraska (Lincoln) station KRNU. Thanks so much to KRNU Music Director Casey Welsch for taking the time to answer some questions over email. You might remember that I recently posted a piece about a column that Casey wrote for his campus paper about his favorite college radio stations.

Radio history goes as far back as 1922 at University of Nebraska, with various radio experiments and stations along the way. KRNU has been in existence since 1970 and will be celebrating its 40th anniversary next year. The current alternative music format has been a staple of the station for 20 years, as it began in 1989.

I was very interested to learn more about the current state of things at KRNU as they went through some programming changes and added a web channel in August 2009. According to an August 2009 press release quoting General Manager Rick Alloway,

"'This fine-tuning of the 90.3 KRNU format will create a modernized training experience for students while focusing more attention on the alternative/indie music interests of the 18-24 year-old listening audience. At the same time, the creation of the second web channel will allow the continuation of the innovative and eclectic programming the college has always produced.'"

With this shift in programming, many specialty shows, sports and talk were moved to a web channel known as Studio 201. The main station, KRNU, is now a more tightly formatted indie station.

In his interview with me, Music Director Casey Welsch explains the changes at KRNU and talks about the station's role in the broader music community of Lincoln, Nebraska.

KRNU Music Director Casey Welsch
Photo courtesy KRNU

Spinning Indie: What motivated you to get involved with college radio?

Casey Welsch: I started working at KRNU one month after I arrived at UNL. I was a music snob and kind of a no-it-all about all things music, and I had always liked the station whenever I heard it going through Lincoln, so I jumped right on. I've been here over two years now and started working as a music director last May. I've been loving the job ever since.

Spinning Indie: How is college radio in 2009 different from when you first began at KRNU?

Casey: In general, there is a lot more research to be done on the internet. It seems that all the big tastemakers right now are music blogs and such. We still try to play more than what the blogs recommend, since internet music often sounds the same as everything else and is driven by hype, but we monitor the net a lot more now.

For KRNU specifically, we split into two separate playlists just this summer. A tighter, more unified playlist now dominates KRNU, and a more twitchy, experimental, freeform playlist is now on our web station, Studio 201. That's made music directing a lot tougher, but it gives us a wider medium to play music on as well.

Photo Courtesy KRNU

Spinning Indie: It's amazing that radio dates back to 1922 at University of Nebraska. Can you tell me a bit about the history of KRNU?

Casey: KRNU has gone through a lot of changes and moved around quite a bit over its history. In the beginning, it was just news and classical music for most of the day, and didn't broadcast 24/7. As it got older and older, the music started to change with the changing times, and it eventually became a pop station. It has always carried Cornhusker sports, though.

The current format started in 1989 and it has been an indie/alternative station ever since. We now broadcast 24/7 over the air and with two channels on the web at krnu.unl.edu. KRNU has been in its current studio since 2001 when the college of Journalism and Mass Communications moved to its new current building.

DJ Cole
Photo Courtesy KRNU

Spinning Indie: Do you have any music or artifacts from the early years of the station? Tell me about what you have and if DJs continue to play any of the old records.

Casey: There are actually hundreds of old TV, Radio and Newspaper artifacts on display all over our college. Our former dean was a huge collector of old journalism paraphernalia, and he donated his entire collection to the college when it moved to its current location, and old federal building. There are simply too many pieces to describe, it's like a museum.

Spinning Indie: Explain the new station format and how it's different from prior years.

Casey: KRNU has gone a bit more chart-conscious with its music in an effort to attract new listeners. This is a new development and we are yet unsure how well it's working. KRNU as it used to be is now online only and was renamed Studio 201 (the room it broadcasts out of). There are more people in the crew that manages KRNU, as we have become a bigger operation, so it can get a bit crowded as far as management goes, but it still runs smoothly.

Spinning Indie: Why did the overall programming philosophy change and what kind of response are you getting to the new format?

Casey: The programming changed at the request of the University, who wanted to see the station bring in more money. They hired a group of radio consultants who came in and kind of made us make the station a bit more mainstream. There was initially a huge public outcry against what we were doing with the station, and many of us here did not like what was happening at all. We have wrestled control back from the consultants now, however, and are trying to stay true to our incredibly devoted audience here in Lincoln. More changes are to come. We're still evolving.

Spinning Indie: Are there any specific rules about the music that gets added to your station? Are DJs required to play anything in particular? Is there anything they aren't allowed to play?

Casey: The one rule about music on KRNU is that it has to be GOOD. It has to be truly good. We don't care how well something is charting or how much blog buzz it has, because if it sucks, we aren't playing it. Admittedly, we have had to be a bit more chart-conscious as of late, but we try to have foresight and pick out the artists who we know are only going to chart for a week or so on buzz alone. We pay them no mind.

DJ Kate in one of KRNU's 4 production studios (note the reel-to-reel behind her!)
Photo Courtesy of KRNU

Spinning Indie: Do you add MP3s? vinyl? cassettes? What format of music gets played the most?

Casey: We use a very old system to automate our station that requires uploading everything directly from CD format. KRNU has made the switch to all .WAV files for our music, and Studio 201 still uses mostly CDs.

Spinning Indie: What's the music scene like in Lincoln and what role does KRNU play?

Casey: Lincoln is a small city that has a music scene the size of a much bigger one. There are so many great bands in Lincoln that span all genres. Some of the most popular acts in Lincoln include a soul singer called Son of 76, a hard psych/krautrock band called Gold Lions, a one-man freakshow called The Show is the Rainbow and an accoustic Bluegrass band called Triggertown.

And of course there's UUVVWWZ and Eagle Seagull. We're very proud of how well they both have been doing. As for KRNU's role in the community, we have a very good local show called Lost & Found that has been going for several years now. The hosts like to have lots of live performances on the show and they do a great job of getting new music to the people of Lincoln.

Spinning Indie: What's the longest running show/DJ at the station?

Casey: Our longest running show is actually our metal show Heresy. It has been on the air since 1989 and has changed with every new movement in metal. When it started it was a hair/glam show and is currently a loud rock/death/grind show. It has seen more hosts come and go than anything else on the air.

Spinning Indie: Are the majority of your DJs students? What's the role of community DJs at the station?

Casey: All of the DJs on KRNU are students. It is a policy of ours. Any UNL student can be a DJ and any CoJMC [College of Journalism and Mass Communications] student can have a specialty show. No one can be on the station without being currently enrolled. There are actually classes at CoJMC that require a shift on KRNU, so we like to keep it student-exclusive.

Spinning Indie: What specific specialty shows are you airing on KRNU and on Studio 201?

Casey: They vary. One of the changes on KRNU was that we took all of the sports and talk shows and stuck them on Studio 201. On KRNU right now we have two hip-hop shows, two electronic shows, a metal show, an industrial show, the local show, an alt country/folk show and a funk/soul show that I have been hosting for over a year now. On Studio 201 we have a ska/reggae show, two sports shows and a general talk show, as well as hourly news updates and bi-hourly sports updates that are engineered by students in broadcast news classes.

Spinning Indie: Do you listen to other college radio stations? Which stations do you admire?

Casey: I listen to many other stations. But you already knew that.

Spinning Indie: Anything else you want to share about KRNU?

Casey: To all who doubted us through the changes, we're still with you, and we're doing everything we can to bring things all back home. Have faith and patience, and we'll make KRNU the people's station once again.


Stay tuned....next up on the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour: a station from Idaho.

Spinning Indie 50 State Tour Project

The goal of the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour is to highlight college radio stations in every corner of the United States. Since so much attention gets focused on a small number of high-profile radio stations; I wanted to make the effort to expose people to stations that might be a bit below the radar.

By virtue of this tour's "virtual" nature, I will be able to interview stations in every state by conducting email and phone interviews.

Since this series began in October 2008, the following stations have been featured stops on my virtual tour of college radio around the country:


1. Arkansas station KXUA (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville)
2. Wisconsin station WSUM (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
3. Kansas station KJHK (University of Kansas, Lawrence)
4. Louisiana station WTUL (Tulane University, New Orleans)
5. Alaska station KSUA (University of Alaska, Fairbanks)
6. North Dakota station KNDS (North Dakota State University, Fargo)
7. Nevada station Wolf Pack Radio (University of Nevada, Reno)
8. West Virginia station WHSC (Shepherd University, Shepherdstown)
9. Kentucky station WRFL (University of Kentucky, Lexington)
10. Minnesota station KRLX (Carleton College, Northfield)
11. Montana station KBGA (University of Montana, Missoula)
12. California station KSCR (University of Southern California, Los Angeles)
13. Nebraska station KRNU (University of Nebraska, Lincoln)
14. Idaho station KUOI (University of Idaho, Moscow)
15. Tennessee station WRVU (Vanderbilt University, Nashville)
16. South Carolina station WSBF (Clemson University, Clemson)
17. Virginia station WTJU (University of Virginia, Charlottesville)

Stick around to see who might be next....

Spinning Indie 50 State Tour: Stop 12- California's KSCR

Welcome back to the Spinning Indie 50 State Tour, in which I investigate stations from all over the United States.

This virtual tour of radio stations has so far included stops in 11 states, including Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota, Nevada, West Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Montana.

As you can see by the list, for the most part I've been taking my Spinning Indie 50 State Tour to smaller towns outside of the media glare of big cities and the coasts. But, since I'm attempting to virtually travel to all 50 states, it was only a matter of time before I made it to a big coastal city. As a Californian, I was a bit daunted by the prospect of selecting one station from this massive state to profile for the "tour," but was intrigued by the tale of the University of Southern California (USC) station KSCR, so decided to take the trek a bit closer to home.

When I was at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City this October, I got to also meet a bunch of folks from KSCR (you can read their take on the CMJ fest on their blog); so was even more excited to feature the station.

KSCR "Family Band" at CMJ Artist Lounge, October 2009

KSCR is a student-run radio station in Los Angeles that began as a carrier current station at USC in 1975 and eventually had stints on cable and on FM. By 1998 they were webcasting, which continues today along with an AM broadcast over 1560 AM in Los Angeles. The station is devoted to independent music, billing itself as "revolutionary radio."

Thanks so much to KSCR's Public Relations Director Kat B., Music Director Emilie Brailey, and General Manager Zak Wolf for taking the time to fill me in about their station. On to the interview:

Spinning Indie: I understand that KSCR will celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2010. Can you tell me a little bit about the station's history?

Zak Wolf, General Manager: KSCR can trace its roots back to 1946 when USC decided that a radio station would provide the University and its students with an unprecedented media format for that period in history. By the mid-1970s, however, that radio station, KUSC, had switched to an all-classical format and students were only permitted to be interns.

In 1975, 13 dedicated and diverse undergrads decided to start their own radio station. Since then, the face of KSCR changed frequently. We've had all sorts of formats and many different means of broadcasting, from AM 530, to a public access cable TV channel to a pirated FM signal at 104.7.

In 1998 the FCC began to crack down on unauthorized radio signals. While driving up the I-110 en-route to shut down a Silverlake radio station that happened to use the same frequency as KSCR, the FCC happened caught us broadcasting on the 104.7 stream and shut it down. KSCR thus adopted a webcasting signal, one of the first stations to do so, and switched to 1560 AM.

Since then, we've struggled to get funding both externally via sponsorships and PSAs, and internally from the University Student Government. This hasn't stopped us from being a strong radio presence among the USC student body and the Los Angeles area. We broadcast 24 hrs a day at 160 kbps stream and locally at 1560 am, dedicated at least 12 hours each day to live DJs, Newscasters or Sports talk shows.

Every Friday we bring a band in to play a set live over the air and we hold an interview afterwards. We continue to release our annual publication "Bandwidth" and we put on some of the best free concerts around. We plan to build on KSCR's history of amazing in-studio performances and concert performances, which include (in reverse order of appearance): Tom
Brosseau, Crystal Antlers, Mika Miko, Happy Hollows, Avi Buffalo, Daedelus, Busdriver, Gangi, Army Navy, The Dodos, Thee Oh Sees, Abe Vigoda, No Age, Mirah, Ghostland Observatory, My Chemical Romance, Minus the Bear, and (in the early nineties) No Doubt, Biggie Smalls, Gang Starr, DJ Shadow, J5, WuTang Clan, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, and Common.

On October 17th we look[ed] to build on this list with our first show of the fall semester featuring Nosaj Thing, Rainbow Arabia, and Ras G.

Spinning Indie: How will you celebrate the station's anniversary? What do you guys do to preserve the station's history?

Zak Wolf: In 2010 KSCR will commemorate its 35 year anniversary with the move to the new Campus Center. This will be a turning point for KSCR, as the station will have state of the art equipment and a central location on campus, exponentially raising awareness of KSCR among the student body.

We've established an Alumni association called KSCRfriends, who have pledged to raise $1 million for KSCR. They hold monthly conference calls, accept donations year round and meet annually every homecoming to reinvigorate the efforts and meet the fresh faces of the KSCR staff, which, as KSCR is completely student run, change significantly each year.

Every so often KSCR will update its DJ manual and its online wiki or "documentation project" with the new history of the station. There will be a new update before the move to the campus center.

KSCR was up for the 2009 mtvU College Radio Woodie
Image courtesy KSCR Facebook Page

Spinning Indie: You're on AM and online right now, but KSCR used to be carrier current and low power FM. How powerful is your over-the-air signal (how far away can it be heard) and do you think many of your listeners are tuning in via AM radio?

Kat B., Public Relations Director: I’ll be frank here — our AM signal sucks. It's supposed to cover all of campus, but it doesn't. We’re working on reclaiming our FM presence, though. (Fingers crossed.)

Zak Wolf: KSCR's bread and butter is our online stream, but our AM broadcast reaches approximately 1 mile around campus. KSCR 1560 AM goes out via a 10 watt signal, which, if turned up, would be vulnerable to FCC restrictions and licensing. Right now, because we are located at an educational institution and do not broadcast outside our range, we do not need an FCC license.

My guess is that very few listen through the radio waves in comparison to our online broadcast simply due to issues of fidelity and range. We hope to garner enough listeners and support from our student body and the USC administration to apply for an FM signal; however, in Los Angeles this is an expensive and exhausting task, currently beyond the capabilities of an all-volunteer undergraduate staff with a relatively small bank account.

Spinning Indie: You must be thrilled about your new studio space in the campus center (coming in 2010). How did all of that come about?

Zak: We are supremely excited. Student Activities and Campus Affairs, with the help of our alumni network, previous KSCR staffs, and the amazing Brandon Operchuck, our faculty adviser and director of performance venues at USC, have joined forces and funds to build us our new facility. Michael L. Jackson, Vice President of Student Affairs, has been a strong supporter of KSCR as well, and has helped with the inclusion of KSCR in this amazing new Campus Center. We fall under the umbrella of a much larger project, and we're enjoying the shade.

Kat: It’s really hard for me to be excited about the new studio since this is my last year at USC! I’m so jealous of all the underclassmen involved with KSCR; they really don’t know what’s coming to them. The space is going to be absolutely amazing. I’ll have to visit — a lot.

2009-2010 KSCR Staff Photo
Courtesy KSCR

Spinning Indie: I know that various alums have helped to set up a group (Friends of KSCR) charged with raising funds in order to ensure the station's future. I'm not sure I've heard of similar efforts at college radio stations. Why do you think station alums are so passionate about preserving KSCR?

Zak: KSCR is unique because it was started as 100% student-run and has remained that way. USC initially didn't want to give students their own station, but the efforts of the original 13 set the bar for the next 35 years of KSCR staffers.

Everyone at KSCR has the opportunity to become part of a family. We're all volunteering our time to make something that we believe has the potential to truly be great. We feed off each others' excitement daily. Our motivation is entirely our own. Our facilities are entirely our own. It's a feeling of belonging and commitment so above and beyond any cynical critique or monetary consideration that no one ever wants to leave.

Every member of KSCR puts so much of their time, efforts and self into the station that the rewards are ineffably satisfying. Plus, our programming is totally original, our music is amazing and unique, we put on the best events, and we give students unprecedented opportunities and experiences in broadcast journalism, music industry, and even leadership. Who wouldn't want to see a place like that continue?

Spinning Indie: Can you tell me about your online music database. Is it primarily for DJs to use?

Zak: Our online database essentially keeps track of all the music that KSCR has. It's used by DJs to create playlists and log their tracks. The logging of songs played is mandatory as we report our charts to CMJ and are required to keep track of every song we play on the air. It also allows us to send song information to the front page of our website and through the m3u stream. Our music department uses reviews, recommended tracks and RIYLs to expose DJs to music they might not have encountered before, and in that sense it’s a very informative tool.

Emilie Brailey, Music Director: The online music database is open to everyone. I think it was started in order to feed the robot but now it’s a handy back up system in case albums go missing (like the fucker who stole the Shins… you can’t keep us down mother fucker, you can’t keep us down!)

Spinning Indie: What is the revolutionary robot?

Emilie: The revolutionary robot is our mascot. He’s a big friendly dancing machine! In reality, the robot is our iTunes, it’s what makes KSCR a 24 hr programming station. When there isn’t a show, the iTunes is playing, stocked with music that only staff or select DJs have added that is of KSCR quality.

Zak: The revolutionary robot is the KSCR mascot. It got its name from our slogan "Revolutionary Radio," meant to highlight our unique programming and alternative music. We have a robot costume we like to bring out at promotional events, and we use robot imagery on a lot of our promotional materials.

"Revolutionary Robot" also references a program that we are looking to re-instate on our new server, which was called "the robot" and operated like a high-tech iTunes shuffle and sent track information to the kscr.org front page mimicking a DJ's logged tracks. Now, we have our music department hand pick a huge amount of cohesive music for our "Studio A" iTunes, which we place on party shuffle. We then use KungTunes to send that information out over our stream. The new robot that we're looking to program on our recently purchased server will hopefully be able to do the same as the old with maybe a few more updates.

Flyer from Recent KSCR event
Image courtesy KSCR Facebook Page

Spinning Indie: Are most students aware of KSCR? Do you have to be a student to be a DJ? What role does it play on campus?

Zak: We're always looking to raise the profile of KSCR amongst our students. We flyer, and table often, in addition to giving out our information at USC's orientation sessions and constant online promotion.

Only USC students can be a DJ. We provide a service you really can't get anywhere on our off campus. Anyone can have their own show, anyone can listen. It's awesome.

Kat: KSCR’s presence at USC has increased tremendously since I started here in the fall of 2006. Now, when we have informational meetings for our station interns, the room is often packed to the brim with students eager to become a part of the station. I think our increased visibility has a lot to do with our recent focus on effective marketing and promotion; we recently got a Twitter account, redid our other social networking sites and are currently in the process of redesigning the KSCR website — all very significant methods that can increase awareness of a campus radio station.

We recently changed our constitution so that USC alumni — mainly alumni of KSCR — could come back and have a timeslot for a show. It’s been really awesome to see some familiar faces back in the studio. Otherwise, the rest of our DJs are USC students, and we’d really like to keep it that way.

While USC has its own Concert Committee to bring live shows to campus, KSCR has really filled the niche in bringing independent music to USC; our concerts — and the music we play — really don't cater to the majority of students who will camp out on the quad to see someone like the Fray perform. That being said, we’ve had the opportunity to expose many students to the wide variety of artists in the local independent scenes.

We did our first outdoor music festival on campus this past spring and has bands such as Mika Miko, Crystal Antlers, Avi Buffalo and the Happy Hollows perform — it was a huge success. We’ve also brought No Age into the studio for interviews, had KSCR alum Daedelus do a benefit show for the station and we’re working on sponsoring our first off-campus show for the end of the year. If there’s something we’re really good at, it’s live events.

Julianna Barwick live at KSCR
Photo Courtesy KSCR Facebook Page

Spinning Indie: I know that Los Angeles is a huge market with lots of college radio stations. How does KSCR play a role in the broader community and music scene surrounding the campus?

Zak: KSCR is all about its content. Our DJs are dedicated to their shows. Our sports department is relentless about theirs and the USC games. We make sure we have the best non-top 40, independent music around. We distribute our magazine all around LA. We have a whole section of our "New Wall" of CDs devoted to LA artists and bands. Our Live Show brings in a different local act each week to play in Studio B over the airwaves. And, of course, our free concerts on the USC campus bring in the best local talent for USC students and anyone in Los Angeles who wants to attend.

Emilie: Up until now KSCR has not been huge outside of USC, but I think that it has been blossoming in the last few years. I think every year the staff becomes more and more aware of the potential and our fan base has really grown. I know of many people all around the monstrous LA area who are not only familiar with KSCR now, but also come to shows we put on. I’m not sure about other college radio stations and we don’t seem to be competing with them yet (if we are I am unaware).

Spinning Indie: What's the overall music philosophy of the station?

Emilie: Music philosophy: this is college radio. “College Radio” has almost become a genre in itself. My philosophy is that KSCR should have only the best; no-crap policy. Although we give some bands a chance that may not have had one otherwise, we really stick to what we think is the best quality.

Zak: We love any genre of music, except we won't play top 40 artists. Our goal is to provide music that you won't hear on mainstream radio especially since KCRW is NPR most of the time, KXLU doesn't have the strongest of signals and Indie 103.1 is all but dead.

KSCR is original programming 100% of the time. We spin mostly indie/alternative, but we also have parts of our library devoted to electronica, hip hop, jazz, world music, punk and loud rock.

Photo courtesy KSCR Facebook Page

Spinning Indie: Are there any specific rules about the music that gets added to your station? Are DJs required to play anything in particular? Is there anything they aren't allowed to play?

Emilie: There are indeed some rules to adding. KSCR is truly college radio, so we do not add nor are DJs supposed to play anything that is Top 40 or overtly popular. Sometimes DJs play older popular music (Beatles, Bob Marley) and we still add stuff that’s considered pretty popular (the new Neil Young album, for example) but for the most part it’s an indie sound on all levels.

Nothing of bad sound quality, obviously, is added, and nothing that sounds too pop (even it’s an obscure band) is added too often.

Of course, the new stuff added is usually a blanket style, but the intricacies change depending on the music director. I’m really into indie singer songwriter mystical spacey shit (Bon Iver makes me jazz in my pants) so I add a lot more of those kind of bands than a music director who is more into other styles.

As stated, DJs are not allowed to play popular music/Top 40. With that said, our DJs are really free to play mostly whatever they want. They usually become a college radio DJ because they are into college radio music, so there aren’t many issues. They are required to play four new adds per hour (I add on average 7-15 albums a week) while supplementing their show with one
‘other’ genre per hour (a genre they don’t normally play). This allows new music to always be on the airwaves and keeps all shows pretty eclectic.

Zak: ...we encourage DJs to use our music library and database, and to play music that isn't popular now and was never popular before. In other words, if you're a KSCR DJ and you want to play the Beatles, play a B-side from the white album or an obscure version of one of their hits.

Kat: Absolutely not! The great thing about KSCR is that it brings together so many students with the broadest of music tastes; we add and play just about everything from your general college indie rock to world music to metal to jazz. If it sounds good and we like it, chances are it’ll get added. (Having cool cover art doesn’t hurt, either!)

There’s just one rule — and I think we may have upset some interns at our most recent KSCR information meeting by saying this — but KSCR’s primary goal is to function as an alternative to the slush of Los Angeles FM radio, and as such, we try not to play anything you’d find on a Top 40 station.

We try to encourage DJs to go for the deep cuts, the unreleased material, the tiny little band trying to make it big...

Spinning Indie: Do you add and play vinyl? mp3s? cassettes?

Emilie: We play vinyl, mp3s, CDs, any kind of aux you can muster (computer, iPod, iPod-esque creatures), but so far no cassettes that I know of and adds are mostly in the form of physical CD.

[But in my opinion it’s okay. I may be desecrating generations and skinny jean wearing hipsters, but cassettes were short lived and unnecessary. The sound quality is not like that of other mediums. So go KSCR for not having them!]

Zak: We have an old closet of hip hop and electronica vinyl, and we occasionally get vinyl submissions, but KSCR is a mostly CD based radio station. We do, however, encourage DJs to bring their own vinyl. We have a turntable in our main studio and two turntables with a mixer that is hooked up to our board in what we call "studio b." MP3s are usually burned to disc and we can play cassette, but we don't have it in our library.

Kat: I remember there used to be a cassette player when I first started at KSCR! I wonder where that went…

Most of our database is made up of CDs, but DJs often bring in their iPods or their own vinyl to play over the air, too. I think, before I graduate this spring, I need to do an all-vinyl show; I’m long overdue.


Spinnining Indie: Is there anything else you want to share about KSCR or college radio in general?

Zak: College radio knows what's up. Listen to us online at kscr.org!

Kat: Independent radio rules! I’ve met some wonderful people during my time at KSCR and made some lifelong friends in the process. I’m truly going to miss the station when I graduate this year.