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Freshman David Tesic
spins a record on his radio
show Ruff Beats. (photo
by Ben Young)
Campus radio lifted its ban on secular music this semester, and along with several other efforts to raise student awareness of the station, KWVS has doubled the number of shows.
Under the new guidelines, the station can play any type of music that follows FCC regulations.
“Around Thanksgiving time we developed the idea of becoming more lenient,” station manager senior Luke Simpson said. “I see it as veering from the original, but not a drastic change.”
While this change allows different types of music that were once prohibited, the station will continue to broadcast Christian music.
Senior Tommy Adams
hosts a music show
before Tesic's. (photo by
Ben Young)
“Before the change we were officially a Christian format,” said senior Tony Carnelli production manager and assistant station manager. “We still play Christian music, but we play other mainstream artists. We have a new format. It’s block programming where we play rock, jazz, talk, news and debate through the day.”
Besides the decision to allow all types of music on air, the radio station advertised by fliers at the end of last semester the TC 261 class, a little-known course that gives one to two units of credit for hosting a radio show. This also contributed to the increase in interested disc jockeys, Simpson said.
“I don’t think we are non-Christian now, but we are trying to get more diverse,” he said. “It’s not getting more listeners, but getting more students involved in the program.”
Getting more students to participate in radio shows is one of KWVS’s priorities.
“Our goal is for people who get involved in the station to feel that there’s a sense of community,” Carnelli said.
Nicole Garcia hosts an indie-rock show in its second semester at KWVS that last semester could only play Christian music. Though she had no problem with Christian format, she sees the benefits of the new format.
“I felt like I was playing the same artists,” Garcia said of her show last semester.
This semester, however, Garcia increased her show time from one to two hours, because now she has more artist and song choices as she plays both Christian and secular music.
A committee comprised of Carnelli, Simpson, graduate student Keith Ghormley, director of broadcasting Susan Salas, broadcasting professor Don Shores, and director of broadcast operations Wade Brown approved the proposal to change the Christian format.
Shores said one of the reasons for changing the format was to allow students to get experience.
“Many college stations offer more variety,” he said. “You are going to have students with lots of tastes.”
College radio across the nation varies from station that only play spefic genres to station who play songs that aren’t well-known, Shores said. Carnelli said he was happy to see the change because it was a “logical” decision.
“The radio station was being run in the interest of the Seaver College administration. It doesn’t promote a full college environment and what college radio is all about,” Carnelli said.
Carnelli and Simpson said that they have received no negative feedback from faculty staff or students since the format change.
KWVS began in 2003, and replaced KNBU, which was dismantled five years ago because it played explicit music.
This semester, all DJs are required to sign a contract binding them to FCC regulations and to turn in a set list to music director Kaci Rodriguez who will review what is being played. Besides looking for obscene words, the station will also watch for music endorsing drug use or containing sexually explicit lyrics, Simpson said.
When the station was on the Christian format, songs played had to meet one of three requirements: the music artist or song is on a Christian record label, a song has unquestionably Christian lyrics or the band’s Christianity is public knowledge.
To add to the list of station updates, KWVS went live with its Web site, kwvs.Pepperdine.edu, last week. The radio station still wants to increase the number of shows as well as include graduate and law students as DJs.
Submitted 01-27-2005
MALIBU, CA
