Potentially Bad News for a Kitsap Peninsula Noncom

[fordranger797]

As someone who worked for KCWU, I can affirm this. The environment inside the station is very inclusive and friendly, and almost everyone seems to be close with each other. Most of the friends I made in college (especially during the first couple years) were co-workers. It is also inclusive toward students who aren't aiming for a broadcasting or journalism degree - in fact, most of the students involved are not journalism majors at all. While most participants are volunteers, some people can get paid positions, such as social media manager, graphics designers (and they've hired some REALLY good graphic designers), trainers, production manager, and more. I had a paid position prior to the pandemic operating the board during basketball games.

KCWU is successful because they are very engaging with the student population. They have a very active presence on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat - I wouldn't be surprised if they had a presence on TikTok either, their playlist consists mainly of CHR, with occasional EDM or rap, and the DJs tend to be in sync with the general student population. Underwriting are all local and target CWU students. Occasionally, the station will be present at on and off-campus events across Ellensburg, and the training student volunteers go through to play at these events is pretty feasible. Contests and promotions occur occasionally, and the station has gotten a hold of tickets to some pretty good events for giveaways.

Their studios do contain state of the art equipment, and since the pandemic, they've installed equipment that allows for remote operations by students. Shows can be done from home using CWU's very secure VPN network, as can board operation during sports coverage. Oh, and their sports coverage is done by some very passionate people.

While KCWU is an open environment for anyone, it can become a launching point for those who are truly passionate about radio. I know plenty of people from that station who are now working in Seattle, Portland, and other markets. The manager and engineer both have connections to lots of different radio stations/companies across the Northwest and they participate in NAB events.

Thank you for sharing your perspective! It's great to hear a personal story from someone who actually worked there and had the chance to experience it first hand. If I were someone trying to learn about radio and I didn't have the opportunity to learn/intern from a commercial radio station, KCWU would be the natural place to get some experience.

 

[crainbebo]

I guess to Kelly, only the big-time NPR stations matter on 88-92. Nothing else. If they aren't running "All Things Considered", they are useless to the FM dial.
Well, I can tell you for myself that 88.1 runs the right format in Ellensburg. I see bumper stickers occasionally for The Burg and they run a CHR format that I've heard in local businesses...why? Because KFFM is noisy and fuzzy and multipathed. They are a successful program here and they have done a variety of remotes, many of which were well off-campus from CWU. Many local businesses also support KCWU. Now, CHR/top 40/rap is not my cup of tea, but to 75% of the CWU student body...it is. I wonder what the listenership of KCWU is vs. Spotify and Pandora. And as for 60% of the student body, they live in western Washington, so it's not like KXLE is their #2 preset...or any country station.
And most importantly - they run ALL Wildcat football games live and on their iHeart app. It was nice listening to play-by-play coverage when they would play at an away stadium. It sounded pretty decent to me. There are AM stations that run high school football that sound way worse - like the guy is speaking into a cell phone. The commercials are of better quality than the commentator(s)!
Yakima does not have a program like this at all! YV-Tech sold their little college station to NWPR (NWPB) years ago.

 

[fordranger797]

I guess to Kelly, only the big-time NPR stations matter on 88-92. Nothing else. If they aren't running "All Things Considered", they are useless to the FM dial.
Well, I can tell you for myself that 88.1 runs the right format in Ellensburg. I see bumper stickers occasionally for The Burg and they run a CHR format that I've heard in local businesses...why? Because KFFM is noisy and fuzzy and multipathed. They are a successful program here and they have done a variety of remotes, many of which were well off-campus from CWU. Many local businesses also support KCWU. Now, CHR/top 40/rap is not my cup of tea, but to 75% of the CWU student body...it is. I wonder what the listenership of KCWU is vs. Spotify and Pandora. And as for 60% of the student body, they live in western Washington, so it's not like KXLE is their #2 preset...or any country station.
And most importantly - they run ALL Wildcat football games live and on their iHeart app. It was nice listening to play-by-play coverage when they would play at an away stadium. It sounded pretty decent to me. There are AM stations that run high school football that sound way worse - like the guy is speaking into a cell phone. The commercials are of better quality than the commentator(s)!
Yakima does not have a program like this at all! YV-Tech sold their little college station to NWPR (NWPB) years ago.

There's a consistent debate about young people, and whether or not they care about terrestrial radio. I think it's evident from statistical data that young people DO listen to radio, but if you really want to get younger people into the "behind the scenes" aspect of radio, it takes high-quality educational radio stations like KCWU.

 

[crainbebo]

DavidEduardo claims 90% of Americans listen to the radio. If he has proof for those under 25, I'd love to see it.

 

[dxsphere]

I guess to Kelly, only the big-time NPR stations matter on 88-92. Nothing else. If they aren't running "All Things Considered", they are useless to the FM dial.
Well, I can tell you for myself that 88.1 runs the right format in Ellensburg. I see bumper stickers occasionally for The Burg and they run a CHR format that I've heard in local businesses...why? Because KFFM is noisy and fuzzy and multipathed. They are a successful program here and they have done a variety of remotes, many of which were well off-campus from CWU. Many local businesses also support KCWU. Now, CHR/top 40/rap is not my cup of tea, but to 75% of the CWU student body...it is. I wonder what the listenership of KCWU is vs. Spotify and Pandora. And as for 60% of the student body, they live in western Washington, so it's not like KXLE is their #2 preset...or any country station.
And most importantly - they run ALL Wildcat football games live and on their iHeart app. It was nice listening to play-by-play coverage when they would play at an away stadium. It sounded pretty decent to me. There are AM stations that run high school football that sound way worse - like the guy is speaking into a cell phone. The commercials are of better quality than the commentator(s)!
Yakima does not have a program like this at all! YV-Tech sold their little college station to NWPR (NWPB) years ago.

Oh that reminds me, KCWU was the first college radio station to be available on the iHeartRadio app.

KCWU is heard in local businesses not just because KFFM is noisy/multipathed. It's heard all over because there's a direct appeal to college students, plus KCWU is far from being just a KFFM clone - they have a wider and ever-evolving playlist, and some shows do feature heavier EDM or rap than KFFM's little repetition factory. I'm not sure where KCWU stands against Spotify or Pandora, but considering the lack of commercials (underwritings aired on KCWU last roughly 2 minutes vs commercial stations where ads can exceed 5 or 10 minutes), it's safe to say it has a huge listenership. KCWU also has an online stream, the iHeartRadio app (as mentioned before), and at one point they had an 88.1 The Burg app (last I heard, they were planning on reviving that app).

All Wildcat football games and home basketball games are live, and much of the work is done by paid student staff. One thing I forgot to mention above is that KCWU has expanded its reach to video streaming as well. They live stream student council meetings, live events and sports commentary to social media platforms; so KCWU isn't just a radio station anymore. It's grown to become a multimedia platform by CWU students, for CWU students.

Like for DJs, KCWU is also a teaching tool for those passionate about sports broadcasting, and it does a good job at it.

 

[Kelly A]

I guess to Kelly, only the big-time NPR stations matter on 88-92.

You guess wrong...yet again. KUOW is at 94.9Mhz. When in the Seattle area, I listen to KUOW.

Nothing else. If they aren't running "All Things Considered", they are useless to the FM dial.

Never said that either. The reality is; many high school and community college stations have eliminated their broadcasting curriculum's. It has nothing to do with me. Some of that is due to budget cuts, while other reasons include the lack of interest in a pure radio career. Traditional radio classes are being replaced at the vocational education level with multi-media focus.

Well, I can tell you for myself that 88.1 runs the right format in Ellensburg. I see bumper stickers occasionally for The Burg and they run a CHR format that I've heard in local businesses...why? Because KFFM is noisy and fuzzy and multipathed.

Oh yes, I'm sure that's the reason. Probably has nothing to do with their programming, or the demographic shift to personal playlists or streaming.

They are a successful program here and they have done a variety of remotes, many of which were well off-campus from CWU. Many local businesses also support KCWU. Now, CHR/top 40/rap is not my cup of tea, but to 75% of the CWU student body...it is.

Really? Care to share how you've arrived at that percentage?

I wonder what the listenership of KCWU is vs. Spotify and Pandora.

Pandora, and to an extent Spotify are yesterday's news to college students.

And as for 60% of the student body, they live in western Washington, so it's not like KXLE is their #2 preset...or any country station.
And most importantly - they run ALL Wildcat football games live and on their iHeart app. It was nice listening to play-by-play coverage when they would play at an away stadium. It sounded pretty decent to me. There are AM stations that run high school football that sound way worse - like the guy is speaking into a cell phone. The commercials are of better quality than the commentator(s)!

So local small market radio doesn't provide the quality listeners expect? I'm shocked! No, not really.

Yakima does not have a program like this at all! YV-Tech sold their little college station to NWPR (NWPB) years ago.

See my response above for why.

 

[Goldilocks94941]

Totally agree. Now kids are self-taught music via TikTok. Nevermind that they aren't learning anything more than a form of impersonation.

I think you've just hit on what comprises the majority of American media nowadays - not just what you hear on school stations. Maybe it's always been that way, only more so now with fewer licensees. It's why I prefer listening to the many original offerings and personalities on BBC Sounds over most anything on FM or AM in Seattle anymore. Even with the difficulties of producing programming during the pandemic, they're usually much more engaging to my ears than most of the same old same old around here.

 

[fordranger797]

I think you've just hit on what comprises the majority of American media nowadays - not just what you hear on school stations. Maybe it's always been that way, only more so now with fewer licensees. It's why I prefer listening to the many original offerings and personalities on BBC Sounds over most anything on FM or AM in Seattle anymore. Even with the difficulties of producing programming during the pandemic, they're usually much more engaging to my ears than most of the same old same old around here.

I see exactly where you are coming from. In my personal opinion, radio has subjectively become increasingly more homogeneous over the past few years. There are still some very good examples of well-run radio stations out there of course, but many leave a lot to be desired. I know that many of the consultants will disagree, but I personally feel that any particular radio station is more enjoyable to listen to when you get the right mix of local personalities and (somewhat) adventurous music. I steam KOSF from San Francisco pretty frequently, and I feel like they have struck a good balance. Great local hosts and music that expands beyond the 50 songs you usually get on a classic hits radio station.