This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WWU chapter.
Radio is and has been for many decades now, been very prevalant in our everyday lives. We listen to it when we sit in the car and sometimes we listen use it as background noise while writing an essay or completing a long homework assignment. Most of us don’t really think about all the work that gets put in to running a radio station though and take this daily piece of our lives for granted.
Jordan Van Hoozer is the program director for Western’s very own student run radio station, 89.3 KUGS FM Bellingham. Along with being a student she works long hours to ensure that everything runs smoothly when KUGS is on air, and answers any questions that people might have about the station.
What got you interested in radio?
My initial interest in radio started because my dad has Sirius XM radio in his car, so we used to listen to the station The Verge a lot. On there they’d play a lot of more obscure music, which both got me into indie/alternative rock, and piqued my interest in radio!
How long have you been involved with KUGS?
I started volunteering at KUGS last fall quarter (Fall 2014) as a newsreader, and that’s the quarter where I went through the DJ training sequence. So I started with my first Music for the Masses show last winter quarter (Winter 2014), and continued to do a M4TM (Music for the Masses) show last spring and summer quarters, and I’m doing one this fall quarter as well. Then I started working at KUGS as Program Director this past June.
How would you describe KUGS as a station?
KUGS is a student-run radio station, so it has a fresh, fun feel to it. We do our programming by quarter, with new DJs added in every quarter, so it’s constantly changing (in a good way). Since all of our DJs are students, we truly do have a genuine student voice on the air, and the music being played is (generally) what Western students want to hear because all our shows are by fellow students.
Who are your favorite bands?
My very favourite band of all time is a little Canadian indie band called The Zolas, they’re based out of Vancouver. One day I’ll get to see them live!
Another of my favourite bands, more well-known, is Arcade Fire. We have their whole discography here at the station and I play them on my show a lot :)
Favorite song and why?
Oooh my favorite song of all time? That’s such a hard question! I have many favorites, but for the sake of answering this question I’ll have to go with my current favorite song, which is “Which Witch” by Florence + the Machine, from her newest album How Big How Blue How Beautiful. It’s a particularly powerful song of Florence Welch’s and I find it really inspiring.
What’s your favorite part of KUGS?
My favorite part of KUGS (and there’s many!) is all the wonderful people I meet through the station, whether I meet them as a fellow DJ or meet them by working at KUGS. I also love all the wonderful opportunities we’re given by working at KUGS, such as getting to tour different radio stations in the Seattle area.
What’s the most challenging part of being the program director?
Being the Program Director at KUGS will be one of the best jobs I ever have, I’m sure of that. However, the overall most challenging part of being the Program Director at KUGS is balancing this job with the rest of my life (school especially, personal life, etc.). As Program Director I’m basically “on call” 24/7. If a DJ doesn’t show up, I’m the one that is called and either has to find someone else to cover their show, or go in myself. It can make it so that I work a lot of hours every week, and also am never fully able to be away from work.
As Program Director I also train the 40 new DJs each quarter, which on top of everything else (such as dealing with the 80-100+ existing DJs) can be very challenging.
What’s a lesson that you’ve learned from college?
I’ve learned how to balance work and school in college, that’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned. It comes down to writing literally everything down in my planner and in my phone calendar. It doesn’t mean that I don’t stress out about work and school, but college has taught me that I can indeed do both.
Any advice for others interested in getting involved with KUGS?
To get involved at KUGS, a perspective volunteer must go through our DJ Training Sequence.
This entails:
1) Filling out the newsreader application
2) Going through Newsreader Training with the KUGS News Director
3) Newsreading once a week for a whole quarter
4) Going through the DJ Training Sequence (a total of 5 DJ Trainings + 4 written assignments) with me
Once you’ve completed all the steps to becoming a trained volunteer, you can volunteer as an on-air music DJ, a news DJ, or work with the News Director on Public Affairs.