Spring Break
Radio dreams could be reality
The University of Kansas has KJHK 90.1 FM. The University of Missouri has KCOU 88.1 FM. UMKC may soon have KROO.
Tyler Allen
Issue date: 10/19/09 Section: News
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Though nothing is finalized, Greer has been working hard since last semester to create a student radio station on campus.
The idea was formed last year with a group of students in a radio class taught by the director and manager of KCUR, Patty Cahill.
"A team of students wrote up a report and this is the report that I've been using for the project," Greer said. "I've discussed it further with Patty Cahill and it's actually something that could be done and utilized."
Using the report as a backbone for the project, Greer tapped into additional resources to further research the project. To begin, he talked to faculty and numerous student organizations to get an idea of how they might help.
"From there, I took a tour of the KCUR radio station where Patty Cahill gave me a couple more ideas and her stance on the student-run radio station," Greer said. "She offered quite a bit of help."
He also toured KJHK 90.1 to see what a long-standing student radio station was like.
"They gave me a lot of valuable information on exactly what is needed and how to keep a radio station going because theirs has been going for like 75 years," he said.
The two hurdles Greer has left to clear are the location and funding for the radio station.
The original idea was to put the station in the new Student Union, but that has not been finalized.
"I'm not sure how feasible that is at the moment because, from discussions and stuff going on in the meetings, they wanted to do more retail in (the new Student Union)," Greer said. "So it's still up in the air at the moment of exactly where it's going because everybody on campus is trying to get into the new Student Union and there's only so much space."
Greer plans to talk with Student Life and the Student Government Association about funding the station.
He also plans to start the station online instead of on FM airwaves to cut costs.
"It's a lot cheaper and it's easier to start with internet broadcasting and step up to airwave broadcasting," he said. "It's just a lot cheaper overall starting from scratch doing internet broadcasting."
Greer would also like to integrate the radio station into the Communications department's curriculum.
"It can be worked into the Communications?department so students can work with radio broadcasting and hopefully open some doors for UMKC students," he said.
Greer envisions the station as student run and hopes it can become a staple of campus life.
"It's something that should become permanent, not something that dies off after a few years," Greer said. "I think it should become part of UMKC's daily life."
tallen@unews.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Miles Whetsel
posted 10/19/09 @ 4:08 PM CST
CORRECTION: KJHK 90.7 FM is based in Lawrence Kansas. Our history stretches back 35 years as KJHK FM, 40+ years since our inception as KUOK, not 75 years. (Continued…)
Local Journalist
posted 10/20/09 @ 11:27 PM CST
I'm curious why you only interviewed one person, Derek Greer, for this article? What about someone in the Communication Studies department, like Dr. Carol Koehler, or Angela Elam (who teaches Radio Production) to provide some context to the discussion? I would assume that other students have suggested this idea in the past - what happened, what where the obstacles? It would also be helpful to interview a UMKC spokesperson who could discuss the Master Plan, which includes "student radio station" in the description of the Student Union: http://masterplan. (Continued…)
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