★
8B / SI
FEATURE
PRC McDor New M. No. 3 just tw
Imagine this. The end of the spring semester is drawing near and classes are quickly winding down. Finals are looming darkly on the horizon, research papers are stacking up and stress and stimulant levels are at an all-time high. It's nearing 6 a.m. and Becky Sullivan has been up since before 4 a.m., but not doing homework. For the past two hours, she's been broadcasting her weekly DJ show on KJHK 90.7.
Sullivan broadcasted Tuesday mornings 4 to 6 a.m. in the spring of 2009, in one of the early morning time slots reserved for rookie DJs.
"I always thought, 'Nobody is listening now, right?"
Wrong. During one of her last sets of that semester, Sullivan got a surprising call — from the milkman. "He called and told me that every morning from 2 to 6 a.m. when he was out delivering milk, he always listened to KJHK, and that my show was one of his all-time favorites," she says. "It was awesome."
Dan Cook, a KU and KJHK alumnus and Lawrence resident, remembers a similar memorable occasion while he was on staff at KJHK in the nineties. Another DJ approached him one day and said, "Guess who called up to the station? Wayne Coynel!" Coyne, who is
It's things like that that keep students on the airwaves at all hours of the night, Sullivan, Lenexa senior, says, with little compensation other than personal fulfillment or the occasional feedback from your local milkman or indie-rock god.
Most college radio stations, like KJHK, are student organizations funded by student fees and donations, and operated primarily on volunteered time. College radio is about having a passion for music and building a community around that passion, says David Day, editor at Boston's Weekly Dig and former associate editor at the College Music Journal. Days says college radio inspired his passion and career path. "It fulfilled a role in my life, and I know that sounds sort of profound and silly, but it's true." Day worked at KJHK while studying at KU in the late nineties, and has since become a freelance writer, professional DJ, entrepreneur and record label manager.
The Flaming Lips singer and songwriter, called to personally thank the station for playing his band and for all KJHK's support. "And that was before they'd really blown up," Cook says.
It's through this passion that these veiled voices of the FM airwaves helped bring artists such as R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Nirvana
and Ben Folds from underground obscurity to mainstream success. Today, college radio stations like KJHK continue to bring new and independent music to the forefront of the music industry, as well as create a sort of musical archive of the culture of a particular place and time. Indie rock outfit Arcade Fire won this year's Grammy for Album of the Year. Like many other artists, Arcade Fire got its start on college airwaves, 90.7 included. The band's award-winning album The Suburbs saw radio play at KJHK last year.
"I haven't been excited about the Grammys in... ever," Day says with an honest chuckle. The majority of the music industry is dominated by four major conglomerates — Sony, EMI, Universal and Warner music groups. For an outside entity ran by college students to exist alongside those powerful corporations, even defy their choices of what music is 'good,' truly illustrates the power of a network of passionate people.
Day, a KU alumnus who was a DJ and held several staff positions at KJHK, says the freedom most college radio stations have from corporate structure gives them the ability and responsibility to find and encourage people with a thirst to change the nature of the music
Photo by Travis Young
Moving forward: As of May 2010, KJHK's new home is on the fourth floor in the Student Union, where it has a brand new, state-of-the-art studio. The station moved from "The Shack" in Sudler Annex on 11th St.
industry. Today, independent bands can be heard without the need for major label support because they can reach their fans and listeners directly — if they want to hear it.
KJHK's true role as an independent station isn't to be a radical part of a nationwide dissolution of the music industry as we know it, though college radio as a collective has the strength to seriously influence it. The philosophy of KJHK is to stay relevant to its audience and be the source for programming that can't be heard otherwise in Lawrence, says Becky Sullivan, now the station manager at KJHK. "We strive to have programming that our listeners truly care about," Sullivan says. "Our relationship with them and the local scene is everything."
In his book The Culture of College Radio, Samuel Saul writes that "as a culture, college radio reflects the current climate on the campus." Each station is as varied as the college towns or college students they reflect, and this changes with time. This creates a nationwide network of stations that may have similar philosophies committed to alternative programming, but each with their own stylistic niche, writes Saul.
WE STRIVE TO HAVE PROGRAMMING THAT OUR LISTENERS TRULY CARE ABOUT. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM AND THE LOCAL SCENE IS
AND THE LOCAL SCENE IS EVERYTHING.
> Becky Sullivan,
KJHK Station Manager