Today marks the launch of AU's student-run radio station, WVAU. Unlike most college radio programs, WVAU is an Internet station, which brings an equivalent amount of pros and cons to the table.
On the positive side, as an Internet station, anybody in the world with access to the World Wide Web can tune into WVAU. Yes, even country bumpkins can listen to WVAU DJs spin tracks. In prior years when the station was on the actual radio dial, the signal was confined to a measly one- or two-mile radius, thus limiting WVAU's listener demographic.
On the other hand, Internet radio has its share of disadvantages. Rather than coincidentally stumbling on WVAU's station on the radio dial, listeners must consciously choose to seek it out online. General Manager Lindsay Zoladz asserts that as easy as logging online and tuning into radio programs may sound, finding listeners has been difficult.
"Even though those are actions that only take about a second, it's been a lot harder than we thought to motivate people to do those things," Zoladz said. Apart from sheer laziness on the part of listeners, WVAU is relatively unknown due to its lack of presence on campus. Fahima Haque, a sophomore in the School of Communication, characterizes the general consensus of students who wish to partake in WVAU but are unaware of how the station operates.
"Honestly, I don't know when or how or what goes on with WVAU, which makes me realize that there isn't enough advertising to inform students," Haque said. "If there was more word of mouth, I would be more involved."
This year, though, the station is taking an initiative to step up its promotional campaign. It's clear that finding listeners is not always easy, but the station's DJs, including Tyler Budde, are eager for the challenge.
"I love being involved with the rebuilding process," Budde said. "It's something that's just taking off and that's exciting to be a part of."
This is not to suggest that WVAU has not had its share of listeners. In fact, last year the station hosted one of the most popular shows to hit WVAU: "Dueling DJs," hosted by Budde. On the show, Budde would have two guest DJs who would alternate playing their favorite songs, and the listening audience would send instant messages online and vote for which song it preferred. The DJ with the most hits would win. Budde plans to continue the show this year with a few slight twists.
"This year, I am going to use a tournament approach similar to a 'March Madness' madness bracket," Budde said. "Winning guest DJs will continue on until the end of the year as the bracket dwindles down."
A noticeable change in WVAU's structure for the year is the desertion of the experimental genre block system, which the station had used for the past two years. Zoladz explained that rather than restrict DJs to play indie, eclectic, punk, hip-hop or other genre, this year the station is embracing an "anything goes" policy.
"We just came to the conclusion that regardless of what genre you're supposedly under, you're going to play your own flavor of music anyway," Zoladz said. "And that's what I think college radio should be all about: a bunch of people with eclectic, unclassifiable tastes trying to turn other people on to all sorts of weird music that they won't hear anywhere else."
In the sea of AU activities WVAU offers its participants a creative outlet unlike most on-campus organizations.
"There's a spot at the station for anybody who loves music. Even if you don't want to be on the air, we get tons of promo CDs every week, and we always need people to help us log them, or help out with promotions," Zoladz said. "More than anything, it's a community of people who love music"
