Student shows clear the air

Jason Hostetter

Sophomore Elise Johnson and first-year Becka Rankin are two students producing shows to be aired on WEMC during the midnight hour.

EMU's on-campus radio station, WEMC, will soon be kicking up its student heels in the dead of the night. All programs will begin at midnight, following the regular programming of the day.

Night Shift, produced by Amanda Opoku Amauben, will discuss social concerns of our generation-interpersonal relationships, where to pursue graduate studies, and future careers. Listener response will be featured, making it an interactive show with students both on and off campus.

Martin House Live, produced by Danny Yoder, Justin Shenk, and Zachary Kurtz, will feature music that asks important questions or makes a statement. Styles will include most genres, including folk, alternative, and light rock. Interviews and dialogues will range from community to world issues. The producers would also like to promote local writers, musicians, and artists through their program.

Other music programs include a mix of modern music hosted by Elise Johnson and Becka Rankin, as well as jazz and swing with hosts Doug and Chasity Bowman.

"Obviously you're going to have a group of students that do really well at it, some that will lose interest as the semester goes on, and some that will wing it, which results in bad radio," said station manager Jon Kauffman-Kennel. He based his comments on his previous experience as station manager at Goshen College.

"The key is to pre-record the shows to decrease any inappropriateness and to cause the students to think harder about putting out something with good quality," he said.

The student programs will be coordinated by work study student Ryan Reese, whose responsibilities include screening the programs before they air. The plan is for problems like bad language or even simple mistakes to be edited out. If a group records a program that is not well thought-out, they can be called up to record it again before it airs to ensure professional quality.

Although programs will be pre-screened, there are no picky rules about what type of programs may be aired. "I see it as an opportunity for people to do whatever they want to do," Kauffman-Kennel said. "The overall goal is to give those students that are interested experience with a different format. I also hope it brings young people to the station, and hopefully through listening to the student programs they will find other programs they also like."

Kauffman-Kennel is still accepting applications, which can be found in the WEMC folder under the Classdata (V:) drive. "Students who think it sounds interesting but either didn't get around to it or were hesitant should listen to the shows and see if they would still like to apply," he said. "All good ideas will be considered."

Student shows are not new to WEMC. They were part of the programming from 1996-1998 under the direction of Douglas King, the WEMC general manager at the time. Several of the managers since King have been reluctant to air student programs again.