While the freshmen year began being enrolled in the Introduction to Broadcasting course, I didn't get involved with radio work for a few weeks, as the student management had to get situated themselves in with their own classes before preparing for the station-wide meeting. In the meantime the station was usually run by veteran volunteers, people who had been around a while and didn’t need to be trained. Usually these would be the same people who would disappear when volunteers were needed to train new people. Such was the way of this land.
I was sort of hesitant what this strange, all-staff meeting would entail. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do there, but I thought I’d give this radio thing a try. I guess it seemed the natural, obvious thing to do.
Of course, there was nothing guaranteeing me a new position. While non-management roles at the radio station were usually required to be filled by students enrolled in the Advanced Audio Production course, students in the introduction course could sign-up to help, too, though they often were used to patch-up unpopular shifts (like an early morning news shift or one of those late night weekend music shifts [see Curve's the words, spin's the verbs]).
These meetings were generally a loosely organized affair run by the program director, a student chosen to oversee all aspects of the station. Also in attendance were the station manager and faculty advisor – roles that were arguably the same thing but, at this point, were separated between two faculty members, Dr. Propel and Dr. Schapp. Of course the students in the Advanced Audio course were there (shoot, their grade depended on it), as well as anyone else who wanted to join in on the festivities for the semester.
The one requirement for participating, however, was that the student be enrolled in one of the Communication classes. That seemed like an obvious prerequisite to me at the time. Later I was told this was noted up front due to a mishap that happened one summer. Apparently the station wanted to maintain normal hours during a time when student involvement was slim and invited community volunteers to take a few shifts. An older gentleman from the community stepped into help but quickly went off on his own, making up his own rules and questioning the student management. That would have been interesting to see. And hear.
There are little memories of this first meeting, as I was still wide-eyed at the time and not always grasping just how much everything fit together (there were a lot more behind the scenes positions than I realized). Needless to say, I left the meeting having signed up for news shifts – three of 'em. I had come to college interested in journalism and I thought this might be a good way to get myself involved. I had no idea what lay in store (see Watching your river turn into an ocean).
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Strange Meeting
(Bill Frisell)
Bill Frisell
From the album This Land
1992
