MuZik MU Radio
Methodist University's online radio station is inviting students to join the radio staff as producers, marketers, program directors and on-air personalities.
“We’re a small department, and so far participation has been limited to a number of mass communication students,” said Professor Dan Trigoboff, who joined the MU faculty last summer. “But you don’t have to be a mass-com student to work with the station." “We’d like people from as many parts of the school as possible, to explore and promote the wide variety of interests, disciplines and backgrounds in the student body. We’d love to have international students share their cultures with the rest of us through music, for instance, or have students who study music share their knowledge. Eventually we’d like to put recordings of student performances on radio, so students’ families can hear them."
The groundwork, setup, and early operations were implemented by Sarah Crist, who was a popular teacher at Methodist University from 2006 to 2009, and brought to the program a great love for college radio. Programming for college radio typically centers around progressive rock music, and MU Radio's The MuZik, is no exception.
“(Junior) Austin Bordeaux has done techno-rock shows for the station,” Trigoboff said. “But Austin has broad and eclectic tastes, and he’s also done shows with different formats, like Celtic music. Our music database has thousands of songs. Our Internet fees pay for copyright use, so students can bring their own songs.”
Trigoboff says the station’s most consistent performance so far has come from two freshmen with strong interest in sports. John Donnelly and Matt Snowberger have been doing a sports show twice, sometimes three times a week since the middle of last semester. The 6'9" Snowberger named the program the “Big John and Lurch Show.” Snowberger has tapped not only his own expertise, but also his contacts and has brought coaches into the studio to talk sports.
“They’ve got great chemistry, and the show is a lot of fun,” Trigoboff commented.
Donnelly, a non-traditional student, is a Navy corpsman who’s served in war zones and has been through college before. “John’s decided he wants to be a sports journalist, and I’m glad he’s chosen to study at Methodist,” said Trigoboff. “[John] brings a lot of knowledge and maturity to our program.”
For Donnelly, MU radio offers "the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream to be a sportscaster. The environment, the staff... is great for an old guy like me."
A member of MU's basketball team, Snowberger said, "It's great being able to talk about local sports and about national sports on the radio and get my opinion out. It's great to hear back from coaches and teammates. We're bringing bus ride arguments to the air."
Both Donnelly and Snowberger have trained other students on the equipment and have emerged as leaders at MU Radio. Since both have family in Jacksonville, Florida, the show sometimes has more listeners in Jacksonville than in Fayetteville.
As an outgrowth of the radio program, communications students and faculty began an initiative this year called Methodist Universe, intended as a series of audio and video recordings of staff, students and faculty which will air over MU Radio and be archived.
The interview program was intended as a future project. “But when Dr. [M. Elton] Hendricks announced his retirement," Trigoboff said. "I knew we couldn’t wait. He has too many great stories to tell and obviously won't be as available to us once he retires.” MU President Hendricks agreed to sit for a series of interviews, the first of which was recorded just before spring break. Hendricks' on-camera recollections are expected to be included in programs commemorating his years at MU.
The interviewing and hosting for that first session was handled by Tiffany Jones, a freshman and the daughter of local radio personality (and former Methodist University student) Omega Jones.
"We worked together on questions," Trigoboff said, “but when the cameras started she was on her own. She handled the interview with great poise and intelligence."
"This is a perfect way to learn and get constructive criticism to hone my skills for the real world," Jones said.
Initial plans called for simple audio recording, but Professor Paul Joseph suggested shooting the interview in high-definition video. Two mass communications students, Sung Kim and Megan Sexton, worked on the production during the first session shoot. A second session is planned, with freshman Camden Parks scheduled to host and additional mass communications students to work as production crew.
Students interested in participating in radio activities should call 630-7066, e-mail
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or contact one of the students involved.
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