In celebration of College Radio Day this year on Nov. 4, KWCR’s goal was to fill the Shepherd Union at Weber State University with boisterous music and laughing voices.
Their hope was to have a booth just outside of their office, where they could catch the attention of people walking by.
“It’s not going as well as I was expecting. I was expecting there to be more,” said KWCR’s program director, Edwin Santiago. Because of an event going on just across the atrium, the staff was told by administration that they could not play their music too loud, and they were not allowed to do anything to distract from the other event.
“The staff is trying to get people in because it’s really hard when you don’t have music or a mic that you can use to invite people,” said Santiago.
Although the event did not go as planned, KWCR fulfilled their hope of helping more students be more aware of the program, as well as to feel like they are welcome on KWCR radio.
“I didn’t know exactly what they played on the radio station,” WSU student Katlyn Cottrell said after she visited the radio station’s booth. “I knew that we had one, but I never listened to it, so it’s interesting to see what they play and that it might be something I’m interested in.”
As a way to introduce the students to the airwaves, the station also provided a way for the students to be able to record their voices and create a radio ID, which would then be played on the station.
“We are trying to involve the students because this is a student’s radio station,” said Santiago. “The management here is all students. … We like students to get involved in this and to explore new opportunities.”
At the booth, the radio station handed out free CDs to students as a way to show them what they played on the station and to talk to them about what they would like to hear.
Later that night, as another way to celebrate College Radio Day, KWCR was at Grounds For Coffee hosting an open mic night. The radio station hosts these open mics on the first Friday of every month, and this year, one happened to land on College Radio Day.
“We’re going to try to do more events on campus,” said Santiago. He also said that the program has done events off campus, and he hoped to do some more with students on the Ogden Campus. “We want more students to get involved.”
