Even though most of the campus is deserted late Wednesday night, about a dozen students are eagerly preparing for the launch of SDS radio – Student Designed Sound.
“They’ve been talking about this for a couple years.We’ll be the first class to actually be on air, so we are the pioneers,” Donna Kuhn, a veteran radio student, explains.
KSDS, also known as Jazz 88.3, the resident radio station of City College, will launching their second station within the next couple of weeks. The station, which will be available using an HD receiver or streamed live online, will feature shows and music entirely run by students.
“We’re really excited about it. It gives students a chance to have a true hands on experience,” station manager Mark DeBosky said.
“We have a bunch of different personalities doing lots of different things,” staff advisor Dave Sniff said. “This station will encompass a wide variety of musical tastes. Someone may like rock, rap, or jazz and they will all be represented.”
“I feel like just to start why not have every show be different. Maybe one show I’ll play nothing but 80’s music, and another day it’ll be nothing but Spanish. To be able to play the music I want to and to have a real college student station is really cool,” Adon Perez remarks. “Come and enjoy the music. Listen to the music I listen to.”
Donna Kuhn wants to take her show in another direction. “I actually want to do a news segment. It might be some politics, but I could also do events happening on campus, and local things that effect students, like when Prop. 30 was on the ballot.”
Another student, Donavan Corren, is also planning a unique show. “My show will be about nerd culture, like comics and movies. I’m very big (into) American and Japanese Otaku culture. Otaku is like Japanese for nerd.”
Tony Peterson, a student who started his radio degree back in 1989, plans to use his time to play some old school music. “My show is going to be about the golden age of R&B.; I think younger people will enjoy it because they’ll hear the origins of a lot of today’s pop music. I’m a musician so this is an extension of what I do naturally.”
One student wants to bring a global aspect to the station. “My show will be ‘Best of the African Music.’ It will be about the African music industry, plus some African news, sports, and culture. I want to start here and see how successful it is, and hopefully it will be heard internationally,” Sudanese native Simon John said.
Ken Smith, also known as ‘McJammersfield’, is planning to keep things a little closer to home though.
“It’s going to be called ‘Jam Session with McJammersfield.’ It used to be a DJ could play whatever they wanted, but now it’s all programmed. There’s a lot of great local bands that can’t get played. It will be nothing but local music,” said Smith.
Initially, the station will be a combination of both live and recorded shows, though by the end of the semester, they aim to have at least 60 hours live a week. “Hopefully we get to the point where we have about core 20 students who return each semester and fight for air time,” explainsProfessor David Sniff.
Primary funding for the new station was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with a grant of $35,000. The grant allowed KSDS to be switched to HD. This made it possible for the station to be split into two, allowing the creation of the student station, as well as upgrading the sound quality to match a CD’s.
The station is open to any student who has taken, or is concurrently enrolled in, RTVC 130. Any students potentially interested in joining the station should email [email protected].
