WCBN gives students, music lovers a chance to spin discs like the pros

Are you sick of hearing Natalie Imbruglia every hour, on the hour? Do you know the words to "One Week" forwards, backwards and perfectly up to speed?

If so, you're probably not listening to the University's station, WCBN. Why? Because WCBN boasts a very loose format, unlike most stations where playlists are set and the DJs are required to play a predetermined percentage of a certain kind of music.

In fact, the WCBN DJs are allowed to play - and say - basically whatever they want. This freedom causes the station to be a unique mixture of any type of music imaginable, from reggae and pop to punk rock and rap.

The Campus Broadcasting Network began as independent radio studios in the basements of East Quad, West Quad and South Quad residence halls around 1950. At that time, none of the stations could be heard outside of the buildings from which they broadc

ADRIANA YUGOVICH/Daily WCBN DJs Peter Lediy and Aidan Dysart spin tunes during their weekly radio show. They are on the air every Tuesday from 3-6 a.m.

ast.

In 1952, however, they began to work together and formed WCBN-AM 650. In 1957 the network consolidated its scattered studios in the basement of the Student Activities Building - where they still broadcast today.

Nowadays, at 88.3 FM on the dial, WCBN has many different types of shows, including news (both network and student-produced), country, bluegrass and international music, as well as sports, politics, gay, and tenants' rights shows. But, the shows that separate WCBN from any other radio station are its many "freeform" shows.

"Freeform is mixing all different kinds of music together, and having it follow a theme - having it make sense in one way or another," said University alum and WCBN general manager Erika Sherman. "It's really unique."

Nick Farr, assistant general manager and LSA junior, added, "WCBN covers everything. We'll play top 40, oldies, anything - it's entirely up to the DJ. Our mission is to reach as many different cultures and play as many different types of music as possible. There's not another station in the world that you'll hear classical music one minute and dirty gangsta rap the next."

Being a WCBN DJ is not as easy as showing up and demanding your own show. Every aspiring DJ has to go through a standard process.

Those interested meet with someone at WCBN who demonstrates how to use some of the station's beginning equipment. After this short training, would-be DJs are required to put together a 45-minute demo tape, which is turned in for consideration by station officials.

If the tape is approved, prospective DJs are trained to use the actual FM studio. They sit in with DJs who have their own shows to see what it's all about, and are able to sub for absent DJs. The next step is their own show - but usually in an undesirable time slot, like in the middle of the night. As DJs compile experience at the station their time slots improve - slowly but surely.

"Everybody's welcome to come and get trained to be a DJ," Farr said. "The training is easy, but getting to the point where you're a DJ is hard."

The time it takes to go from trainee to genuine DJ varies from person to person. Farr said the average period is about one semester.

For LSA first-year student Paul Kuttner, it took much less time. At his summer orientation session, he called WCBN to inquire about being a DJ, and he was invited to come to the station and be trained. He made his demo tape a few hours before boarding a plane to return home, and he was offered a show before the fall semester even began.

"I just love being on the radio," said Kuttner, whose show airs from 3-6 a.m. Sunday mornings. "I like having different people come to the studio with me and picking out stuff I've never heard before."

Like Kuttner, most WCBN DJs improvise on the air. "There's been a lot of times when I've had five seconds left to pick a song and I'll just grab something," said Farr, who doesn't have his own show but often acts as a substitute.

Others plan their shows for special occasions. "I did a Valentine's Day show, where I started off playing positive music and halfway through I started playing bitter, cynical, insecure stuff," said Engineering senior Jeremy Salmon, whose freeform show "Kingfish Radio" airs Thursday from 3-5 p.m.

Requests also influence what the DJs play. "I get about 10 to 15 calls a show," Salmon said. "I'll get more if I suggest a theme to listeners and ask them to call in ideas. I got calls every minute and a half for my beer and alcohol theme show."

Sometimes the calls the DJs receive stray from the usual requests. Salmon once had a couple call repeatedly throughout his entire show requesting songs. "I felt like I was providing a soundtrack for them fooling around all night," he said.

And the listeners are having fun all over the world. Since WCBN can now be heard on the Internet, Salmon and other DJs have also received calls from California and even Scandinavia.

Kuttner once had a man call during his show and dedicate a song to a woman. Later the man called back and informed the DJ that the woman he had dedicated the song to was his ex-wife. After hearing the song, she had called him to talk despite the fact that they had not spoken in months. "It was kind of cute," Kuttner said.

For the DJs, who range in nature from University students and staff to residents of Ann Arbor, being at WCBN is all about the music - money is not a factor. In fact, only the general manager, assistant general manager, program director, and development director actually receive compensation for their work at WCBN.

"Everyone who is paid was a hard-working volunteer beforehand," Farr said. "Everybody else is a volunteer and does it for the love."

Although Farr said the University funding WCBN receives is decreasing every year, the situation is viewed as a positive challenge.

"It's not that the University doesn't like us," Farr said. "We recently switched departments, and the administration and the station are trying to find a way to fund us without taking (money) away from someone who needs it more."

So, in order to keep WCBN afloat and commercial-free on the air, the station has been forced to become more independent and seek other means of funding, including fundraisers and selling ads in their program guide.

For those who work at WCBN, the experience is very rewarding, both for personal reasons and because of its contribution to the music community.

"People listen to WCBN because they can listen to music they can't hear elsewhere," Sherman said. "We're a creative outlet for anything and everything."

Salmon said the station gives him the chance to "put good music on the airwaves."

"It's one of the best things I've done at this University," he said.

Those interested in working at WCBN can contact the station by e-mailing training@wcbn.org. Others seeking more information can visit the Website at www.wcbn.org.

02-25-99