Spotlight: Oregon State University’s KBVR

Thanks to Station Manager Matt Walton for answering the questions!

Tell me a little history about your station and where your station is now?
KBVR-FM was founded in 1965 with 10 watts of power and a broadcast radius of around five miles. Originally broadcasting from Shepard Hall, KBVR relocated to Snell Hall in 1977 and now has a broadcast radius of roughly 30 miles using 340 watts of power. In January 2015, KBVR will relocate to the top floor of the brand-new Student Experience Center, home to an entirely new broadcast booth.

What sets your station apart from other college radio stations?
KBVR DJ corps consists of more than 100 students broadcasting in a true variety format. This makes for an incredibly unique and diverse programming schedule! They know how to produce award-winning content as well; KBVR won five national awards at the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System’s national conference in New York City in March, including best college station in the nation with 10,000+ students.

Why did you choose to work at the radio station?
Who wouldn’t want to work at a college radio station?! I started as a blues and jazz DJ in 2012 and immediately fell in love with college radio. Once I saw a Promotions Director opening, I saw the opportunity to become even more involved. We are fortunate at KBVR to work very closely with the rest of Student Media, which provides us with incredible multimedia opportunities. One such show is Leaves of Blast, a three-hour live music/CMJ countdown show, which is filmed by KBVR-TV every week and covered by The Daily Barometer, Oregon State’s student newspaper.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for your station?
That would be the live coverage we did of last year’s homecoming football ticket line. OSU distributes tickets to football games beginning at 8 a.m., so students line up and camp the night before, with a line of 4,000+ students wrapping around our stadium. We did a live broadcast beginning at 4 a.m. near the front of the line, doing giveaways and interviewing students while they waited for their tickets! Did I mention it was freezing out?

What’s the best part of college radio? And the hardest part?
The fact that students are literally the voice and personality of the programming is the best part about college radio. In a world of mass culture where everyone listens to the same music, college radio serves as a bastion of individuality that is difficult to find anywhere else.

The hardest part is leaving! It is difficult to find similar opportunities in radio, so enjoy it while you can!