UCLA Radio disc jockeys used to have to struggle in order to get
into the locked Ackerman Union to host their show. Today, the disc
jockeys struggle to get a time slot to air their own show.
Recent organizational efforts from student leaders at UCLA Radio
has created a surge in listenership and an increase in demand for
DJ slots.
UCLA Radio operates under ASUCLA Student Media, the same
umbrella organization under which the Daily Bruin operates. The
station, which broadcasts live over the Internet from Ackerman
Union, has reached a larger audience in the past year than ever
before, said Arvli Ward, director of Student Media at UCLA.
“They have a stable group of dedicated managers who are
learning the business and doing a better job,” Ward said.
“The managers that run the station are maturing. It just
takes a while to get your legs.”
The new organizational structure includes departments
exclusively for promotions and publicity. The station also uses
“an army of interns” with fliers to increase awareness,
said Travis DeLonge, the general manager at UCLA Radio.
“(In the past) there were shows that got zero
listeners,” DeLonge said. “(DJs) weren’t showing
up.”
The number of people tuning in to the live Internet stream has
gone up immensely.
February has had an average of over 100 listeners a day.
Fourth-year anthropology graduate student Leisa deFelice has had
a classic rock show since 2001. DeFelice, an avid music fan, did
not mind the low audience numbers that marked her first years.
“For me it was OK to come in and have only one
listener,” she said.
Defelice was given 10 minutes of instruction before going live.
Now, DJs must intern for a quarter before getting their own
show.
“We’re almost at the point right now where time
slots are a commodity,” DeLonge said.
Mikael Perreau, a fourth-year political science student, has
seen a marked improvement from when he first started his sports
show as a freshman.
“From what I saw in 2001, there have been so many steps to
make it a legitimate, respectable station,” he said.
But technical improvements around the station have been slow to
follow the station’s recent success.
“I’ve been the (general manager) for two years and I
just got a computer last Friday,” DeLonge said. One of the CD
players is broken, forcing the DJs to use the computer in its
place.
“The DJs are usually having to wing it with half of the
equipment not working,” deFelice said.
UCLA Radio was founded in the basement of Dykstra in the 1960s,
and has never actually had its own frequency due to the highly
impacted area and the high cost.
There hasn’t been a new frequency in Los Angeles in many
years, Ward said.
“The possibility (of getting a frequency) has not been
seriously explored for many years,” Ward said.
“It’s probably not feasible.”
Until 1999, they had a low power transmitter that reached
approximately 700 yards from Ackerman Union. FCC regulations state
that a station can only broadcast 100 yards without a license, and
they were asked to shut down. It was then that they turned to the
Internet.
“People seem happy about what the Internet offers,”
deFelice said. “It gives them access to an audience they
never would have had.”
The station offers a large spectrum of entertainment, including
music, sports, political commentary and news.
Perreau, who hosts the show “The Sports Nuts” along
with fourth-year history student Brandon Fletcher, broadcasts live
from all UCLA football and basketball home games.
Non-specialty shows are required to play a certain amount of new
music sent in by emerging bands, said deFelice.
The specialty shows, such as “Far From Moscow,” a
Russian pop show, bring in much of their own music to play.
Everything played is written down and royalties are sent out to
the various recording companies.
The funding comes both from UCLA Student Media and public
service announcements that are made on the air, said deFelice.
There are no paid advertisements.
UCLA Radio was seen on UCLAtv, on channel 29, in the dorms as
well as in Ackerman Union, but ended TV broadcasting after the
2002-2003 school year. The station expects to air its more animated
shows on UCLAtv again as early as spring.
“There has been improvements on every front,” Ward
said. “(UCLA Radio) is bigger than they’ve ever
been.”