Wednesday, October 8, 1997
Testing, testing … KLA is back on the air
RADIO: After shutdown, station can be heard by students in
dormitories
By Cindy Choi
Daily Bruin Contributor
A team of 20 students huddle in a circle, listen to some last
minute coaching and wait to go on the air.
"Your radio voice is your normal voice," said Loren Collin,
KLA’s sports director, teaching one of the basic lessons of radio
broadcasting during the first live broadcast of the sports show
called "The Clubhouse."
That show is just one of the programs designed to encourage
6,000 potential listeners to tune in to UCLA’s radio station.
After overcoming construction and technological setbacks, KLA
returns with music, sports and news and hopes to become an integral
part of dorm life.
But the DJs know they still have a way to go. "I don’t feel
nervous because probably not a lot of people are listening," DJ Min
Hee Kim, a first-year English student, said.
About 6,000 listeners in the residence halls will have easier
access to KLA with the help of new co-axial cables and transformers
installed in the dorms last month. The new system works like cable
TV – except you plug the cable into your radio.
This makes KLA more accessible than before. However, the station
does not broadcast over the airwaves, so only dorm residents
plugged into the cable system can receive KLA.
During the 1994-95 academic year, the dorm rooms were equipped
with cable systems and networks.
But dorm residents were burdened with purchasing the additional
equipment – a co-axial cable and transformer for $5 – in order to
receive the station. Few residents did.
The reconstruction of Ackerman Union, home of KLA, did not help
either. The struggling station was forced to temporarily close
down.
"We were fighting an uphill battle," Mark Liu, general manager
of KLA, said.
KLA’s attempt to garner a large audience relied on word-of-mouth
and giving away their supply of cables and transformers.
The lack of a large audience during winter and spring quarter
last year in fact helped training, Liu said.
Although the station lost over two-thirds of its staff during
the closure, leaving just seven members behind, the managers and
directors used the time to reconstruct and strengthen KLA, Liu
said.
"It was a great time for training. We honed our professional
image … We made mistakes, but not many people were listening,"
Liu said.
This year marks the beginning of a new life for KLA. The number
of people on staff has increased to about 100, including 40 DJs,
some of whom will probably be at KLA’s promotional party on Oct.
21. There will be give-aways, contests and food at the party.
The music genres on KLA will bounce between classical and gothic
to ska and techno.Bands like Save Ferris, Common Sense and 311 are
on this week’s playlist.
KLA will also contain two hours of news and sports programming
weekly, with some programs in talk show format. The Fall Program
Guide includes a news update twice daily.
The goals are to make KLA a real radio station, a central part
of dorm life and a news source for students, Liu said.
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS
Loren Colin, the sports director of KLA, broadcasts live from
the Ackerman Grand Ballroom.