Minnesota State University Reporter

Issue date: 1/31/08 Section: Student Life

Media Credit: John Dahmen Nick "Nick J." Johnson is host of KMSU's "The Midwest Beatdown" and among the youngest of the station's on-air personalities.

If you take a quick look at the KMSU staff page, you will find a few middle-aged men who host jazz and blues shows, and if you scroll down a little further, a woman who hosts a show on gardening, of all things. Nick "Nick J." Johnson, host of "The Midwest Beatdown," is one of the few younger staff members, although he isn't a Minnesota State student. In fact, Johnson was imported to Mankato to work at KMSU from Austin, Minn.

"A lot of the people that have shows here have been here a while," Johnson said.

That is certainly true; one of the station's many jazz hosts noted in an email that this week marks his 17th year at KMSU. "That's kind of the neat part at the same time because they have that niche area that you wouldn't normally hear on the radio," Johnson added. Again, very true; you will not find many shows about bird watching or gardening on commercial radio or the extensive Broadway musical knowledge that comes with hosting the same program since 1984 ("Best of Broadway").

The morning show "Shuffle Function" with Shelley Pierce and Tim Lind is perhaps the show with the most typical "college radio" station appeal. Lind and Pierce are not MSU students, or even of traditional college age, but they do play an eclectic mixture that appeals to younger listeners. Playlists are as varied as new favorites such as the Von Bondies and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club as well as old favorites the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and Bob Dylan.

This show, however, only airs weekdays from 6 - 8 a.m. or Wednesday at 6 p.m. and is not hosted by MSU students, either.

According to KMSU Operations Director Karen Wright, the station typically has five to 12 paid student workers as well as about 40 volunteers, depending on the semester. These students, however, are typically in behind-the-scenes positions and not on-air personalities.

Wright said KMSU currently has a student serving as the public relations assistant and a few students working on the Southern Minnesota News Project, writing 90-second news briefs. Allison Reul, the student director of the Southern Minnesota News Project (SMNP), said she and five other student reporters are on staff. These students write briefs about campus-related news and events. These stories are then recorded, edited and aired twice daily with commentary from Reul three days a week.

Station manager and program director James Gullickson added, "That is an opportunity, although it is admittedly limited."

"We also have some students that do some operational [work] for us - that is typically not very many, one to two generally," he said.

Gullickson and Wright both said they currently have no MSU students on the air making musical selections.

When asked how KMSU is making its programs more appealing to MSU students Gullickson said, "We haven't done a lot with that other than our morning show and Friday nights."

As for his show, "Minnesota Mid Day," he said, "My show, which is a little louder, but it's definitely what I like, so it's appealing to people my age; which is to say, not so much to the college crowd, I'm guessing."

As for the louder Friday night line-up, Gullickson refers to "The Midwest Beatdown," "Here There Be Dragons" and "The Curfew," which is then followed by an overnight jazz subscription.

Johnson, host of the "Midwest Beatdown", said, "After me on Friday nights, it's the death metal kid for two hours, and then after that it's three, or five or seven people that just talk about random stuff from 11 to midnight. So sometimes when I'm getting off of work that's on and I just kind of laugh because they're talking about absolutely nothing."

KMSU does not receive student activity fee funding or give credit to mass communication students or other students interested in going into radio broadcasting, which may explain the lack of student focus or student involvement.

"KMSU does not get any student fees and I prefer it that way," Gullickson said. "Not every student is really going to give a rip about the radio station, and let's face it, probably less so today than ever with iPods and all the rest of that stuff."

With the popularity of MP3 players, many students do choose to listen to their own playlists instead of the radio and some students reported never having even heard of KMSU.

Jaimie Bell, a junior in psychology, was one such student: "I've never even heard of it," she said. "I usually listen to either my iPod or other radio stations."

KMSU does receive what Gullickson refers to as a "modest" maintenance and equipment account, but otherwise the station relies on listener donations and state grant money. The station hosts two pledge drives every year, and last year KMSU generated $45,000 in listener support.

"Where we have to strike a balance is how we get listener support because we're pretty dependent on that," Gullickson said. "It accounts for a significant part of our budget so we have to make sure that we don't alienate that crowd, but at the same time we could probably doing a better job of reaching students."

Though MSU sports are not covered by KMSU, a few MSU Reporter staff hosted a sports commentary show a few years ago. Since then, however, those students have graduated and that program has been replaced by the syndicated show "It Takes a Village."

Gullickson said that putting a sports program back on air and offsetting another show might upset some listeners comfortable with the station's current programming.

KMSU also subscribes to a number of other syndicated radio programs including "Whad'ya Know?" out of Madison, Wisc., and "This American Life" from Chicago Public Radio." KMSU also offers the popular National Public Radio show "World Café with David Dye."

Gullickson explained one of the reasons there are currently no MSU students on the air is the lack of commitment. "Recording a one-hour show for once a week doesn't seem like that big of a commitment until you're doing it," he said. "Then it's like 'Wow, I have to be here once a week to do this,' and it turns out to be an issue. A lot of people have difficulty with that."

The station is home to many programs that appear to have a more adult community audience appeal and far more community volunteers than MSU students. KMSU has many volunteers from the community who produce both pre-recorded and live programs, depending on their availability. Gullickson said that these shows reflect the diversity of Mankato and the greater community.

Johnson said that on average his once weekly, two-hour show takes about two to six hours to produce, depending on if he has to drive to another location to do an interview. "I spend quite a bit of time in the cities, doing interviews depending on what bands are coming through town," he said.

Gullickson is currently working on a possible collaboration with the CSU to have a mobile show hosted by MSU students.

"There definitely are opportunities for students, and my goal is actually to get more student involvement and on-air student involvement as we get a little more high profile," he said.


Brittney Hansen is a Reporter assistant news editor

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