By Faith Lynn
Assistant Photo Editor
Pepperdine’s radio station broadcast for the first time Tuesday night, finally ending the long battle to get it up and running.
Sophomore psychology major Dan Long opened the broadcast with his friend, freshman Matt Levesque.
“When we first started, I was just extremely nervous … we were running five minutes late … but eventually we got into the groove,” Long said. He said he was very excited to be the first to broadcast since the station was shut down three years ago.
Technically, Tuesday’s broadcast was the first radio broadcast in the station’s entire history, since the old station was broadcast through a television channel.
“It was great to finally get it going,” said Long, who has been involved in the radio program since midway through last semester.
Now that KWVS 101.5 is up and running, though, it still faces a small problem: reception, even on campus, is limited.
On a drive from the top of campus to Malibu Canyon road, the KWVS signal cuts in and out, eventually phasing out completely to its neighbor station on the dial, 101.3. Reception does not improve much on other areas of campus.
Director of Broadcasting Susan Salas said radio waves are easily interrupted by buildings and mountains, making it hard to get good reception near any campus buildings.
“On campus, it’s always a challenge because of our beautiful location,” she said. She said the station is equipped with 100 watts of power and broadcasts in a 10-mile radius. Since there is nothing in the signal’s way as it goes up the ocean, she said, reception is very good all along Pacific Coast Highway.
“People have said they’re getting it in Calabasas,” Long said.
Others have reported that the signal remains strong even into Santa Monica.
Despite its present idiosyncrasies, those behind KWVS are very excited about its future. Salas said she has planned a grand “Open House” event Friday, March 7, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
During that time, junior Penny Sewell will be interviewing all the student deejays and sample some of their music to give previews of their shows.
From 1-1:30 p.m. Tracey Hanson, the wife of Vice President and General Counsel Gary Hanson, will be hosting a show entitled “Prayer for the Journey,” produced by senior Jacob Parnell. The show will feature several guests who will speak about prayer.
Salas said she was very excited about finally getting a radio station back on the air after its last incarnation was shut down three years ago because of inappropriate content.
Many hosts of shows have a very good idea of what their show will feature throughout the semester. Long and Levesque said they envision their show, which airs on Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m., as an “everything-but-country mix.”
Long said every week they plan to have friends on the show to be interviewed or to play a certain character. Next week, for instance, the character Gollum from “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” will be played by a friend of theirs.
Long said their music will have mostly heavy beats and be in the category of thick grunge or more lyrically based genres, such as R& B. He said he wants to make sure all the music he plays has a strong Christian message, as mandated by station policy.
Shows will feature a wide variety of music and other factors, and Salas said she has an idea of the station’s future that involves everyone from the Pepperdine community. For now, though, she said she is happy with the station.
“To get in my car last night, to be driving down Malibu Canyon and hear their voices … it was incredible. It was finally like ‘we’re on the air.’”
February 20, 2003