Students work with campus radio, television and publications to prepare for media jobs.
By Jami Lambert
Online Editor
With two weeks of the 2003 fall semester already past, the Pepperdine radio station is gearing up for its first full year in operation. Located in the Center for Communication and Business, the station is just one of the many ways students are acquiring realistic experience in media-related jobs o n campus.
RADIO
The newest of these is a student-run radio station, FM 101.5 KWVS. The station broadcasts both Christian music and talk shows.
Director of Broadcast Operations Wade Brown said after working out most of the bugs last year the main goal of the radio station is to “get more organized and take care of some of the radio station demons.”
In August of 2001, the FCC granted the Communication Division a Low Power FM (LPFM) license that allowed Pepperdine to build a tower and transmitter of up to 100 watts.
The station is broadcasting music daily to Pepperdine and the surrounding communities.
Radio signals are also broadcast on one of Pepperdine’s two television channels. TV channel 6 broadcasts KWVS’s signal when the station is not showing movies. The original purpose of the channel was to broadcast films to campus residents. The movie channel was a new addition last year and shows a variety of new films. Movie schedules are distributed through campus mailboxes.
TELEVISION
TV-26 is a student-run television channel. It broadcasts several student-produced shows as well as educational programming. The channel has plans for three new student-produced shows this year, in addition to the old favorites such as “the Randumb Show” and “Riptide TV.”
“‘Riptide TV’ is producing much of the content for this year’s Midnight Madness event, October 3,” said Nick Sheldon, creator and executive producer of “Riptide TV.” “After that, we’ll be back to doing the regular program.”
Sheldon said the show is known as one of the funnier programs on campus.
“This year the show is concentrating more on the goofy antics of hosts Robby Mooring and Drew Hoff, along with the crazy exploits of Nick and Ryan Bundra,” he said. “We’ll also be a Web site up by the end of December.”
“Riptide TV” isn’t the only program looking to gain viewers with fresh content.
Newswaves, the student-produced news broadcast that covers the Malibu and Calabasas areas, is aiming to fine-tune its reporting and continue to increase the number of local stories, according to Tina Worawongs, graduate assistant.
“We really want to do more stories about the people of Malibu,” she said.
About 50 students, in both editorial and production positions, help produce the news broadcasts, which air live every Tuesday and Thursday at 5 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m.
The “Extreme Campus Block” is a completely new addition to the lineup this year. Executive producers Jared Battaglia and Nicole Flowers said the one-hour block will boast a sitcom, “Go Ask Alex,” and Pepperdine’s first soap opera, “Canyon Bay.”
Battaglia said the shows are just what Pepperdine students want.
“With the glut of reality shows, it’s time that we get back to more traditional programming,” Battaglia said.
Flowers thinks that the benefits are more educational than typical classroom instruction.
“You can talk about [television production] in the classroom all you want, but you don’t understand how it’s done until you actually do it,” she said.
The television studio became completely digital this year and is in the process of integrating new equipment into production. Student shows will begin filming later this month. No schedule is currently available for when they will air.
THE GRAPHIC
Senior JJ Bowman, Graphic associate editor, said that the staff hopes to reach out to a larger audience this year.
“We are really trying to focus more on Malibu and the local community,” Bowman said.
Bowman also said the complete redesign of The Graphic is still a huge focus.
“It looks great, but there are still a lot of minor kinks to work out. By the end of the semester we hope to have the format that will be used for the next decade,” Bowman said.
The Graphic has recently received several top awards, including a nomination for the Pacemaker award, known as “the Pulitzer Prize of college journalism,” according to Dr. Mike Jordan, director of Student Publications.
In addition to being named a Pacemaker finalist, the Graphic was also recently named the best university newspaper in California by the California Newspaper Publisher’s Association.
Jordan attributes the success of the paper to the high standards set by faculty and students alike.
“Graphic writers are held to the same standards as the L.A. Times. You wouldn’t expect to see profanity or opinion-laced articles in the Times so why would we have it in the Graphic?” Jordan said.
The Graphic is also available online at www.graphic.pepperdine.edu.
IMPRESSIONS YEARBOOK
Jordan is also the adviser for the Impressions yearbook. He has high hopes for the success of this year’s edition.
“We hope to go from having a winning record to being a contender for the championship,” Jordan said.
Senior Editor in Chief Laura Sears also has big plans. In addition to making the book appealing to the eye, Sears said she will include as much of the student population as possible.
Sears believes that her experience with the yearbook will supplement classroom experience.
“It infuses you with real deadlines, gives you a great deal of responsibility, and provides an outlet for creativity,” Sears said of Impressions.
CURRENTS MAGAZINE
Senior Andrea Banda is Editor-In-Chief for Currents magazine, published once per semester. She hopes to solidify a storyline and theme that really pertains to Pepperdine, but that anyone would find interesting and enjoyable.
“I’m considering a theme about change because it’s something that everyone can relate to in one way or another,” Banda said.
The Fall 2003 edition of Currents will be available in December.
Banda interned at the Ventura County Star this summer and said she felt comfortable in the job because of the skills she learned at Pepperdine.
“[Student Publications] definitely gives you the foundations you need to succeed in real jobs,” Banda said.
September 11, 2003