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For one hour each week, John Turini ‘13, does something that he really enjoys: he hosts a radio show on Fairfield’s WVOF web station. He has a lot of fun as a DJ for the station, and says that due to WVOF’s increased popularity, the studio is packed this year.
However, Turini also admits that he has never had someone call in while he was on the air, and he thinks that the only people who actually tune in to his show are his parents and a couple of his friends.
“I don’t think it’s that widely listened to by students. Just, I feel that like, radio itself is almost outdated,” Turini said. “No one has a radio. Everybody has their iPods or computers.” IPod playlists. ITunes. Pandora. WVOF? In an age where technology makes it so easy for college students to get new music fast, many others also see the irrelevance of small student-run radio stations such as Fairfield’s WVOF. Thomas Bellingrath ‘13, understands this concern.
“I only listen to the radio when I’m in the car … and most of the time when I’m in the car too it’s still even just relying on my iPod or CDs or stuff like that. So I think that there’s definitely kind of an irrelevance to radio on campus,” Bellingrath said.
College Radio: Is It Relevant?
Others students at colleges and universities across the country agree, sharing opinions that reflect a similar reality for the present and future of college radio listenership. According to an article written at Stanford University in 2005, where “student listenership is lower than ideal,” the general feeling is that music on the radio is being pushed aside by digital music.
Not only that, but according to an article in the New York Times, college radio has become an “analog remnant in a digital world,” and young people are listening to the radio less and less.
However, Dave Grazynsky, the general manager of Fairfield’s student-run station, has a much different outlook on the relevance of radio on campus. He feels that the experimental aspect of college radio is one of the things that keeps it relevant, adding that it’s a good place to listen to new bands that you might not hear elsewhere, as well as a good way to get away from what he calls the “internet hype machine.”
“… I don’t think that college radio or public radio will ever be irrelevant at all … it’s a free-form thing where you could really experiment with the type of music you play and breaking new bands, and I think that students will always sort of gravitate towards that,” Grazynsky says.
Matt Dinnan, the senior associate dean of students and director of university activities, echoes that sentiment. He feels that the radio station is still very pertinent because it offers something different, and as a media or operational outlet, it’s something unique.
How WVOF Promotes Itself
Although WVOF may provide something different, station manager, Kevin Tellie ‘12, admits that listenership at Fairfield is still pretty weak. However, he says that the station has been doing many things in terms of promotion as it strives to achieve what Tellie says is one of his personal goals: improving student listenership on campus.
In addition to the recent creation of a WVOF iPhone application, the station has a Facebook and a Myspace page, as well as 160 followers on Twitter. Quite frequently there are concert ticket giveaways to go see live bands, flyers are hung, and WVOF members participate in dorm-storms to promote the station.
WVOF also broadcasts many of the Fairfield sporting events, including basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and baseball games. This provide DJs with a way to learn about sports broadcasting, as well as an incentive for students who like sports to tune into the station.
Most recently, WVOF provided a fan bus to attend the basketball game versus Sacred Heart at Mohegan Sun. The first 40 students who ‘liked’ and commented on WVOF’s Facebook fan page got a free seat. Those same people also got admittance to a free pre-game pizza party hosted by the station, received free WVOF paraphernalia, and were entered into a raffle to win a WVOF gift pack, which included an iPod Touch.
WVOF Promotion: Is It Working?
Although WVOF markets itself like this, some students still feel like it’s not enough. Molly Barone ‘13, attributes the lack of student listenership to a lack of promotion.
“There’s not a lot of awareness about the radio shows, … who’s on it or what they’re talking about. There’s no incentive to listen, you know? I don’t even know what kind of music they play,” she said.
Many students agree that it is important for the radio station to continue to find new ways to peak student interest. According to some, it is especially important to advertise the fact that students who want to can have their own show, either on the web or on the FM station, and they don’t even need any prior experience to join.
“I think it’s still attracting people who want to have their own shows,” said Shaylin Perez ‘13. “I know people who have wanted to have their own talk shows because they hear that it’s easy to get or that it will be cool, and they can play the music that they want, like the stuff that they don’t usually hear on that radio station … People get excited when they can start their own things and talk about their own subjects,” she said.
Speaking from the experience of having a radio show last semester with his roommate, Bellingrath mirrored that belief, adding that more involvement in WVOF could lead to increased student listenership. “I think that when peoples’ friends get radio shows, their friends are definitely loyal listeners,” he said.
Along with many students at Fairfield, Grazynsky also sees the importance of student involvement in WVOF, which he, as well as Dinnan, says is extremely high this year compared to past years. He feels that the DJ is really in control of who their target audience is, so listenership is all up to students individually.
However, for some students at Fairfield, it’s not so much the accessibility to music on the radio, or even how the radio station is promoted. Rather, it’s their ability to choose and control what they’re listening to. For many, including Bellingrath, music stored on phones, downloaded from iTunes, or on iPod playlists is the most convenient music to listen to.
“I think when you listen to your iPod or you listen to a CD you know what you’re gonna get. With WVOF, you know, it could be a radio show that I’m sure is great music, but just music that you’re not really feeling on a Saturday night or something like that.”
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