EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Enrique
Perez is in the Certificate Program in Music Business at
UCLA Extension, and DJs for UCLA radio in his spare time.
By Emily Pauker and Chris
Moriates
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
In the back of Ackerman Grand Ballroom the walls are covered
with stickers from bands like London Suede to Bad Religion. The
shelves overflow with vintage vinyl records and giant cabinets are
stocked with every type of music imaginable.
But soon those cabinets will be emptied and the music converted
to MP3s. This is the scene for UCLA Radio, the student radio
station, which in the past year has significantly shifted its focus
from radio to Internet broadcasting.
This year UCLA Radio is working on expanding their programs in
order to attract a larger audience of students.
“We are working really hard on an internal makeover and at
the same time we are trying to get more people on the outside to
start listening,” said Veronica Rathbourn, a third-year
English student and the promotions manager for UCLA Radio.
“We are completely redoing the Web site.”
The station is also planning on sponsoring different events
throughout the year. They are an official sponsor of Rock “˜N
the Beach, a bilingual music festival to be held on Oct. 28.
According to Rathbourn, they will bring some of the more indie
performers to Westwood Plaza prior to the event to perform, as well
as host ticket give-aways on campus.
The student broadcasting station first went on the radio
airwaves in 1963 as KLA. Throughout its career, KLA had gone on and
off the air periodically, eventually ending up at www.uclaradio.com
in 1999.
Since its introduction to the Internet there have been
significant changes made to the Web site. There is currently a
description on the Web site of the various DJs and their shows, as
well as a streaming live broadcast of the radio station run by
Quicktime and Windows Media Player. The Web site has greatly
expanded to include many different types of music from rock and
alternative to hip-hop, jazz and emo.
“A lot of our DJs cross genres in what they play,”
said Mike Regalado, last year’s general manager for UCLA
Radio. “Because of this you can find a DJ in more then one
channel. The idea of dividing the Web site into channels was an
archiving idea we had (two) summers ago, but now we have the
equipment to do it.”
The current staff is made up of about 15 people, but Rathbourn
expects that number to rise to almost 40 during this year.
“There are a lot of hardworking people here who take pride
in the station and work as hard as they can,” Regalado
said.
During the day when most people are in class, the station plays
pre-recorded music while most of the live broadcasts are at night.
The shows range from various genres of music to comedy shows and
talk shows. Although the majority of the DJs are students, a
few are alumni of the station and graduate students.Â
In the tradition of college radio, UCLA Radio is known for
supporting artists who have not yet hit the mainstream market.
“National radio stations kind of use us as a testing
ground,” Rathbourn said. “We give more airplays to
emerging bands than say KIIS (102.7 FM) or KROQ (106.7 FM). They
send us promos and if we put it on our station and play a song a
lot, it will probably make it into mainstream.”
Although UCLA Radio may only broadcast over the Internet,
Regalado feels that it is an advantage.
“The nice thing about having an Internet radio station is
that you can access it anywhere,” Regalado said. “You
can be all the way in Brazil, which is kinda cool.”
To listen to UCLA Radio check out www.uclaradio.com. If interested in
joining the staff, there will be a meeting on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. in
Moore 100.