For the first time since COVID, students working at KCSS 91.9 FM, CSU Stanislaus’ official radio station, had the opportunity to travel out of state to attend the National Student Media Convention (NSMC) hosted by College Broadcasters Incorporated (CBI) hosted in Seattle, Washington to explore, network and learn more about the potential of radio as well as other various forms of media.

The conference was equipped with an array of diverse panels and speakers, covering a variety of topics such as: broadcasting practices, artificial intelligence, social media, FCC compliance, advice on how to effectively manage a radio station, music reviews, promotions, video editing, fundraising techniques and more.

This year’s iteration of the conference also yielded several different types of events to better connect fellow broadcasters and media students from across the country. Such events included: live cybercasts hosted by student broadcasters, a showing of the film 35,000 Watts: The Story of College Radio, a career fair, a swag swap as well as a focus group conducted by KCSS’s General Manager, Greg Jaquay.

Tuning in to KCSS 91.9 FM’s Takeaways

Robbie Herrera (Criminal Justice, senior), KCSS’s Program Director, has been working within KCSS since 2021, and is currently striving to leave his own mark on the station.

Being the first convention he has participated in, Herrera stated that he attended panels out of a personal interest as well as ones that would be able to better support the KCSS team.

“I definitely felt like when I sat down in each panel, it was very interactive and it helped me come up with notes and different things I wanted to bring back to the people that weren’t able to come to the conference,’ Herrera said, “I wanted to be able to relay that, so all the influence that I got from there I’m able to influence my team here.”

Herrera stated that out of all the panels he took part in, his favorite was hosted by Everett Fitzhugh, a play-by-play sports broadcaster for the National Hockey League, the Seattle Krakens. More specifically, hearing Fitzhugh’s process and personal story of getting involved in the industry resonated with him:

“He was one of the first Black play-by-play announcers, which is very interesting. I loved hearing his perspective,” he said, “as a minority myself, it is hard, sometimes, to be like ‘Oh well I came from wealth, I got everything handed to me,’ and the fact that I was able to relate with him, growing up from – I can’t say it was poverty… but definitely some hard times on my parents and like living on my own definitely was something that I had to struggle with, so I understand his perspective.”

Nico Salazar (Communications, senior) has been involved with KCSS since 2023 and is currently working at the station as an intern, with the primary focus of sound and video engineering.

Salazar shared that this was also his first conference, and he viewed this convention as a means to gain new insight in order to enrich his understanding of the radio and broadcasting industry.

“It’s diving into the deep end and learning how to swim. And so I took it as an opportunity to learn more and even find new fields and new ways to up my knowledge,” he said, “There were some panels that I sat in that I necessarily haven’t even thought of before, and so it was just an eye-opening experience for me.”

Salazar also favored Fitzhugh’s panel regarding his experience getting involved in the sports broadcasting industry.

“…It was great to see pointers of like, not necessarily ‘You have to follow my steps exactly, but there are some things that I did that you need to do as well in order to get in the field.’ In terms of listening on these panels and stuff like that, it was all people who have done what I want to do, and it was just a reflection of certain things that they did that we need to do or we need to get into and understand in order to operate in that field,” Salazar said.

Gisele Caballero (Communications, junior) is one of the Promotions Directors of KCSS, and has been involved with the station since 2022. Also being her first conference, Caballero strived to network and make new connections with people from across the country.

“I just wanted a network,” Caballero said, “I wanted to be able to speak to a company and other people that could give me direction on what I can do with my major, since it is so broad… I feel like it was a success, plus I was able to meet some very nice people from all over the place. It was great to listen to them on how they ran their station. I was able to take some notes that I could use for our station in terms of marketing. So that was very beneficial, not just for me, but for the station.”

Caballero’s favorite panel was “How to Get Your First Job in TV News and Sports” because she was able to hear insight of women getting into the industry; she was even able to speak with the Senior Content Recruiter of TEGNA.

“I was able to talk to one of the main workers of that company… I took the information down and everything. That was probably my favorite one just because I was finally able to see what I could do to get where I potentially may want to intern at some point,” she said. “It’s never too early to start networking.”

One piece of advice Caballero offered to conference attendees, first time-goers or not, is to remain open-minded.

“If it’s your first conference, like how it was mine, I would just say go into it open-minded. Don’t be scared to adventure and go out by yourself,” she said, “Go to different sessions other than the ones your friends from the school you came with. So then that way, you can all gain different knowledge and then bring it back to the school, or you can also just grow individually and not allow yourself to stay in a bubble, in a sense. Then you can meet new people.”

She continued, noting the importance of networking as a whole.

“Whenever you go into sessions, I made it a point to always say hi to everyone,” she said. “Create a little chit-chat with them – at the end of the day, you’re really never going to see these people again. So even if you kind of mess up, it’s fine. Just be friendly because everyone’s new. Even if you’ve been to a conference before, every conference is going to be different because there’s always going to be a new set of people.”

Greg Jaquay has been the General Manager of KCSS since 1998 and is no stranger to radio and media related conferences, having attended over 10 conferences put together by CBI.

This year, Jaquay shared that he attended a variety of panels with differing topics, but given his extensive knowledge in the field of radio, he was more interested in the conversations after presentations took place.

“A lot of those panels are similar to ones that I’ve heard before, and so I know some of the presenters and everything,” Jaquay said, “The information is consistent, but generally the students, when they get the chance to ask questions, that’s when I think the real conversations take place.”

When asked about how he felt how this conference differed from his previous CBI convention experience, he stated:

“This one was affirming in that it’s starting to feel like it did before COVID. I’ve gone to a couple of conferences solo that still didn’t feel normal. It didn’t feel like everyone was engaged. A lot of people were in masks… the attendance was low and when attendance was low… This felt a little more back to normal. I felt like we weren’t talking about COVID the whole time. We were talking about non-pandemic related issues.”

Panelist Perspective: The View from Behind the Podium

Along with the board members of CBI, another equally important component was the speakers and panels being presented at this year’s conference.

One of those panelists was Rick Dunkle, who is currently the Director of the Media program at the University of Indianapolis, General Manager of WICR 88.7FM and UIndyTV, and was one of the producers and writers of the show Criminal Minds.

Throughout hosting his panel “Storytelling is Everything”, Dunkle shared that all stories have emotion, and he encouraged conference attendees to dig deeper into narratives that are present everyday in the world around them.

Being involved in academia for three years as well as having experience in the entertainment industry for 20 years, Dunkle recommended being vulnerable when asked what advice he’d give to people entering the entertainment industry.

“I think it comes down to vulnerability,” he said. “I think that it’s about figuring out either who you are and being able to express that in a way where you honor your uniqueness. If everyone is a storyteller, or if everyone needs storytellers, what’s your point of view going to be that sets you apart from everyone else? That is rooted in what makes you unique in your perspective that only you have because of your life experiences.”

Dunkle also offered advice to fellow conference-goers on how to embrace the art of networking.

“Get uncomfortable. Talk to people that you don’t know,” he said. “Go talk to everyone, even if you don’t think you can get something from them, because then you’re learning about all the different opportunities that there are. And with every one of those awkward conversations, you’re getting more experience so that they’re less awkward the next time.”

KWSC 91.9FM: The Cat’s Experience with Cyber-Casting & Highlighting Local, State & Community Culture (Wayne State College)

Traveling all the way from Nebraska, students working within KWSC 91.9 FM from Wayne State College participated in this year’s iteration of the NSMC and had the chance to host an hour- long cyber-cast (the KWSC cyber-cast begins at one hour and fifteen minutes.)

When asked about their experience with going to conferences, Grant Farrell, one of the featured cyber-casters, stated that this was his second time attending the National Student Media Convention.

Unlike his last year’s experience, he was accompanied by his fellow radio station peers, allowing him to feel more comfortable networking.

“The first time I went, it was by myself. It was in Orlando last year and it was a challenge to connect with people when you’re by yourself. It’s hard to go up to a whole group of people from a giant school,” Ferrell said. “But this year, it’s been a lot better because I have a group. I think it’s because I’m closer to graduation, I’m really taking in more of the information… It’s not just going to a session just because you have to go to a session. I’m going because I feel like it’s going to actually help me this time, which is really big.”

Jasmine Snyder (Communication, senior), KWSC’s Promotions and Social Media Director, stated that this was her first time attending a conference hosted by CBI. Her favorite part of the conference was the ability to interact with new people who hold the same interests from across the country, as well as getting to hear about other radio stations’ perspectives.

“Being in a small town in Nebraska, everybody that has their interest, they’re in radio with us. We pretty much know the people, and now we’re meeting all these people with the same music taste, just across every genre, no matter what it is,” she said. “[We are] having a good time and building our on-air personalities. I just love hearing how other stations go about doing that stuff and hearing what their struggles are and how we’re all kind of struggling in the same way. I think it’s so beautiful!”

Becca Arkfeld (Electronic Media, senior), KWSC’s Programming Director, shared that aside from participating and hosting a panel, her next favorite part of the conference was hosting an hour-long cyber-cast in which she was able to highlight their state’s favorite music.

“It’s just so interesting to see different cultures and different cities and areas where people are from. It’s really cool to tell our story, and that’s why we used our platform on the cyber-cast to inform what Nebraskans are like. Yes, we filled in a little bit with stereotypes. We played “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and we played “Fishing in the Dark” line dancing. They’re talking about the punk scene here, and they’re talking about like Pearl Jam, and, you know, grunge, and we’re like, well, we line dance – let’s play a country song! So it was a lot of fun,” Arkfeld said.

Ferrell added that he was also grateful to speak more about his state’s culture during the cyber-cast.

“It was phenomenal, it was really cool. You get to use fun technology that we just don’t have at our school. And we got to play whatever music we wanted, we got to talk about whatever we wanted. So we talked about our state because we’re the only school from Nebraska here, as far as I’m aware. So that was fun,” he said.

UWave’s Perspective: Touring Local Radio Stations & Community Engagement (University of Washington Bothwell)

Students managing the radio station UWave, from the University of Washington Bothell, had the opportunity to host their own panel and discussion regarding community engagement via college radio, specifically highlighting the importance of touring other local radio stations.

Nicolette Natividad (Media & Communications, UW Bothwell alumna), UWave’s former Station Manager, spearheaded UWave’s tradition of touring local radio stations out of her personal interest and curiosity.

“I find it really inspiring to meet other like-minded people who are very passionate about some of the things like broadcasting or TV or radio. It’s just super inspiring and motivating for me, especially because, you fall into these routines and then you’re like, ‘Oh, this is like, boring!’,” she said, “But then you meet new people, and they provide you with this new perspective and their excitement for their craft adds to my excitement and it kind of reinvigorates my focus and my passions.”

The UWave team shared that not only is touring other radio stations a means of enriching personal perspectives and internal campus community among peers, but it is also a powerful means of professionally networking and further connecting with those in the industry.

Having experience traveling to several stations, they have been offered internships, received social media follows from those higher up in the industry, as well as being able to explore KEXP’s live studio. Natividad commented on this experience, stating that it was “like a fan moment, but for a room.”

In terms of internal campus community engagement, the UWave team deeply encourages students to participate in their university’s radio station. The team agreed that getting involved in college radio is a way to put students’ tuition money to good use, as well as a means of expanding one’s technical skills.

Nour Currie (Media Studies, senior), UWave’s Station Manager, is an audio engineer and is interested in pursuing a career in video game audio. Despite what might be seemingly unrelated industries, Currie points out that the field of radio is flexible, allowing people to build upon and hone in on a variety of skills.

“A studio engineering gig is a studio engineering gig,” Currie said, “I’ve actually had the opportunity to meet people at game studios and audio engineers who I otherwise wouldn’t have been in those circles to be meeting, had I not been an audio engineer through UWave.

“That skill is transferable to whatever kind of studio you want to go to,” he continued, “Whether you realize that you want to continue in radio, or if you want to go into game audio, into film audio, or into recording if you want to work at a label. You’ll make those connections through radio, you’ll meet artists that you can potentially work with or collaborate with. So, to me that’s very important. If you live and breathe audio like I do.”

For stations looking to better promote themselves, Ari Pereira (Computer Engineering, freshman), UWave’s Studio Engineer, recommends getting involved with campus student welcoming events, since that was how she first came in contact with UWave.

“The way I found out about the existence of UWave was through an Admitted Student’s Day event. Pretty much any student that got an acceptance letter is invited to this event, and it’s kind of like a mini-orientation with some activities, but UWave was tabling and deejaying just in the Plaza, and Nicolette was there, and she was my first point of contact ever,” Pereira said.

“And so, make yourself known at events with freshmen, especially orientation. The orientation people, like staff, want all these resources because they wanna show the freshman as much as possible, like what the university provides,” she recommended.

Similarly, Samantha Boggs (Undecided, sophomore), UWave’s Program Director, shared that tabling at other types of campus events helps boost campus awareness, but also give event-goers a taste of the behind-the-scenes action.

“What we also do is we go to events, table, get our PSA tags out, play the stream. Then, people know they don’t just know through audio, but they actually see what’s behind the studio when you get your mixer and speakers out,” Boggs said. “And one thing I also did is for open mic night. I also personally reach out to students, whoever I think has potential to even enjoy or perform this event. And then you also can follow it back up and say ‘Hey, if you want to go further more, you can use our studio and let us know,’ and we just throw the resources to them.”

The Fruits of their Labor: College Broadcasters Incorporated (CBI) Board Member Perspectives

College Broadcasting Incorporated board members work year-round to prepare and make the National Student Media Convention experience satisfying for everyone. This year’s convention which took place at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, was booked three years ahead of time. Given the immense hours of planning and hard work, the board members were excited to see the fruits of their labor as well as all of their hard work come to life.

Galen Perkins, CBI’s Secretary, is from Arkansas State University, and is also the Faculty Advisor of Red Wolf Radio. Perkins shared that this year’s convention was the first he has been involved in as a board member, as well as attendee.

When asked about his overall experience so far, Perkins lauded the work of the board and felt pride in their work organizing the event.

“As a board member, there’s a lot of work that goes into this, and we have a great team that is working year round…We all got here a day or so early and we got boots on the ground, we started setting up everything, getting all that ready to go. But it’s been a really fun process so far and I’ve definitely been enjoying my time here,” he said.

John Devecka, CBI’s Development Director, and Operations Manager of WLOY Radio from Loyola University Maryland, shared that he feels that this year’s conference has been an overall success, noting the amount of engagement across broadcasters from across the country.

“Last night at the swag swap, the room was completely packed. Everybody was having a blast,” Devecka said, “All these students are meeting each other from all across the country. And seeing the sessions where it’s peer-to-peer and they’re talking about the issues they have in their stations, there’s 20 people and they’re offering alternate solutions or ways that they were successful.”

Devecka continued, reflecting on his previous conference experiences.

“It’s just really great. I mean, seeing the students be happy,” he said. “You can see when they’re having a good conference. I’ve been to bad conferences. You can tell when the students are not happy. One of the things that I’ve always been happy with, for CBI, is the students always get a great reward on being here, and we also pick cool cities.”

Despite the tension at a national level, Perkins was grateful to have a space of togetherness throughout the conference.

“This year, with all the political stuff going on and all the divisiveness is going on in existent time. It’s great that we have a forum here where people can come and interact with their peers from across the United States,” Perkins said, “We try to make this place as welcoming and as accommodating as possible. And I know that I’ve learned stuff from being at a conference just with how to better utilize our limited budget and ideas for what other schools are doing that will improve our radio station. Plus being able to access all these vendors and actually touch the equipment to get really hands-on. That’s a great benefit as well.”

Students involved within the CBI board were equally excited to see what this year’s conference would be like.

Clara Ketchell (Political Science & Sociology, senior) is from the University of Kansas and is the Communications Director for her campus’ radio station KJHK 90.7FM, as well as this year’s CBI Student Representative.

Being her third year participating in conferences hosted by CBI, Ketchell was excited for the new events that were in store.

“I think just like this convention in particular has a lot of events, like more events than I can remember in past conventions. We have the career fair, which is completely new. We did the student welcome reception last night, we have swag swap tonight. And then tomorrow we’re doing the screening of 35,000 Watts, which is the movie about like the story of college radio, also a new thing. And we have the director coming in from Spain for that. So it’s just like a bunch of really exciting events that are kind of unique to this Seattle convention,” she said.

Emily “Emol” McCormack (Film & Television, senior), is from Montclair State University in New Jersey and is WMSC’s 90.3 FM’s Music and Program Director, as well as CBI’s official photographer for CBI.

McCormack was most excited to participate in this year’s roundtable discussion for Program Directors, as this is her first year being her station’s Program Director.

“Those are usually my favorite because that’s where you get a lot of ideas from other stations,” she said. “And then I could also share some things that we’ve done so that that may inspire other stations.”