Three UW–Madison Communication Arts students exemplify the unseen labor powering the ‘best college radio station in the country.’
By Ted Hyngstrom, Division of the Arts
Flip the dial to 91.7 FM, and you’ll likely hear one of the 230 volunteer radio hosts that power WSUM — the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s student-led radio station, named best college station in the country at this year’s Intercollegiate Broadcasting System media awards.
Yet most listeners may not realize that some 17 student workers — traffic directors, technical assistants and program directors, to name a few — operate the station behind the scenes. The roles these students fill are directly responsible for the success of WSUM’s nearly quarter-century run.
WSUM is home to more than one hundred unique weekly radio shows, including “The What???” (Fridays at 9 p.m.), “The Percolator” (Sundays at 10 a.m.), and “Snake Sessions Live” (Fridays at 1 p.m.). But only two full-time employees — a Director of Radio and an Engineering Supervisor — focus mainly on continuity, ensuring the station complies with the FCC, budgeting for various expenses, and planning strategically for the future. It’s up to the student workers to make all of the day-to-day programming decisions, building WSUM into the campus institution it has become.
Katie Sander, a junior at UW–Madison, is WSUM’s station manager. She says the station takes pride in giving students a significant amount of decision-making power.
“Having a student staff board keeps the station grounded in student perspectives while also giving our staff real leadership experience,” Sander says. “What we hope students get out of it is a mix of practical skills and collaborative experience that can translate to a lot of different career paths.”
Mixing is an art and a science
Ethan Kral, a senior majoring in Communication Arts, is one of these behind-the-scenes students. Dubbed “The Wizard” by his colleagues for his technical prowess, he works as an assistant sound technician mixing audio for one of WSUM’s most popular weekly shows, Snake Sessions Live, which brings live bands into the studio. But things didn’t start out that way.
“I [originally] was in [for] all the music stuff, in terms of, like, writing music or playing music, or recording my own music. It was kind of just a hobby,” says Kral, who was a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering when WSUM hired him as a sound technician. There,he found both a job and a passion. He ultimately ditched the “mechanical” for “audio” engineering, and switched majors to Communication Arts. The job itself provided an education, and Kral learned as he worked.
“I think one of the most impactful realizations I ever had was that if I had this kind of job that paid enough for me to just live off of it, then I would do that over any engineering [work],” Kral says. “That’s when I started to realize that the actual thing that I’m really, really passionate about is this sort of stuff.”
Kral says his role allows him to combine both art and science. It’s one thing to know how you want a sound to feel, but quite another to apply the techniques that make it happen.
“I could [think], ‘I kind of want the drums to sound a bit crunchier. I want the drums to, like, breathe a bit more,’” Kral says. “But then there’s a technical, actual, scientific way of actually doing that.”
Another part of Kral’s job is making sure he’s staying true to each visiting band’s sound. When a guitarist asks if his levels are changing, Kral is adjusting the buttons, knobs and faders not just for dynamic range, but for signature sound.
“I’m trying to represent them down to who they are in a way that they can identify with, and they can stand behind, and be like, ‘Yeah, this is us,’” Kral says. “My approach here is that every single element in the mix should be clearly heard, regardless of how good it sounds — if there’s a bass guitar, or if there’s a low tone, or if there’s, I don’t know, a violin in there, you should be able to hear it out of the mix and hear exactly what they’re doing.”
Curating, collecting and connecting
Just down a hallway lined with album covers, you’ll find Allison Lukas, a junior studying Communication Arts. As WSUM’s music director, she’s responsible for obtaining and organizing all of the new music for the station. That means not only shelving discs and organizing mp3 files, but also interacting with promoters, booking live acts for each Friday’s Snake Session Live and interviewing performers on the air.
Lukas says because WSUM has such an emphasis on student leadership, it makes doing the work easier, more empowering — and fun.
“[This has] just a different feel than any other job I have ever had,” Lukas says. “And I feel like, just because I am so passionate about it, [it] definitely adds to that as well.”
When booking Snake Sessions, Lukas is picky about the types of bands she invites. She says she tries to “diversify the genre” each week — finding touring musical acts, but also ensuring that local bands get a shot as well.
“Getting smaller bands can be just as cool, because maybe they’ve never had an interview before,” says Lukas, adding that she appreciates providing a range of bands that appeal to different types of fans.
Unlike Kral, Lukas isn’t entirely sure what direction she wants to go in yet with her career. But she says the pre-professional aspect of her job — coupled with her Comm Arts major, a minor in Gender in Women’s Studies and the passion she feels for working at WSUM — is nudging her in the direction of the music industry. Mostly because even though she’s working so hard, it all comes together in a way that doesn’t feel like “work.”
“I know deep down that it is work, but because it’s something I care so much about, it makes it really fun,” Lukas says. “And to be able to really care about the stuff that I’m doing, I feel like resonates a lot with the mission of the station — so it’s kind of hand in hand.”
That view of the work — the care for the work that’s being done and that sense of alignment with the station’s mission — is music to Sander’s ears. “We really believe that everyone has something valuable to contribute,” Sanders says, “when they’re given the right environment and opportunities.”
Ted Hyngstrom is a student writer for UW–Madison Division of the Arts.