Listen up, USD Radio is making changes

Abby Gentry | Asst. A& C Editor | The USD Vista

Exploding with passion and enthusiasm, the lead members of USD Radio look forward to the new era to come in this upcoming year. After making some major changes, including a new executive board, the radio team is ready to share the excitement and hopes that Toreros become increasingly interested and involved.

Junior Kiko Salazar, Director of USD Radio, explains how the new changes began.

“To give you an idea of how brand new things are, this academic term, literally the entire exec board is new,” Salazar said. “I’ve been really fortunate because we all get along really well; they don’t feel like my coworkers, they feel like my homies, my family.”

As director of the radio, Salazar is in charge of anything from delegation to redirecting. This includes various tasks such as working hands on with the team, noting needed equipment, and taking funding requests to Associated Students.

One of the biggest changes coming to USD Radio is their new website. Now, the radio site is merging with the two other USD media channels, USD TV and USD Vista. All three media outlets can be found on one website through which USD Radio will be streaming. Along with the merging of the sites, USD Radio will be including DJ bios and hopefully more articles.

Sophomore and USD Radio Editor-in-Chief Jackson Yeung shares more about what is posted on the web page.

“Basically I edit all of the pieces we get by students and put them up online,” Yeung said. “Anyone can write up about concerts or festivals they go to, you can write about the venue or the band, there’s so many different writing styles. We are trying to change what is professional, and what is appropriate, and make it similar to the real world.”

Another goal of the radio is to further student involvement. When most people think of radio they may just assume it is only about playing music. This is a common misconception that some of the radio members are working to eliminate.

“A DJ segment is not limited to music, whenever people think radio they typically think music and that is just the tip of the iceberg,” Kiko said. “Other than what is required from university policies, students are not limited to anything, their mind is the limit; they can cover sports, current events, both local and global. Once we had a student airing Harry Potter for the hour.”

For students interested in getting involved or tuning in, DJ hours are open along with the SLP hours every day from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. A DJ will typically air for 1-3 hour times slots.

“Right now we have thirty DJ’s,” Jackson said. “And we are still getting [application] forms. This year, this is the most attention we have gotten as a [university] radio.”

Aside from the DJ hourly time slots, the radio will now be streaming 24/7 so students are able to tune in at any time of day. The radio is also adding a guest DJ hour for students who are curious and want to give a shot at DJ’ing. Both Kiko and Jackson are extremely adamant about the fact that there is no such thing as a bad DJ and that the radio is an open space for creativity.

“You can’t really say there’s a bad DJ,” Yeung said. “It really depends on what kind of music you’re into. I think we want to promote people to play their own style, we welcome anyone.”

In order to secure a spot as a guest DJ, students need to send in airing forms to give a rundown on what people will be listening to so that the exec board can approve it for content.       

With all of the new and exciting things going on, both Salazar and Yeung weigh in on what their ultimate goals are as a radio team.

“I want us to be able to reach out to USD students and let them know that USD radio is alive and well, and we are no longer a sleeping dragon,”Jackson said. “We want people to know that it is not just about music, like Kiko said, that is just the tip of the iceberg. My goal is to say hey, we’re here, try us out, and ride with us.”

As Director of USD Radio, Salazar attended a conference this past summer where she was inspired to come back to USD and influence her community.

“Dreamwise, I am really inspired to create an encouraging community platform. The way I expressed that at our meeting was that I was hoping to get across that we want to be ourselves in a transparent way,” Salazar said. “Aside from all of its content, which is awesome and fun, it’s not the excitement that is going to bring people back, but it’s how we present our content in a way that engages our community.”