Over the past calendar year, KBCU — the flagship radio station of Bethel College — has seen its radio booth become a ghost town. Under normal circumstances, the room would be filled with energy from students creating content and broadcasting it for all of Newton to hear. Instead, due to COVID-19 restrictions, radio programs have been recorded remotely and uploaded to an automation system.
The station lost its signature feature and its primary selling point to students. But now, it’s back.
“It's really a game changer. You just can't compare recording a show on your laptop to sitting in that booth. Surrounded by the soundproofing, the old CDs and all the equipment in the rack. Those microphones and headsets, talking to the public live without any chance to redo it. That's the true experience,” said General Manager of KBCU-FM Damon Klassen.
The return to live broadcasting has a plethora of positive effects. This includes a jolt of energy that has sparked Klassen’s desire to create a true connection between the station and its listeners, and there’s no shortage of ways to go about that.
“I’ve had various ideas and talked with various people about different things throughout the years. President Jon Gering is really excited about launching the Thresher Media Network, and we're excited to see what that’ll look like for us. I'm hoping the station can really tie into that and be a go-to media source for Bethel students, faculty, staff, and community. I've also discussed a potential setup where we have either guest alumni DJs host shows or conduct interviews with the school’s alumni — tying what's happening on campus now to the experiences of people who used to be here,” Klassen said.
While Klassen has many of his own ideas on how to improve the station, he is always looking for new and unique perspectives from students.
“I always look forward to meeting new students and the energy they might bring. I try to keep doors open for any possibilities that folks are interested in,” Klassen said.
The first step Klassen is taking in making this connection a reality is participating in this year’s edition of the annual Fall Festival. It’s been quite a while since KBCU has graced a booth on the Green, but the first weekend of October will mark a new era for the station.
“I hope it really does create some new engagement [for KBCU]. It's been a long time since we’ve been out there. It's my understanding that there were some sort of technical difficulties many years ago, and it just never got back into the regular program. But I remember broadcasting live from the Green as a student here at Bethel, inviting people to talk live on the air as they walk by. That's always fun. So, yeah, just making it a part of Fall Fest, putting it back in people's eyes and ears — hopefully they’ll tune in more often and help grow the station,” Klassen said.
The biggest potential for growth to come out of this campaign for engagement, though, is student participation in KBCU’s production. Naturally, the pitch to join (or even listen) to radio to today’s college students is tough — but Klassen isn’t deterred.
“KBCU is a place where you can express yourself and you can find your own expression: whether it be music, sports, current issues, news, or whatever it is that you're passionate about. You can bring that message to the airwaves and explore that message with other people. In the spirit of liberal arts education, you can explore all the things that are important to us — and in doing so, learn more about who we are as a society,” Klassen said.
