If Katie Villanueva could broadcast one piece of information to every student on campus, it would be that Murray State does have a radio station, and its target audience isn't senior citizens.
In fact, Villanueva, senior from Chicago, plays a supporting role in the station's major push to begin catering more to a collegiate audience. Her show, Sounds Acoustic, airs Sundays at midnight and is anything but elevator music.
"A lot of kids on campus don't even realize we have a radio station, and if they do, they don't know that it's not just news and classical music," Villanueva said. "We have an alternative rock show, a local music show and even a world music show."
Added to the mix of styles is Villanueva's own Sounds Acoustic, a collaborative effort with Austin Carter, Murray High School senior and part-time Murray State student. The show made its debut Sunday and featured Ben Folds, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, Cat Stevens, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers and Bob Dylan in its first air.
"(Austin's) tastes are more folk, bluegrass and jam bands, and I'm more on the alternative, pop-rock, jazz side of it all," Villanueva said. "Together, we cover this huge spectrum of music, and it's a real collage of different styles."
Villanueva said the show was born when a spot opened up in the programming schedule and Mark Welch, the station's programming director, approached her about creating a show.
"They needed something sort of mellow to follow the new age show on Sunday night before the BBC News goes on," she said.
Sounds Acoustic allows her an opportunity to play music students wouldn't ordinarily be able to hear on local radio, Villanueva said.
"I really like that the show gives students on campus the chance to listen to what I would think would be some of their favorite artists that don't get much air play on mainstream radio. It's giving the underground a chance," she said. "There's just a lot of culture at the station and I don't think people realize it.
"We're trying to entertain people, but we're also trying to educate them, to the fat that there is a world out there beyond country and gospel that seems to dominate the airwaves these days," Villanueva said.
Austin Carter said he and Villanueva are spreading their own type of gospel.
"We just want to spread this gospel of good music because it's what we love," Carter said.
Carter became involved with WKMS almost two years ago as a volunteer. He had an interest in radio and production and was eventually asked to join the station's paid staff. This is his first experience hosting a show, and he and Villanueva share similar goals for the program.
"I want to get a blend of music out to the community that people wouldn't normally get to hear on local radio," Carter said. "Basically, just to show people that there is a broad range of interests even within something as narrowed down as acoustic music."
Carter said in Sounds Acoustic's first air, he and Villanueva tried to give listeners a broad sampling of every type of music they might hear on the show in the future.
"For the first show we really tried to sum up what we're doing," he said. "We played some piano, some instrumental. We played Ziggy Marley, John Prine, Death Cab for Cutie."
Carter said WKMS fights a tough battle for student awareness, and the station still has much ground to cover.
"I've encountered students who ask me if I work on campus, and I tell them I work at the radio station, and they don't even know we have a radio station," he said. "For a long time, WKMS was majority classical music and talk radio. We're playing two hours of current music on WKMS every night now, and it's music you can't hear on, say, 96.9."
"We're starting to make changes to cater more to MSU students, and we've frustrated some longtime listeners in that process," Carter said. "But we want us students to have a station we can listen to."
The concept of a college radio station has distinct audience-related advantages over a traditional public station.
"With a college station, you have something you can be more loyal to," he said. "You might see Katie or myself on campus. You might even have a class on eighth floor of Fine Arts and walk right by where we work every day. There's just a sense of loyalty that you have to it that you don't get with public radio."
If students have requests for Sounds Acoustic or would like to comment on the show's format or hosts, they can send an e-mail to soundsacoustic@hotmail.com.
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