WAUS 90.7 FM, the Andrews University-owned public radio station, has provided high-quality classical radio programming since it first went on the air in 1971. I first became acquainted with the station in 2022, my sophomore year, through a friend who told me the station was hiring new announcers. I knew little about classical music and less about radio programming, but I was interested in public speaking and had watched the Disney Channel original “Radio Rebel” enough times to decide to apply. The director of the station, Chelsea Lake, and manager, Jeff Smith, must have seen some potential in me because, after a few hours under their tutelage in the studio, they set me up with a shift every Sunday and Monday.
When I tell people I work at a classical radio station, they usually assume I must be an expert in classical music. While many of my fellow student announcers are gifted classical musicians themselves, I am not. Before working at the radio station, my most recent musical experience had been a failed attempt to learn the trumpet in fifth grade. But part of what makes WAUS so special is that it’s what we call in the businesses a “teaching station.” This means that they not only employ professionals but also give opportunities to students without previous experience and introduce them to the world of classical radio. This passes on the beauty of broadcasting and classical music to the next generation. With their guidance, they transformed me from a novice who could hardly pronounce Mozart to a strong public speaker with a profound appreciation for classical music.
When I’m at the radio station, my job is to ensure smooth broadcasting. I am alone in the studio, with the board at my fingertips and three large monitors full of information to read from. I have to be prepared to troubleshoot any problems that might arise. In radio, everything is about timing. Programming is split into units of the hour. These hours are filled by musical compositions, which can be as short as 2 minutes or as long as 40 minutes. In between are “breaks,” which are usually 30 seconds long. During this time period, the titles and composers of the last piece and the upcoming piece are announced.
I also periodically give the weather forecast and read off announcements about local businesses that support our station or upcoming musical events in the community. Every hour, I’m also legally required to read our “legal ID,” which identifies our station and other important broadcasting information. Additionally, during weekdays there are hourly National Public Radio (NPR) segments that are streamed from the official NPR broadcast. I have to time everything so nothing runs into each other. While the computer program and our managers select the playlists of the music in advance, there can sometimes be mistakes, and I have to intervene. Sometimes, the playlist timing is wrong and I have to do the math to add in a “filler piece” to make sure the hour ends at the correct time. Or, if a piece is running too long, I might have to fade it into an announcement. Sometimes, these matters come down to seconds, as I have to announce at the top of the hour the station’s legal ID and time my speech perfectly with the NPR segment, which starts precisely 1 minute 15 seconds after the hour.
When it’s my time to speak, I put on my headphones, get into proper posture, position myself at the appropriate distance from the microphone and turn on the mic. My voice is carried across the radio waves all across the Michiana area, reaching even across the lake to parts of Chicago. And, through our streaming app, anyone around the world can tune in.
This responsibility felt nerve-wracking at first. But over time, I got used to the pressure. I try to imagine that I’m not speaking to hundreds or thousands of listeners, but instead that I’m simply speaking to one individual listener. The key is to stay calm and confident even if there is something going wrong because, in show business, the show must go on! The most difficult part of the job is pronouncing the names from so many different linguistic traditions. But over time, I’ve become acquainted with our library of composers to the point that names like “Sergei Rachmaninoff,” “Muzio Clementi” and “Erik Satie” just roll off the tongue.
I love my work at the radio station. Sometimes, during my radio shift, I turn the music all the way up and stare out the window at the studio. From that perspective, I’ve seen the green summers transform into orange falls, then to white winters and back into green springs again. I can’t think of any better job than getting paid to listen to some of the greatest music ever written while I watch the weather. I highly recommend the experience to anyone curious about broadcasting and encourage readers to tune in to WAUS either on the radio or through the app for classical music with a human touch.
WAUS is looking to hire one student interested in their student announcer position for this semester and will need to fill spots left by several of the current student employees who will be graduating soon. If you are interested, please visit their job posting and submit the necessary information.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.