University radio station returns from the dead

Wednesday, November 27, 1996

MEDIA:

Many obstacles made KLA’s comeback slow; new web page hopes to
create greater access for studentsBy Jennifer Mukai

Daily Bruin Contributor

"UCLA RADIO IS BACK," blared the ads.

"UCLA had a radio station?" asked second-year economics student
Ryan Glover.

That surprise was not uncommon among students who saw the ads
this week announcing the return of KLA, UCLA’s radio station.

According to Student Media Director Arvli Ward, KLA vanished at
the end of the 1994-95 academic year because Ackerman Grand
Ballroom ­ the location of the radio station’s offices ­
was being renovated. Since then, he said, numerous obstacles made
KLA’s return a slow one.

A major factor, said Ward, was the struggle to move from a
closed circuit to the FM airwaves. From its birth in the 1960s, KLA
was a "closed carrier current" station, available only to locations
wired to it. Over the last 30 years, those locations gradually
expanded to include such places as the dorms and Ackerman Student
Union. During KLA’s absence, an attempt was made to purchase a
broadcast frequency, but that hope never materialized.

"In a sort of strange reversal, we had a donor for potential
funding, but nothing to buy," said Ward of the difficulty in
finding an available FM frequency at that time.

Nonetheless, KLA is now on the verge of a comeback. It will
remain a closed carrier current for now, and will be wired to the
dormitories by the time it goes back on the air, currently targeted
for January 1997.

"There was never a question that it would return," Ward said.
"How, when, where we would deliver a signal ­ these were
things that needed to be worked out over time. It was a process of
the pieces coming together."

KLA will be going interactive when it does return in January.
Jason Preston, KLA General Manager two years ago and currently
Interim General Manager, announced at an orientation meeting Monday
night that a KLA world wide web site is under development.

"We’re trying to nail down as many ways as we can to be heard,"
stated Preston. This, he continued, was one way to get past the
problem of not having a radio transmitter that would allow KLA to
be heard across the airwaves.

The web site will feature, among other things, live and archived
broadcasts of music, shows, and Bruin sports events. According to
Preston, students will be able to surf other sites on the web or
work on a paper with KLA streaming through their computer speakers.
He added that the software that would make this possible hasn’t
been decided on yet, but will be made freely available to students
at no charge.

Preston expressed hopes that the web site will eventually take
on its own identity of sorts, saying, "KLA Online will hopefully
become almost its own entity, and music would just be a part of
it."

At Monday night’s meeting, Preston expressed similar openness in
the search for both KLA’s identity and for its new staff. Of the
former, he described KLA as being a sort of cross between the
stations KROQ and KCRW. But, he added, KLA is trying to find its
own audience.

"KLA is geared toward alternative (music)," he stated, but
emphasized that the station will offer weekend specialty shows
possibly covering genres as diverse as reggae, industrial,
classical and blues.

"You don’t have to be an alternative music fan (to work here),
you don’t even have to be a music fan," he said. He went on to cite
a number of departments and positions that would be opening up to
students, including news, sports, promotions, production,
programming, operations and engineering, and a web department.
Students in the audience seemed intrigued by another department,
the "rolling party unit," which will travel around to do "spinning
for parties."

First-year theater student Kristi Chong had trouble deciding
what kind of show she’d like to host, if she were to eventually
host one. At a community college radio station she worked at, she
said, the DJs had no control over the playlist.

"This is the first station I’ve heard of where we have this much
freedom," she remarked. She finally decided that she would probably
like to feature musical theater shows like "Starlight Express" and
"Jesus Christ Superstar." Or, she added, she might want to air ’80s
music or Motown.

First-year biology student Chris Zoumalan is interested in his
own comedy talk show on society and life in general.

"I have a cynical view of things sometimes," he said. "I’d like
to see how people respond to that."

Preston called Monday’s orientation a "preemptive meeting,"
saying that a larger meeting will be held in the first week of
January to select staff and DJs.