WARTBURG CAMPUS RADIO STATION OFFERS STUDENTS TO VOLUNTEER DJ

ZACH HINEY, TRUMPET STAFF WRITER

KWAR, Wartburg’s radio station, offers a unique opportunity for students not normally involved with the station. Guest or volunteer DJs have the opportunity to host their own show about a topic that interests them.  

Madison Freeland is the station manager at KWAR. She said that guest DJs have to attend basic information meetings and get trained, but after that, they’re good to go on the air. She also said that there are no specific qualifications needed to be a host, so any student or staff can get involved. 

“Anyone on campus is allowed to be a volunteer DJ, including faculty and staff,” said Freeland. 

Some shows require more prep time than others, but she said that it all gets easier after the first couple of times. Freeland also mentioned that volunteer DJs are allowed to cover any topic they like and that the show has to be done at the same time each week in order to be on the station.  

“Depending on the type of show you have it could look really structured and planned out, or not planned at all,” Freeland said. 

 Leticia Silva is the programming director at KWAR. She said that there’s sports, news, comedy and talk shows every week on KWAR and a lot of those shows are hosted by guest DJs. She also said that covering a topic they enjoy helps the guest DJs with the flow of their show. 

“We have a huge variety of shows! I like to tune in to KWAR at least once a day, even more now that we have our own app and it is easier to tune in!” Silva said. 

She also mentioned that KWAR expects to have these shows for a whole term, so if someone wants a shorter amount of time, she recommends doing a show during May Term. Finally, Silva said that the one hour time slot can be one show or multiple shows throughout the week. 

“It depends on each DJ, but our slots are one hour long so when someone signs up to be a DJ, we expect a commitment of at least one hour per week,” said Silva. 

 Ty Johnson is the assistant news director at KWAR. He hosts a show on KWAR and said that his favorite part of doing that is having his own on-air personality and discussing subjects he’s interested in. 

“The advice I would give them is to be yourself and be careful with what you say on the air because you’re speaking to a live audience and don’t let personal feelings get in the way of your message.”  

Guest DJs get the opportunity to host shows and immerse themselves in the world of radio without needing to be a journalism major. If you’re interested in hosting a show or want to learn a little more, contact Madison Freeland at madison.freeland@wartburg.edu.