By Elizabeth Tertadian
This year KDUP welcomes Brian Blair from 94.7 FM as its new adviser, a broadcasting professional with much experience who looks to assist the station in accomplishing its goals for this year.
Blair brings much potential to KDUP this year because of his professional background, and the KDUP team is excited to have him as a member of the group. Blair hopes to serve as a helping hand to the members by providing training to new DJ's, helping set up concert opportunities and being a support figure for the staff.
"I'm here to help them overcome basic roadblocks," he said.
Blair's goal is to bring consistency to the shows, which would help retain listeners and attract new ones. He has worked in radio for 18 years, and previously advised Washington State University's Vancouver campus radio station. Currently, he works for Entercom Radio, one of the five largest broadcasting companies in the nation and produces two shows on 94.7 KNRK. Blair heard about the open position of adviser for KDUP and thought he'd see what he could do to help out.
"I just threw my name in the hat," he said.
Not only does Blair have the knowledge and experience, but he possesses a connection to other producers and bands valuable to KDUP DJ's. For them, Blair is their link to these connections. According to the KDUP staff, having more direct relations with bands and other radio stations will lead to increased success of their events and as a radio station overall.
Success as a radio station is what producer junior Aaron Davis hopes to achieve this year. His goal is for KDUP to gain credibility as the campus station. Davis would like to bring more events to UP this year, including concerts of touring bands and dances.
"(KDUP) is a great way to find out about new music that's not on the stations yet," Davis said.
Davis hopes students will tune in frequently, either while they are doing homework or hanging out, rather than listening to the same songs frequently found on commercial radio.
This year the station will host a new music show that will feature all the new albums they received from producers throughout the week, giving students the opportunity to hear new tracks before they are even out on mainstream radio.
Davis has been involved in KDUP since his freshman year and likes being a part of the production because he gets to meet lots of people.
"KDUP got me involved in most of the things (I'm in) at the University," he said.
He recognizes the need to bring in more listeners and is excited to have Blair on board for this year.
One major aspect KDUP hopes to add this year is podcasting. They understand that tuning in is not always possible; therefore they are striving to make shows accessible to students at their convenience. Not only will this be for shows hosted by KDUP, but they also plan to record important events such as student council meetings so that students who cannot attend are still able to listen and know what's going on.
"(KDUP) tells stories about what's going on around campus", said junior Logan Meade.
KDUP hopes to achieve a greater presence by adding new shows, providing podcasts to download, organizing concerts and dances to involve the student body.
New shows start Sept. 15. Tune into KDUP on the radio on 1580 AM or online at kdup.up.edu anytime.
