KUOI, the University of Idaho’s radio station, will celebrate College Radio Day on Friday, Oct. 4, with a full day of live programming. The station’s studio, located on the third floor of the Bruce M. Pitman Center in Moscow, will be open for visitors to tour and learn more about KUOI.
College Radio Day is an annual event started in 2011 by Dr. Rob Quicke and Peter Kreten, who were general managers of college radio stations at William Paterson University and Saint Xavier University, respectively, according to collegeradio.org.
“The aim of College Radio Day is to raise greater international awareness of the many college and high school radio stations that operate around the world by encouraging people who would not normally listen to college radio to do so on this day,” the website states.
Today, more than 40 countries come together to celebrate high school and college radio stations. KUOI has been a participant in the event since the beginning, according to KUOI Program Manager Gus Trudell-Richardson.
“College Radio Day is important to me because it shines a light on college radio stations,” Trudell-Richardson said. “College radio is kind of a dying art because people don’t listen to the radio anymore. I like to see that light on it and the attention it gets. There are a lot of really cool college radio stations that deserve more attention, like KUOI.”
KUOI has a long history of involvement with College Radio Day, earning an Outstanding Leadership award from the organization in 2013 for its commitment. When asked why people should pay attention to College Radio Day, Trudell-Richardson said, “They should pay attention because College Radio Day is important for college stations like KUOI to stay afloat. It gives them an outlet to share information about the stations. If people are interested in college radio, radio in general and music, it’s a great opportunity to hear about it and learn more.”
KUOI began broadcasting on Oct. 29, 1945, and has grown over the decades. Today, the station has seven staff members, around 20 DJs and 26 programs that air weekly. Before this semester, the station had only about eight or nine shows and two staff members from the previous year.
“I think we’re definitely going to keep growing,” Trudell-Richardson said. “With events like College Radio Day and the more KUOI gets out there and does things, the more people will be interested in reaching out and getting involved.”
Trudell-Richardson, a sophomore hydrology student from Boise, started as a DJ last year but now manages all KUOI’s programs and DJs. When asked what his favorite part of working with KUOI is, he said he “really loves music and always liked radio,” and he wants to “bring KUOI back to the glory days of what it used to be.”
KUOI is a free-form radio station, meaning DJs and programs have the freedom to play whatever genre they choose, if there are no cuss words before 10 p.m. When asked what makes KUOI different from other Moscow radio stations, Trudell-Richardson said, “We don’t really have a genre we play, and there are no ads ever because we’re non-profit. Each DJ’s show is their own thing. It’s going to be different than any other station you’ll ever listen to because it’s all individualized.” To showcase the diversity of programming that makes KUOI unique, the station has put together a special schedule for College Radio Day, featuring a variety of shows throughout the day:
KUOI College Radio Day Schedule
- “Democracy Now:” 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
- “Bigfoot Boogie” with Mackenzie Davidson: 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
- “Rock and Rohe” with Connor Anderson: 11 a.m. to noon
- “The Mo Show” with Morgan Neville: noon to 1 p.m.
- “Chemtrails Over Campus” with DJ Film: 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- “Democracy Now:” 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- “Jazz Freak” with Evan James: 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- “Mixup” with Jonbo: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- “Something Vicious for Tomorrow” with Gus Trudell-Richardson: 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
In addition to College Radio Day, KUOI is also planning future events, including the station’s 79th birthday celebration on Oct. 29 and a college radio conference later in the month. “We just hope to learn more about college radio, what other college radio stations are doing, and try to learn from that to help make our station better. We want to use it as a learning experience to find new techniques and make connections with other stations,” Trudell-Richardson said.
Though events like College Radio Day help college stations gain recognition, radio stations still face challenges due to streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. KUOI has dealt with the effects of streaming, but the station remains optimistic with increasing listenership.
“It’s been around for so long now that it’s already affected us, and we’ve been dealing with it for a while,” Trudell-Richardson said. “I think it definitely hit us, but we’re coming back from that. KUOI is streaming online, so you don’t have to be in Moscow to listen to it. You have the web stream anywhere you have Wi-Fi. Most people who like radio continue to listen to radio. They didn’t really move to streaming. There are a lot of people who still listen to the radio in their car.”
To take part in College Radio Day on Oct. 4, visit KUOI on the third floor of the Bruce M. Pitman Center, or listen online at www.kuoi.org or on 89.3 FM. To learn more about KUOI’s history, visit here. For more information on College Radio Day, visit here.
Hannah Hale can be reached at [email protected]