By Iris Serrano
As volunteers for the Boulder-based KGNU community radio station, Juanita Hurtado and Jack Armstrong were trained to be compliant with federal broadcasting regulations.
What they did not learn was how to run a station with total creative freedom.
It鈥檚 certainly a lesson they鈥檝e learned since taking leadership roles at Radio 1190. In the past year, the station鈥攆ormally known as KVCU 1190 AM鈥攃aptured numerous awards for radio features, reporting and podcasting while growing the news team from a handful of volunteers to more than 30 regular participants.
A big part of the increase in student involvement came from Armstong鈥檚 experience as a senior strategic communication major in the public relations track.
鈥淭he biggest strategy for me has been learning about promotions and what makes them effective, so I went to classes and pitched Radio 1190,鈥� Armstrong, the station鈥檚 news director, said.
Radio 1190 now offers news broadcasts each weekday during the academic year, along with daily student-curated music programming. The station also has expanded to include a revamped website featuring news, blogs and podcasts showcasing student-created visuals and music.
The station鈥檚 growth isn鈥檛 just in its numbers or programming. Iris Berkeley (Jour鈥�01), whose career in media and communication has included radio production, hosting and DJing, was involved with 1190 as a student. Today, she is back as its operations manager and is impressed by the station鈥檚 commitment to diversity.
Building a community
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just a radio station鈥攊t鈥檚 a community,鈥� Berkeley said. 鈥淲e want to be committed to making sure everybody on the campus is not only welcomed but finds their place here.鈥�
For Hurtado, the station鈥檚 assistant news director and a junior majoring in journalism, inclusion comes through her radio segments, which began incorporating Latin American music to bring visibility to that community.
While she was nominated for multiple awards over the past year, the impact her Spanish-language segments created brought her the most joy. Hurtado shared that Keyana Simone, faculty director of student media, 鈥渢old me that while training new DJs, some of them said that because they heard my shows in Spanish, they wanted to start shows in Japanese and Polynesian.鈥�
Unlike Berkeley, the station鈥檚 current news directors aren鈥檛 interested in careers in radio鈥擜rmstrong hopes to be a production manager, and Hurtado wants to be a freelance writer. But they recognize the broad applicability of the skills students develop by working in radio鈥攚hether storytelling, hosting, website maintenance and development, social media, or community engagement.
鈥淲e want to make sure students develop not only the skills to earn them jobs, but also awards that prove to recruiters the quality of their work,鈥� Hurtado said.
It鈥檚 a vision she shares with Armstrong.
鈥淚 have a very distinct goal鈥攖hat when people see Radio 1190 on a resume, it will attract recruiters,鈥� Armstrong said.听鈥淲e do have some national distinctions already, but I want to get to the point where people get an interview or a callback because Radio 1190 has that recognition.鈥�