KCSF 90.9 broadcasts live from Ram Plaza

By Resyl Joy Bejasa
Contributing Writer

City College’s radio station, KCSF 90.9 FM, held its first live remote broadcast in 30 years of operation on May 7.

Students who normally work for the station in the Ocean campus Arts Extension building broadcast their programs from Ram Plaza.

The event was held to promote the station and raise student awareness of it.

“A lot of people here don’t even know we have a station,” KCSF Executive Assistant Jerry Weatherford said.

KCSF is an entirely student-run FM station that provides hands-on experience in programming and operating a modern radio station. The staff of KCSF is comprised of students from three overlapping broadcast classes that meet together twice a week — radio management skills, radio production and radio news and public affairs.

As General Manager of KCSF, Cecil Hale shares his broad industry experience — including employment as a radio DJ, station manager and Capitol Records executive — with students.

“The main objective of KCSF is to train people to understand radio,” Hale said. “To equip them so they can go out and be employed.”

Hale has worked with the station for 20 years and played a major role in transforming KCSF into a state-of-the-art facility when it updated to an all digital format three years ago. He provides students with guidance and an environment that encourages professional growth and teamwork skills, but otherwise he stays out of the way.

“Dr. Hale let us think for ourselves as a radio station,” KCSF Operations Manager Angelica Nevarez said. “He lets us provide our own content and we work from there.”

Nevarez came to City College in fall 2007. She took several broadcasting classes, and by the next year, she was part of a team that strives to run KCSF as a commercial radio station.

“KCSF was previously just known to be a class where students come in, do their air shifts and leave,” Nevarez said. “Now we think outside of the box and we’re trying to be bigger.”

There is a broad range of programming on KCSF including “Dead Air,” a news-based comedy program; “Urban Update,” a show that couples local and international news with spiritual and relationship advice; “Dispatches from the Underground,” a music show that promotes local bands; and “The Red Zone,” a City College sports broadcast.

“We have more students than we’ve ever had, it’s grown,” Hale said.

Last Fall, KCSF held a food drive for the San Francisco Food Bank, an organization which delivers food to about 400 nonprofit organizations in the city. They collected over 200 pounds of food.

“KCSF is here to speak for the people and give back to the community,” Nevarez said.
The station is currently working closely with local businesses and companies such as the San Francisco Giants, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and 2b1 Multimedia to receive promotional items and funds.

The San Francisco Giants provided a Tim Lincecum bobblehead as a raffle prize at the live broadcast event, along with CDs and DVDs as giveaways.

A new KCSF station in the Mission campus is on its way. With brand new equipment, the staff of the Ocean campus will eventually merge with the sister campus and work closely to promote the station.

“Once Dr. Hale gives us the OK, we’re going to work closely with them and show them what we know,” Nevarez said.

KCSF will be holding a talent show contest on May 14, 2010 in the Ocean campus cafeteria. Any special talent is welcome. There will be live bands and performances by other talents from the KCSF staff and City College students.

KCSF can be heard on 90.9 FM and streams on-line through the campus website, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.