Though radio in Hillsdale has only been around for five years, its production range has grown significantly, and they now broadcast a variety of radio shows appealing to many crowds.
These radio shows range from news broadcasts to podcasts to features. Junior Christine Talent, who joined radio just last semester, started with newscasting and has just started a feature of her own called “All the Small Things,” a five minute segment in between shows that highlights fun facts about how common items, such as toast, came to be.
“I was having one of my 2 a.m. snacks. I was making toast. Really love toast,” Talent said. “And I just thought, ‘You know, who thought of making it crunchy? Because I just love them for it.’ I have those kinds of questions about a lot of things where I’ll just pause and think, ‘What was the best thing before sliced bread?’”
Talent said doing radio has built her confidence. She became interested in it because of a friend’s involvement, and she has “always been told by people that [she has] a good radio voice.” She also wanted to step outside her comfort zone.
“It was kind of an impulse decision because I wanted just to try something new that was low time commitment,” Talent said, “and radio is just one of those things where you get however much you put into it.”
Junior Jane O’Connor is currently part of three shows: “State Facts,” “Conserving the Classics,” and an off-campus podcast called “Our Bizarre Adventure.” In “State Facts,” which O’Connor started herself, she quizzes people on fun facts about their home state in a five-minute segment. Her second show, “Conserving the Classics,” was started in 2016 by Nic Rowan ‘19 and Mark Naida ‘18, and O’Connor now runs it with junior Aidan Cyrus. She and Cyrus play classic rock songs related to the theme of the day, explain any relevant history, and have guest speakers on to tell stories. O’Connor said “Conserving the Classics” is the longest continually running show at Hillsdale radio.
“In ‘Conserving the Classics,’ I had to learn to let loose a little bit and just try to record and not rely on editing,” O’Connor said. “That can sometimes be a crutch to rely way too much on—letting yourself make mistakes or blunders because you know you can edit it down. So ‘Conserving the Classics’ is good practice for being live on air. I feel more comfortable now just talking in a way that’s more careful with my words and filling in space.”
O’Connor was invited to work on “Our Bizarre Adventure” with 2019 graduates Shadrach Strahle, Dylan Strahle, and Gabe Listro outside of Hillsdale radio, in which Shad and Dylan play the anime show JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Listro and O’Connor react to it.
Like Talent, O’Connor credited radio for helping to build her confidence.
“It’s just trying to make entertaining content with three other people,” O’Connor. “And we all record remotely so it can be tough sometimes, but everything I’ve been doing here has just been super helpful to my skill set and to my personal confidence and everything else.”
“The Marty and Stef Morning Show” takes a more diverse approach to radio than one niche subject. Created and hosted by seniors Martin Petersen and Stefan Kleinhenz, the episodes begin at 8 a.m. on Thursdays with current events and politics discussed by Kleinhenz and end with sports updates, weather, and a “This Day in History” segment discussed by Petersen..
“I knew that we sometimes talked about doing a morning show just as a radio station,” Petersen said. “I thought it’d be fun to do a live show. I feel like Stefan and I could handle ourselves. It obviously didn’t take us that long to figure out a name. It’s been so much fun doing it, getting up early, just the two of us in there.”
Sophomore Nick Treglia had no interest in radio until he came to Hillsdale, but for the past three semesters, he and seniors Philip Andrews and Caleb Ramette have hosted their own weekly comedy variety show called “The Loft,” named after the loft in Galloway that Treglia lived in during his freshman year. They start every show with a segment called Wacky World, in which they pick something funny in the news and talk about it. They have also done sketches, talked about “weird cultural stuff on campus, and interviewed students on campus about their opinions on such topics such as which major is the hardest.
“I call it ‘lifestyle stuff;’ just interesting things,” Treglia said. “Last show we talked about the stock market because of the whole GameStop meme thing, so basically anything and everything, as long as it’s entertaining and funny.”
Treglia said his favorite part of radio is seeing everything come together.
“We finalize all the jokes and we put it all together and then when you can hear your vision sort of materialize when you add the music, edits, and everything and it just kind of comes together, that for me is the best part.”
General radio manager Scot Bertram said anyone can apply to have their own radio show on Hillsdale’s broadcast. All they need is creativity and passion.
“All you need to begin is an idea,” Bertram said. “Then it’s our responsibility—me and also the student leadership staff—to assist in crafting a plan that will wind up with the best and most entertaining way of getting that idea to air. We want to know what students’ passions are.”
Very few ideas do not make it to air, Bertram said, noting that it is not about whether ideas are bad, but whether they work with the broadcasting medium. If it does not translate well, then it isn’t aired. Bertram said the types of broadcasts the radio is always in need of are features like Talent’s or O’Connor’s.
“If you have a real passion for something in a narrow band, that’s something we can take to translating in those smaller bytes of audio that can allow you to sort of express your passion, your interests, while also being interesting and educational, depending on the subject for for listeners as well,” Bertram said. “We always have room and availability for people who do something like that.”
These and other student-created shows can be found on WFRH Radio Free Hillsdale on 101.7 FM, SoundCloud, or Apple Podcasts.
