I'm talking about the news show on UMass Lowell's very own WUML 91.5 FM, known as Campus Buzz. The semester has come to an end, and my friend and fellow DJ Jess has let me know that she probably won't have time for the show next semester. Since I'm not a student anymore, I can't really squat for it either.
Nevertheless, it was a good experience for me and everyone involved, and a lot of fun to work on. Who knows, maybe it will come back someday too.
For now though, I'm kind of in the mood to post this feature article about the Buzz that I wrote for the Connector in the spring of 2009, but never had the time to publish due to all the work I had to do to graduate. I guess it shows everybody that I can write about more than just movies.
So, here you go guys, enjoy:
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STUDENT NEWS AND TALK WITH A TWIST
WUML's Campus Buzz is still going after two years, but it's much smaller than when it started out. What is the program's future?
by Matt LoGrasso
The show starts in about sixty seconds.
In the studio, director Jessica Berry is managing the board, monitoring the transmitter, cueing up music on Spinitron, and getting ready to read her lines over the air. Brian Gullekson, Tom Robinson and I are taking out various sheets of paper, mine with news typed on it fresh off the AP wire. We crack a few jokes and talk about what we did over the weekend. Then, the station ID and the name of the show plays over the air, and Berry starts reading her opening lines after it plays out.
So begins yet another Monday at the WUML Radio Station, just underneath Sheehy Hall in the former fallout shelter. It is here that the Campus Buzz show, the weekly news, talk, and music show, is broadcast every Monday during the semester from 4 to 6 p.m.
Campus Buzz has been in operation for about three years now, having been started off by the former news director Kate Watt. Berry started off as a WUML intern on the show a year and a half ago, hoping to gain experience in the field of communications.
“I found out about the show a little over a year ago, through an advertisement on the UML Today newsletter, and I became interested,” she said. “I knew that the show would need a
new director soon, and Kate had built it up so much. I did not really want the show to die, so I took up the job.”
She now runs the show, with support from Mike Hughes, a former sports anchor for Campus Buzz, and help from student meteorologist Tom Robinson, the current sports anchor Brian Gullekson, and myself, news anchor Matt LoGrasso.
When Watt graduated last year, times were tough for the first semester without her. The staff for the show used to be much bigger, including a couple more student meteorologists, another sports anchor in addition to Gullekson, and another director dealing with public relations. Most of those people failed to show up to work on the show during the new semester, due to other obligations and time constraints. As a result of this, the show struggled to find content, more specifically interviews. It was at this point that Berry, the new director of the show, decided to take the show towards a more laid-back direction.
As a result, the show has become a little more oriented towards a format that encompasses news, talk, and music. In addition to news, weather, sports, and campus events, there are segments when the staff holds discussions about subjects that are relevant to students.
Hughes has been helping out since Berry took over the show, searching the shelves for CDs to play during the breaks and at one point even reading the sports news on the show. For him, it has been nothing short of an enjoyable experience.
“It’s great. I get to hang out with people who love what they’re doing, and I get to voice my opinion, for better or worse,” he said. “For the most part though, I get to take a step in to what I want to do for a career, you know, a little taste of working at a radio station.”
Gullekson, the current sports anchor, has been with the show since the beginning. He also has other responsibilities to tend to, such as his band Short Fuse Burning, and his duty as the folk music director at WUML. Despite his busy schedule, the show manages to be no trouble for him at all.
“It’s a great way to wind down, after a day’s worth of classes,” he said. “I like being on top of campus news & events, both for my own personal good and by the ability to spread it
through word of mouth. I also like to be able to tell people where they can find campus news, and I’m happy to be a part of that service.”
Although Berry is proud of the show’s success, she admits that it isn’t exactly perfect. She thinks the show could definitely use a wider audience, and perhaps some more interviews.
“I figure that maybe the show could use some more segments and a little more structure to it, but what we need more than anything is some more interviews,” she said.
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I should have another post later tonight or tomorrow, so stick around.
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