Students get first-hand experience in radio

Southern University mass communication majors now have an additional outlet to participate with in order to better prepare themselves for their futures in the industry.
Radio.
Spearheaded by Michael Kabel, an associate professor in the department, students enrolled in his internship class can now opt to work in the radio broadcast field while earning credits towards their degree.
“(It) is one of the best experiences a student can have because it puts them in the everyday world,” Kabel said.
Kabel said students spend at least ten hours a week interning and are expected to treat their assignments as real jobs and dress professionally. He said those enrolled in the class are graded by their intern supervisors based on evaluations forms each student is given at the beginning of the semester.
Kisha Bell, a senior in mass communication major from Cane River, currently works for the gospel station WPFC 1150 AM. An assignment she said has turned into a permanent job for her.
Bell works as a disc jockey and her job duties include “operating the board,” which entails queuing up music, talking over the airwaves, putting callers on the air as well as doing traffic commercials.
A keen knowledge of how to operate and queue music through computers can help interested candidates succeed better on the job, Bell said.
“With the computer, everything is automatic,” she said. “All you have to do is use the mouse to queue up the music.”
Raechelle Forrest, a junior in mass communication from Pittsburg, Calif., who also works for WPFC 1550 AM, said she favors the computer age technology, which has replaced the manual turntables.
Forrest said the computer is great when a caller calls in to request a particular song and says, “It goes something like this” and as a disc jockey she is able to key in those exact words in order to locate the song of preference.
Not only has Forrest said she learned how to use “the board” but she also learned other lessons such as patience and timing.
The lesson in timing came into play when she experienced about 30 seconds of dead air, while on air, because she didn’t have another song queued up to play.
Forrest said she has to exemplify patience as an intern at the station as well.
“There are a lot of callers who call in who are not holy or that don’t relate to the music being played,” she said.
From the intern positions into permanent positions, Bell and Forrest, both have other avenues they would like to embark upon in the future.
Bell said she is torn between acting and reporting but while she is working part-time at 1550 AM, she also serves as marketing director for the “G” Factor, a radio program that airs every Sunday on Q106 FM from noon until 2 p.m.
Formally called, “God Factor,” the inspirational show is hosted by local deejay Guy Brody.
Although Forrest’s concentration in mass communications is print, she said she is ready to leave radio and migrate into television.
“I want to expand my horizons in the field,” she said.