February 8, 2012
BY TREY HOLT |Ranger Reporter
FM90, Amarillo College’s 100,000-watt college radio station, provides students with the skills necessary to succeed in the competitive radio industry.
Program Director Brian Frank got his start at FM90 when he was a student in the mid-1980s.
Frank now helps train students to become more comfortable and professional behind a microphone, among other useful skills every disc jockey needs to know.
Frank said he believes the hands-on training students receive at AC is fundamental to getting jobs in the media.
“The great thing about our program is that, whether it be through the student newspaper, the student radio station or the television station, we give real-life experience,” he said.
“They learn how to operate the radio station by participating in a fully functional one in which FCC rules must be followed.”
FM90 brings listeners the newest in alternative rock in the Texas Panhandle, but the station has much more to offer than that.
It also features a weekly show devoted to 1990s retro in addition to indie rock and genres such as the blues, heavy metal, rap, hip-hop, Texas country and jazz.
Student DJ Travis Kemp has been with the station for eight years and in that time has been promoted to host of FM90’s weekly “All That Jazz” show on Sunday nights.
Kemp said he has learned a lot at FM90.
“You learn to make promos, work a soundboard, what you can and can’t say on the air, how to make and follow playlists and what to do in a severe weather situation,” Kemp said.
The station has 27 student DJs on staff this semester.
Those interested in the fast-paced world of radio should visit Frank in his office in the Gilvin Broadcast Center.
FM90 can be heard live online at www.kacvfm.org.
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