My first foray into college radio

I got the privilege to do “old-school” radio at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. When I was a student there from 1995-97, they were still playing all music off CDs and playing some advertisements on a modern-day 8-track.

I’m glad I got the opportunity to learn to do radio the old way, but it was always a trick to cue up (set the start point of a song), fade out and transition properly between events (songs, ads or announcing). Unfamiliar with much of the music at first, I got surprised by some hard (abrupt) starts and cold fades (very abrupt endings). Slow starts and soft (very slow) fades threw me for a loop even more often. Since most of these CDs were produced for home listening and not for radio play, the best preparation involved listening to these songs as much as possible and keeping an ear open for these technical aspects that music fans don’t think about.

I tried to advertise my weekly show on the radio by putting up posters. I’m not sure it helped much. The station was so low-powered that half the campus couldn’t hear it. The “Paul Benjamin Jam” probably had very few listeners but I enjoyed the experience the break from the routine of classes, homework and a part-time job.

My memories of WIWU radio are mostly good but I do have a twinge of regret that I didn’t suck it up to do a regular-format show. I always did a special-format show where I chose all my own songs and items to announce. I was required to announce the weather, the station ID at the top of the hour and the commercial-free version of ads. By following a clock (strictly formatted schedule), I could have further honed my announcing abilities and paid for attention to what does or does not work for good radio. Looking back, I don’t think I should have been allowed to have a special-format show until my junior year at the earliest.

God brought some health issues into my life late in my sophomore year that began to seriously affect every aspect of my life. As a result of those problems, the lack of close friendships and finances, I elected not to return after two years at IWU. I set aside radio for two years to attend Rosedale Bible College and work for a year. My passion for the medium did not fade, however. With a newfound purpose and drive to attain a degree in Communications, I prepared to enter Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in August 1999. That’s where some twists stifled some of my passion and opened my eyes to other exciting avenues of interest. What happened? I will tell you in my next report.