 "Photo: Nina Muehleck/ Manitou Messenger")
Encircled by walls brightly coated in promotional stickers and posters of bands and artists, KSTO station manager Cat Haueter ’11 leans back on one of the two comfy couches in KSTO’s reception room. Behind her, Haueter explains, sits the extracted door of the station’s old studio, which was originally in the music building. Slathered in stickers like the walls, it is so camouflaged as to be overlooked.
The headquarters of KSTO, St. Olaf’s radio station, are found in the lower level of Buntrock Commons. The station broadcasts campus airwaves over 93.1 FM on your radio dial, if you have a radio. However, due to current signal issues, it is best accessed through online streaming via their website.
Playing tunes since its installation in 1965, KSTO is a college radio station with 40 years of history. The station’s website claims, “as St. Olaf continues to grow in numbers, KSTO continues to grow in popularity.”
Yet with the increasing accessibility and demand of musical technology, such as iPods and Pandora online radio, the question of KSTO’s future, as well as radio in general, has arisen. Is KSTO still alive beyond those who run it and DJ for it? Does radio have a future in the age where more people make their own playlists on iTunes?
“I think we’re doing pretty well considering that radio is not as popular as it once was,” Haueter said. She added that today people mainly listen to their own music.
“Considering that climate, we have 70 or 80 people who DJ on a weekly basis [this semester,]” Haueter said.
While Haueter said there is no definitive way to track how many listeners KSTO has, based on the number of callers during shows and KSTO’s Facebook page with 280 fans, she said the station is far from unpopular.
Haueter credits the staff. “I call us the KSTO family. We have such a phenomenal staff this year: we had a 100 percent turnover [from last year.]”
Tim Otte ’10 is a prime example of this turnover. As he started his show sophomore year, this is Otte’s fifth semester as a DJ, and first year as a staff member. While Otte said people seem pessimistic about radio, he has faith in its future. “So many people don’t listen to KSTO because there’s this stigma or bad rep,” Otte said. “This year we’re getting a lot of excitement. Our goal for this year is to keep up and build on that excitement. People [should] listen to KSTO because it will blow their minds!”
Otte, a native of St. Paul, said that as a senior, the changes he’s seen made at KSTO since his first year have been exponential. A big change, Otte said, concerns publicity. “There were no advertisements for specific shows. Now it’s practically required.”
General consensus among KSTO staff is that advertising has a key role in keeping the station alive, but needs improvement. “If you want people to pay attention you’ve got to publicize,” Haueter said.
One DJ, Theo Knaeble ’13, has taken improving KSTO advertising to heart. Knaeble recently installed “bright pink and red posters … above all the urinals on campus. It makes you stop,” Knaeble said. “It’s a point of your day when you’re not doing anything productive.”
So far, Knaeble has been pleasantly surprised with the results. “People actually come up and say: ‘I just listened to your show because I saw your poster!’”
KSTO staff also wish to improve their radio signal. Mitchell Wade ’11, the DJ of an alternative music show, said he thinks KSTO is losing listeners due to signal issues. He admitted that the sound through online streaming is “really good” and much improved from previous years. However, Wade said KSTO’s main goal should be “to have an easy way for people … to get the stations.”
Clara Swanson ’11, agreed with Wade. “It seems that this year there is a wider fan-base, but I do think [KSTO] is inaccessible to a lot of people, she said. Swanson, a KSTO listener since her first year, added that without a good radio signal, listeners who can’t get to a computer for online streaming miss out.
Still, Andrew Mullins ’11 said online streaming is quite beneficial for the station. “I’ve always streamed [KSTO,]” Mullins said. “I think it makes it more accessible. It’s perfectly possible to sit in the Cage with your laptop or your iPod Touch and listen to KSTO. Internet is more present in people’s lives than radio.”
Otte agreed, adding that online streaming has “definitely helped make it easier for not only students, but alums and people back home” to tune in.
So why should you listen to KSTO instead of plugging into your iPod?
“You have DJs literally out looking for music for you. You’ve got a team of workers trying to expand your musical horizon,” Knaeble said.
“[Radio] is much more interactive,” Otte said. “You can call in and e-mail a DJ. There’s a certain theatricality about it, something can go wrong, someone can say something wrong. You can’t interact with an iPod; there is no person behind Pandora so you can’t talk back. You can’t branch out, and you can’t bring up subjects.”
So why not give KSTO a chance? You can even keep your iPod headphones: just plug them into your computer.
casale@stolaf.edu
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