Lindsey Spakousky
Contributer
KPOV Radio Station Offers a Class on How to be a DJ
KPOV, a radio station located in Central Oregon, offers a DJ class through Central Oregon Community College. This class runs in spring and fall and is open to the community. “Be a DJ” teaches the basics of radio hosting and prepares them for their own show on KPOV radio.
This class is put on by KPOV radio station. It provides a Saturday morning lecture and an evening session where students meet at the station. During the morning session they learn the rules of non-profit community radio and the elements of having a radio show. The evening is their hands-on session where they get to practice recording themselves and hosting a show.
After this class students can choose to pursue it further by mentoring with current KPOV radio hosts. After this, they can submit a show proposal to host their own show. Students are also welcome to take this class simply for fun. Gillian Hodgen, who is the operator at KPOV, encourages people to take the class. “I’d say try it out and find your voice… when you come in here and start learning how to use a microphone you really hear what you’re capable of.”
Hodgen says the class “Really prepares students to learn audio production at an entry level. So from then on you could really take it further… here as a volunteer… you can pursue it further with your own education, with your own music…. It’s really your time commitment and where you want to take it that determines how much you get from it.”
Students who choose to pursue a show on KPOV are asked to commit to the station for one two-hour show a week for the next six months. There are other ways to get involved at KPOV, it is a non-profit community radio and only has three paid staff members. Some volunteers write on air announcements and help out with events. The station is always looking for volunteers.
One volunteer, Claire Merydith, took the class in the spring of 2023. When she first started at the station she said she wasn’t that serious about it. During a traumatic time in her life she took a step back from KPOV. She says “After a few months I found myself just needing something to do with myself, you know, I was grieving, I was not working at all, I didn’t have much of a life so I needed a way to connect with my community.” She dove back into the station and co-hosted the Friday edition of The Point, a news show the station produces. After her co-host took a step back, Merydith took the reins on the show.
“Seeing as my involvement with KPOV was something that really was kinda therapeutic for me,” Merydith states, “and good for my mental health I’ve decided to make my show focus mostly on mental health and just things related to the brain… I’ve covered everything from ADHD to schizophrenia. And it’s just been a lot of fun, really healing, getting out there and talking to cool people and educating our community on things that are important to me. I’ve never worked this hard on something I’m not paid for, people think I am paid for this, I’m like, ‘Nope, I literally do this for fun.’”
Merydith always felt like the weird kid, and she says “KPOV has been just like a breath of fresh air, like I’ve finally found my island of misfit toys. I know it sounds so cheesy, but everyone here has become just like family… it’s refreshing to have a place where I truly feel like I belong.”
The class will be run in the fall and is open to the community and anyone who wants to learn. Once the fall schedule is out people can go to cocc.edu and find the community education section. From there they can look up “radio” or “dj” and find the class. The station also offers a link to the class from their website at kpov.org.
