CBI Station Profile: KBGA at University of Montana

This is a continuing series of station profiles conducted by Student Representative Caila Brown of the Savannah College of Art and Design. If you would like to be featured in a station profile, please email Caila at cbrown40@student.scad.edu.

In this installment, Caila interviews Ben Weiss, General Manager of KBGA at the University of Montana.

Station Name: KBGA 89.9 FM

Station City and State: Missoula, MT

Institution: University of Montana

Describe the programming on your station.

KBGA is music-based. We are committed to providing diverse and refreshing programming, focusing on new ideas and sounds. We have several locally produced talkshows, including Pet Problems (a conversation between the DJ and co-host Lora O’Conner who is the director of the Humane society of Western Montana about common issues with pets), Tribal Scene (a program featuring interviews, events calenders, and commentary about Native issues in the West), The Ann and Teresa and Ann Show (a comedy show run by two women, a theatre professor and a local social work professor), Talking Heads (a news/opinion show produced by journalism school students) and Sports Talk (a sports talk show produced by journalism students). We also rebroadcast Democracy Now!, The Media Squat with Douglas Rushkoff, and the Thom Hartmann program (late at night).

What makes your station unique?

KBGA is unique because our stable of DJs and on-air hosts changes frequently and stays fairly consistent. We have many long time DJs who are community members and who help provide a sense of continuity within a free-form format; our eclecticism is somewhat predictable. In this way, we can better fulfill our mission of providing a truly alternative radio station and have it be one that people really want to listen to.

How does your station prepare students for post-graduate opportunities?

Our staff is entirely student-run. Our station adviser, Terry Conrad, is one of the founders of Montana Public Radio and is a great resource to the student staff. However, he enjoys watching us work together and make decisions as a staff without controlling anything himself. His guidance and presence are greatly appreciated, but he allows us to succeed or fail in everything we do. Because of this, our staff members get great experience managing personnel, writing and following a budget, writing grants, throwing concerts and events, selling underwriting, working with promoters, labels, and artists, and getting involved in campus and community organizations and events.

How does your station keep students motivated and involved?

The incentive of being on air at a locally and regionally respected radio station seems to be enough motivation for most students. Staff members are paid, but not enough to live on. We host several parties over the course of the year both public and private to celebrate what we do and all of the efforts of our volunteers.

How has your station benefited from being a member of CBI?

As a smallish station that depends on the efforts of a stream of volunteers, the reporting requirements for streaming are a little difficult for us to handle. We are glad that as CBI members we can opt out of that requirement.

Describe your annual RadioThon Fundraiser. What do you think led to its success this year, and how are the funds raised going to support your station?

Every year in February we spend a week on the air, 12 hours a day, asking for people to pledge us money. Many local businesses donate premiums for us to reward our donors. Our donors come in all shapes and sizes – from college kids who love that they get to hear cool new music away from the big city they left behind to little old ladies that appreciate what we do. In fact, we had an 82-year old woman donate this year and tell us to keep on rocking! Our RadioThon has been growing ever more successful, and we were honored to see how much the community came together for us this year. I think our success is tied to the quality of our programming, but also to the awareness that we have raised about the station in the past two years. We have made a concerted effort to make ourselves friends with non-profits and campus organizations, and I think that has been noticed. We are in the process of digitizing our entire library (about 15,000 CDs and growing) so the funds raised from RadioThon will be used primarily to further that project.

Please share any other interesting stories, facts or events your station has had.

We have been making ourselves known for bringing great shows to town, and we are proud to present Vampire Weekend on Tuesday, March 16. This will be the third time that KBGA has brought them to Missoula. I could go on and on about fun things that we do or have done or have planned, but this concert is our next event and we are excited.