The Trail

Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Features

The 2007 KUPS Core Staff

Our nationally ranked radio station has recently been gaining massive attention from the broadcasting world. KUPS "The Sound" is beginning to be widely recognized after being mentioned in the Washington CEO magazine and ranked in the Princeton Review.

KUPS has been the major musical outlet for many of the students at the University of Puget Sound. The Sound is noted to be quite diverse, playing such genres from show tunes and "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music" to the more popular choices of alternative rock, disco, funk and hip hop joints.

Recently, the station has been honored with the distinction of being the eleventh best radio station in the country, ranked by the Princeton Review. Also from their nomination as the most improved radio station by the College Music Journal two years ago, there have been a lot of talks of KUPS being streamed by larger internet radio databases such as Lala.com.

With its recent popularity, KUPS has been looking to change in the coming years. Streamlining its operations and controlling radio show quality are the main goals of KUPS this year. From having approximately 170 DJs a few years ago, KUPS's core staff realized that the higher the number of DJs, the harder it is to control the quality of programming. Thus the Sound is trying to reduce their numbers to approximately 100 DJs while increasing the time of each of the shows to a solid two hour block. These longer segments will promote greater commitment of the DJs to their shows and allow them to have ample time to promote their genres.

The issue plaguing KUPS is the high turnover of staff positions caused by graduating seniors. Of the eleven students on staff this year, six will be graduating this semester and three will be studying abroad next semester. The key will be to set up a strong infrastructure and hire the right people where KUPS could head in the proper direction and constantly improve.

In the meantime, KUPS will be trying to produce another CD reflecting the diversity and quality of The Sound. They also plan on bringing in some outside bands and letting them hang out in-studio. They have also revamped their website at www.kups.net where different music events and concerts are posted regularly. The Sound is also available as an online stream for those that might not be able to tune in through conventional radio.

Get your daily dosage with KUPS "The Sound" on 90.1 FM, playing continuously 24 hours a day and run by your peers at the University of Puget Sound.

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