Throwback Thursday Remembering My College Radio Days

A question I get asked a lot is, "What made you want to work in radio?" And I answer, "Working at the college radio station."

I never would have found radio if it wasn't for college. I went to college not knowing what I wanted to do. I went to Morningside College in Sioux City, which is a liberal arts school so I had to take classes in a bunch of different areas. For me, I loved it, it's how I happened upon the Mass Communications Department!

The first time I had to be on the college radio station, KMSC, was to do a brief news report and I was so scared and nervous and was mad at the professor for making it a requirement. But something happened after that first time. I liked it. I liked being on the radio. It was a place where I could talk and share my opinions and people had to listen. Well, sort of. I mean they could change the station, but it was fun!

By my senior year, I was a declared Mass Communications/Corporate Communications major and I was Student Manager of the college radio station. My daily radio show was called 'The 5 O'Clock Shadow' because I was on at 5 PM and I thought it was ironic because I'm a girl and don't have facial hair. Get it? It's funny.

For awhile, I did a show with my friends Erin and Rachel and we decided to have radio names. Erin was Agent E, Rachel was R Unit, and I was Natty Ice. But most of the time, I was just Natasha.

KMSC didn't have an automated music system yet, so for a live show, we still had to cue up CDs. The station's format was alternative/independent. Our slogan was 'Sioux City's Only Alternative.' Not exactly my wheelhouse. But, I found a lot of great bands and artists that I liked and still fit the format.

Sadly, I didn't keep up with too many of the bands I liked after college, but I recently made a playlist that fills me full of good memories of college. Some of my favorites include Hellogoodbye, Regina Spektor, Silversun Pickups, Rilo Kiley, The Format (Nate Ruess was in this band before fun.), Ok Go (before the treadmill video), Ben Kweller, A Fine Frenzy and many more!

As far as I know, KMSC is going stronger than ever. Sadly, Dr. Mark Heistad passed away a couple years ago. He was the professor in charge of the radio station. He had a long beard and always smelled like cigarettes and coffee, but he was there for the weird radio kids. Miss ya, Doc. He came from a public radio background so he always wanted serious news radio and I was all about pop culture and musicals. I always found a way to add my personality into my projects. I think he appreciated that. When I graduated, I could be mistaken, but I think I saw his lip quiver.

I wish I would have done more with the newspaper and TV departments in Mass Comm, but at the time, I thought, "That stuff isn't going to matter in radio." Little did I know, that I now write seven stories a week and turns out editing video would have been a great skill to acquire.

So here is a little sample of what you might have heard on 'The 5 O'Clock Shadow' in 2007-2008 ish.

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