Edgar saadi by Freestyle Academy

The New Zoo Written and Designed FRONT COVER

by Edgar Saadi

Acknowledgments I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my teachers at Freestyle academy for teaching me everything I needed to know to complete the documentary, and for staying patient with me throughout the interview process and beyond. Without their help and guidance the completion of this project wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have been possible. I would also like to thank all of the staff at KZSU Stanford, and my personal interviewees. I am so lucky to have been able to learn so much about an such an amazing place. 3

Table of Contents Preface ------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 7 Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------- Page 9 Who is KZSU?------------------------- ----------------------------------Page 11 The fight for KZSU------------------------------------------------------ Page 19 The future of KZSU ----------------------------------------------------- Page 23 Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------- Page 27 Works Cited ------------------------------------------------------------- Page 29 Author ------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 31

Preface When I first wandered onto the Stanford campus in search of the radio station, I was skeptical. Radio stations today provide me with nothing but headaches, due to the ludicrous amount of times they play the same mainstream tracks, over and over. After being led to into KZSU by one of the staff, I was surprised to see it was in the basement of the Stanford Memorial Auditorium. What could a radio station residing in a basement of an auditorium provide for anybody? I soon learned that KZSU was more than a bunch of old mixing boards crammed into a basement. Promoting a college radio station that resides in the basement of an auditorium can be quickly written off as amatuer and unimportatnt. I soon learned how untrue this judgment was, despite the fact that I was the main perpetrator of this judgment. Once I walked in, I saw thousands of records, professional mixing boards and mics, colorful murals on walls, and most importantly, I felt the musical free spirit. It reminded me of what I felt the first time I laid eyes on my first set of turntables... a feeling of creative power and free spirit. My previous judgment I had applied to the station was quickly burnt away and replaced by pure curiosity. This book tells the story of my discovery of a station like no other. It was discovery that money does not have to control music or people. And finally, that no matter the circumstances, the free flow of music will always triumph, no matter the hardships. This is the story of KZSU Stanford.

Introduction

KZSU Stanford stands

dent and quirky music that

new school radio? With the old

out from other radio stations

can’t be found elsewhere. With

form of radio, but with idiosyn-

by providing a platform for the

new technology and programs

cratic song selection of indie

small voices - by shining a light

in today’s world such as Spo-

artists, all the latest in sports

on individual artists who oth-

tify and Pandora, many have

and news for the bay area, and

erwise wouldn’t be recognized,

flocked to streaming services to a true form of uniqueness never

all the while giving back to the

satisfy their musical needs. This seen before on any type of radio

community and Bay Area, by

is is due in part to how modern platform. This hidden treasure

broadcasting events such as the

day radio has been popularly

is the modern day El Dorado

Palo Alto city council – which

perceived: boring, repetitive,

of radio, KZSU Stanford 90.1.

is not broadcast anywhere else

and overplayed. But despite

KZSU is Stanford University’s

– and by always staying unique

that cultural shift, many people

FM radio station, broadcasting

with their song selection. With- still yearn for the old form of

across the Bay Area on 90.1 FM

out it, people in East Palo Alto

fun, groovy, and unique radio

and across the world at kzsu-

would lose access to the city

that dominated much of the

live.stanford.edu.

council meetings, and people

1990s and early 2000s. What if

all over the Bay Area would

we could combine both of these

lose their outlet for indepen-

to create a spectrum of old and 9

Who is KZSU? Most radio stations are simple. Play a few songs, run a few of commercials, do a few giveaways, and take a few calls. KZSU totally disregards this virtual copy-and-paste mentality of conventional modern

new school house, KZSU is the

all commercial radio stations

most unique radio station there

to become stale and repetitive.

“Commerical radio has become really stale. KZSU represents a change in convential radio we’ve come to accept as fact.”

Hearing the same song up to 6 times in an hour has become totally acceptable by today’s radio standards. But not at KZSU. “Conventional radio is selling a

day radio, with events such

is. Conventional commercial

streamlined product.” pressed

as Wednesday Night Live, the

radio has caused the downfall

McGregor Joyner, Training

annual Day of Noise, and their

of originality in the traditional

Director for KZSU. “Labels are

absolutely crazy Zebra Prints.

radio station. With labels enter-

now totally controlling the sta-

Furthermore, they cover Stan-

ing the equation and paying

tions, and choosing their music

ford events, local news, issues,

for radio stations to play their

for them.” That’s like politicians

and sports. But above all of

track x-amount of times, un-

choosing who gets elected. It

these endeavors is their daily

biased musical judgment and

simply isn’t fair, and hurts small

schedule, which is dedicated to

originality has been completely

artists and radio listeners in

playing the latest and greatest

removed from radio stations

the process, all for the sake of

music that hasn’t been heard

everywhere. The “pay to play”

making money. But when you

yet. From old school funk to

mentality has caused nearly

remove money from the equa11

tion, you get KZSU Stanford 90.1. Unbiased musical judgment, and the removal of a third party label interest come together to create an interesting, unique, and constantly evolving music scene inside the KZSU playlist. For McGregor, the best example of KZSU’s musically originality happened when someone called into Emmerich Anklam, the General Manager of the station’s radio show. The caller was concerned as he thought the radio station’s transistor was broken because of what he was hearing. Emmerich, who was on air at the time, simply responded, “No need to worry, it’s just the song I’m playing.”

Started in 1947 as part of the department of communication, KZSU eventually acquired its

FM license in 1964. It would

“For me, KZSU is more of an then upgrade from 10 to 500 watts in 1978. Before that, it was an educational device than any- AM station called KSU. When the Z letter was added to the stations thing.” name, it became branded as: KZSU, the New Zoo. This became more apparent to me as I saw a zebra hanging in the corner of the training room. “Thats Meryl Stripe!” exclaimed McGregor Joyner. Emmerich would later inform me they spent half of a staff meeting choosing the name. KZSU hosts a plethora of shows, and events. The ‘KZSU Holiday’ as described by many at the station, The Day Of Noise, symbolizes a day of creativity and free flow of sound for the station. This annual event contains people from everywhere, of all shapes, sizes and ages. According to Emmerich, the Day of Noise was created by someone nicknamed The Voice of Doom. “The idea was to present experimental music in the widest defined way,” states Emmerich. “Noise doesn’t have to be an assault on your ears, but not placing it in the box of calling it a song as we normally think about it.” Amazing performances are an often occurrence on this day, from 13 year olds born in the bay to people from overseas, there is a huge range of sound here. 13

But there is more to it than just

I misinterpreted their request

are those people? They might

the sound. “There are people

and I thought they were going

be connected with that email

who come back a lot, the Day of to have us record something

I got the other day. I thought

Noise sort of has this function

for free for them, but then they

maybe its the secret service

that allows people who know

said no, we think we need you

and the President is coming to

one another to gather.” And

to move. Then the Day of Noise campus. And it turned out thats

if the Day of Noise wasn’t al-

came and all these noise musi-

ready crazy enough, suspicion

cians were playin’, and all these

and spying made its way into

“KZSU accepts records from every-

KZSU that has been around

the Day of noise, at the high-

one - no matter who it is. This helps

for a while is Wednesday Night

est level possible. Emmerich

us keep it fresh.”

exactly what it was,” he laughs. Another integral part of

Live. “It has been around as

enlightened me on the amaz-

people of different styles were

long as I can remember, be-

ing sequence of events. “This

hanging around and talking.

fore I was even here,” said

was the week before President

Then, these full suited people

McGregor. Wednesday Night

Obama came to Stanford to

came into the station not talk-

Live is an excellent example of

talk about cyber security, which ing to anybody, at most they

KZSU distancing itself from

we didn’t know at the time. I

would say like one word or two. conventional radio. Broad-

just got a phone call the day

They were just kind of standing casted live every Wednesday

before from the Stanford ad-

in the studio next to all these

at 9PM, this is KZSU’s flagship

ministration saying that we

people while you’re hearing

event.

were going to have to move our

whatever noise playing. I kind

operations for the day. At first

of laughed and wondered who 15

Artists come to perform live on air, to be streamed to KZSU listeners all around the world. A big part of this is to always keep the content at KZSU fresh, and avoid the rinse and repeat form usually employed by radio stations today. The LA daily news picked up on the repetitiveness of typical radio stations, too. They found that radio stations often turn stale due to that fact that they simply cannot

compete against each other, because in many cases they are owned by the same person, and don’t want one station to dominate over other stations they own. “And it’s why so much in radio tends to be so boring,” McGregor told me. “There is no real competition, and this is why live music is an integral part of KZSU.” states McGregor. With guests such as Green Day and Wu Tang Clan appearing on previous broadcasts of Wednesday Night Live, this is clearly true.

The Fight for KZSU

But despite everything KSZU does for Stanford and the bay area, doomsday may be looming for the radio station. Funding has become a major issue for the station over time. Although funded by some student fees, if funding is withdrawn for a year, the station will likely be forced to close its doors for good. On years funding where hasn’t come in for the station, they were hit extremely hard. This happened once in the 1990s and once in the early 2000s, and nearly made the station shut down. The reason this has become an issue for the station is not because of people simply not liking what the station has to offer, but instead the lack of knowledge on the Stanford campus itself that the radio station exists. When I asked McGregor about the listener base of KZSU, I instantly assumed the epicenter of the listener base resided on the Stanford campus. He quickly surprised me when he told me that in fact the least amount of listeners came from the Stanford student body. “We definitely have more listenership off campus then on,” he informed me. “That’s not to say we don’t have listenership on campus. I’ve found that faculty and people who have been around here longer listen to KZSU more than students.” This fact surprised me. Why would the Stanford student body not pay attention to its own radio station, that resides on its own campus? “The student body is more transient,” he claimed. “Most Stanford students are not musically interested enough to listen to something this musically diverse.” This was something I understood, but it turns out that is not all there is to the story. Limitations imposed by the Stanford Administration on where KZSU can advertise has made exposure for the station on the campus very limited, as opposed to outside the campus. I asked McGregor what the typical Stanford student would say when asked about KZSU. He told me,“The typical Stanford student would say, ‘Yea I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know what it is.” Although I was informed there are some students who listen to often while studying, it was clear to me that the exposure of KZSU on campus had become a problem for the station. Outside of the campus, the listenership of the station of much higher. KZSU staff told me they had met people as far as Oakland who said they actively listened to the station.

This begged the question: how could the station extend all the way out to somewhere as far as Oakland, while having low listenership right where it is based? Social media, coverage of Palo Alto news, and the Day of Noise provide the biggest amount of outside exposure for the station, but it is often not seen by Stanford students. KZSU to an extent is hidden away, on the side of, and in the basement of the memorial auditorium. Contrast this with the Stanford Marching Band, who play directly on the football field for thousands of people to watch on TV and in person, and you can clearly see why KZSU has been struggling

to get its name out among the campus. I heard stories of KZSU posters being torn down on campus, due to restrictions of where they can advertise. This had made branding, exposing, and the fight for funding KZSU that much harder. What Stanford student wants to pay for something they don’t even know exists? Recently in Jacksonville, Florida, the devastating effects of insufficient funding of a radio station were seen first hand. Spinnaker Radio asked for $40,000 from UNF’s student government for a new FM radio station for the school. The radio station was to be built on UNF campus, pending construction is

September. Scott Young, the Spinnaker Radio station manager points out, “Nobody can find an internet radio station by channel surfing or accident. We consider UNF to be a commuter campus, we have a large portion of our students that drive to school. We want to tie everyone together.” Then, tragedy struck. The UNF school government decided to not fund the station.The UNF university has sided with the school government, also deciding to withhold funding despite many students who wanted the radio station. KZSU could face a similar fate soon if they can’t get there name out among the campus populous more. Luckily, they have a plan. 21

The future of KZSU

If KZSU can gain more exposure by getting the support of people like you and me, it will continue to prosper even further into a new type of radio station never seen before. “Our biggest hurdle is making sure the body knows who we are,” said Emmerich. “They have to agree that our presence on campus is important and interesting enough that we should continue the station on their dime.” he stated. I asked him about the how the composure of the main Stanford campus differs from KZSU. “It makes for an interesting dynamic because KZSU in certain ways is very different from the campus lifestyle and infrastructure,” he told me. “The atmosphere down here is pretty different from everywhere else, thats a comment from a lot of people

who come down here; especially undergraduates. Our tastes, the people who come down here, the things we play, it’s a mashup - a very exciting mashup. I think the diversity down here is about the greatest of any place on Stanford Campus.” This made me question the exposure of the station further. Why would a place like this, so diverse and different from the rest of the campus, not stick out to the students? “I think our reputation is a little bit eccentric, because we aren’t the most popular group on campus,” he answered. “A lot of people get involved, but it’s still a pretty hush hush organization because people listen to music from different outlets. The general taste of the campus is still mainstream.” This state-

ment tied in with what McGregor told me before, when he claimed that much of the Stanford campus is not musically interested enough right now to listen to a station like KZSU. Although after hearing some of the plans of KZSU to better relate to the everyday Stanford student, the future of KZSU looks more than promising. With the planning of concerts of all genres held on and off campus by KZSU, to integration with other Stanford student groups on campus, the typical Stanford student will easily be able to relate to KZSU in the near future. McGregor Joyner told me that more ticket giveaways and live shows similar to Wednesday night live will be a key component of KZSU moving forward.

Better organization of the station, along with more DJ’s are other ideas that everyone at the station believe are vital for the future of KZSU. “Integrating with the Stanford Band and other key student groups on campus will play an important role in getting KZSU’s name out there.” stated Emmerich. Adding more coverage of the stanford student body itself, along with concerts and other events on campus will also play a pivotal role in the station’s exposure to the student body. Utilizing all the radio station has to of-

fer, such as its educational side, along with its recreational side will be continued. Adding even more musically interested and unbiased DJ’s will insure KZSU’s quality and quirkiness will be around forever. 25

Conclusion

For something as different as KZSU, exposure and funding can quickly become major problems. Even with all it does for the community and stanford body, including 24/7 ad free radio, complete access to the radio station for anybody, and coverage of all Stanford news and sports, the radio station is still threatened by funding and lack of exposure among the stanford populous. To allow something to die out that is this unique and different that takes so little and gives so much to the community would be a stain on the bay area that could never be forgotten. There truly is nothing else out there like KZSU. From creativly quirky music to broadcasting of the most important stanford news, KZSU does so much for the community, in such a unique way, unlike any other station or news outlet out there. If KZSU can get support from its listeners and the bay area abroad, the station can only

get bigger and better. Integrating with already widely known groups such as the Stanford band will open KZSU to so many new people that can utilize and enjoy the station, and if they wish, to join it. What other radio station could you walk in, get your own show, and be taught to use all the equipment for free? If more people join KZSU, they can review more music, which in turn will be streamed to the masses. Discovering and promoting local underground and indie artists is just one of the many things that KZSU Stanford does to help the bay area. Something like KZSU Stanford is one in a billion. To me, it has a distinct parallel to Freestyle Academy, and that is what makes it so personal to me. There truly is nothing like KZSU, which takes so little, and gives so much. Allowing it to get shut down would be such a waste of something so special that the

bay area is so privileged to have. If KZSU can get its name out to the Stanford student body, and across the country, the entire landscape of radio would fundamentally change. Intervention by labels would come to a halt, restoring the originality and creativity of the radio that we came to know and love. Imagine a time when a friend walked up to you and asked you if you had heard something on the radio, instead of something you watched on TV. KZSU Stanford 90.1 is leading radio in originality, and if shown to the rest of the world, radio stations everywhere will be sure to follow. Entirely new genres of music and previously unexposed artists will come out of the woodwork, sparking a musical and cultural revolution in the US. The return of fun, unique, and groovy radio is possible. We just have to follow the lead of KZSU, which started right here, in our home, the bay area. 27

Works cited

Richard Wagoner. dailynews.com. LA Daily News, 06/25/2013. Online Article. April 2, 2015. Matt Head. firstcoastnews.com. FCN, May 2014. Online Article. April 4, 2015. KZSU Staff. kzsulive.com. Stanford University, Website. March 15, 2015 Heather McDonald. muscians.about.com. Online Article. April 3, 2015 Planetary group staff. planeterygroup.com. Online Article. April 2, 2015 Shelby Royston. sites.google.com/theshelbyroyston Online Essay. April 5, 2015 29

About the Author

Edgar currently attends Freestyle Academy and Mountain View High School as a junior. He is interested in a career in audio production. Philosophy and history are other subjects he enjoys. He likes to produce music, DJ, watch TV, and play video games. He hopes to attend music school in Los Angeles to further his producing career post graduation.