The Maneater March University of Missouri- Columbia 2010 Bi-weekly Student Newspaper (online and print) -Nichole Ballard Â
KOPN draws community volunteers The station offers commercial-free programming. By Nichole Ballard Published March 16, 2010 At the top of a narrow staircase in downtown Columbia nests the KOPN/89.5 FM radio station. Inside, the walls are lined with nostalgic prints more than 30 years old, reminders of the community radio station's founding in 1973. "Community radio is different than anything you have encountered," KOPN Volunteer Coordinator Christine Gardener said. Community radio began in 1949 before public radio. She said it provided people with information and entertainment directed at them instead of the listeners being an audience for commercials. Gardener said if people liked what they heard and appreciated it, they would donate money to the station as listeners do for KOPN. With a program schedule listing syndicated national shows, such as "Democracy Now" and "Fresh Air," to local volunteer shows, KOPN offers a wide range of commercial-free programming. "I think we are really a part of the inner-thread of the midMissouri area," said Gardener, a volunteer since 1977. With only six full and part-time employees, she said volunteers are an essential part of the station and help to make it run. MU graduate student Zach Coble is one of these people. "It's a real positive vibe that I get from working there," he said. The idea of community radio appeals to Coble. He said he began volunteering in September 2009 because he liked how anyone can host a show, help with other projects of the station and meet new people in Columbia. "There are a million reasons why people suddenly get the bug to volunteer," Gardener said. "If you can match that with a purpose for what they want to do, they will be happy." The volunteer process begins by coming down to the station and filling out an application. Gardener then sits down with volunteers and matches what they're looking for with open jobs at the station. "Because we are so diverse, there is an infinite number of possibilities for volunteers," she said. "Everybody wants to have something useful to do, something that gives somebody a purpose." Columbia resident Jill Sheets has been a KOPN volunteer for the last four years. She had an interest in learning about the radio industry and chose KOPN for its diverse programming combined with the fact she "really needed to get out of the house." "This place is my sanity," she said. "It's like a family." Off from KOPN's common room is a large music library filled with LPs and CDs from every genre of music. Gardener said she has no idea how many albums are in the collection, but the library fills the shelved, 20-foot walls of the room. A rolling staircase is used to reach the top level, and the collection spills over into the common area of the station. Despite this collection of albums and CDs, Kevin Walsh, an MU graduate, said the equipment at KOPN is up to date, and most hosts use flash drives to play music. "It's as organized as it needs to be and there are a lot of great stuff archived here," Walsh said of the collection. Across from the library, Walsh prepares for his program, "The Good Life." Walsh's program is listed as "contemporary mix" on KOPN's Web site but includes interviews from various musicians and people across the community. "I wouldn't call it rundown," Walsh said of KOPN's headquarters. "I would call it very homey. It's got exactly the the clubhouse feel."