Cuts prompt radio to improve local marketing strategy
In an effort to seek both a greater audience, several employees of Aggie Radio ping-ponged a variety of ideas about how to more effectively market their organizaiton, particularly to incoming freshmen at a March 1 meeting.
The meeting primarily focused on marketing strategies coming out of the gate when the university’s fall semester begins this August. It followed a previously-held meeting among faculty members in the department of journalism and communication that discussed ways to avoid a potential cancellation of the station. Such concerns are a result of mandated budget cuts to all public higher education in the state.
One idea was to include music from the radio station at their booth for Day on the Quad. Ryan Baylis, a staff member of Aggie Radio and recently-elected ASUSU Athletics vice president for 2011-12, offered a free giveaway of HURD shirts as one of the promotion tools.
Aggie Radio adviser Friend Weller said there is a fear of the station being cut altogether. As a result, he, along with JCOM department head Ted Pease and Victor Hogstrum, general manager for Utah Public Radio (UPR) at USU, convened in February to plan what they want to discuss with James Morales, vice president for Student Services, about how to keep the station afloat.
“A couple of weeks ago, we just had an internal meeting about ‘what questions are we going to ask ASUSU?'” said Weller, who has been the station’s manager since it began. “It was just held between JCOM and UPR, so when we approach ASUSU, we’ll have something to have a meeting about.”
Weller said because the Utah Legislature met over the past couple of weeks discussing budget cuts to higher education in the state, such questions can now be better-answered.
“With the legislature wrapped last week, that information has yet to be examined throughout campus,” he said. “Right now, it’s a work in progress. Now that spring break is over, we can pick up where we left off.”
Several station members were upset with the news that Aggie Radio is potentially facing eradication.
“I’m bummed,” said Harrison Davis, one of the programming directors. “I think Aggie Radio is a great resource. It’s good to learn new music. ASUSU can utilize Aggie Radio more. There are tons of possibilities that Aggie Radio can help with. Being cut I think would cut resources that ASUSU would be able to receive.”
Davis said the resources can translate into both increased publicity and transparency for the student government staff. “But like, budget cuts just suck all around,” he continued. “It’s an unfortunate thing, and if they think Aggie radio is the best thing to cut, which I don’t think it is, so be it.”
Station director Jordan Allred, who led the Feb. 22 discussion, maintained a bright outlook when asked later about the future of Aggie Radio.
“We’ve made progress since I’ve been here,” Allred said.
One of the largest issues for Aggie Radio is not being on FM radio instead of the current HD status.
Allred said the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently not permitting any new stations to register on FM.
Baylis said the station streams over the Internet and is broadcast from UPR on their HD3 channel, and can be heard on www.radio.usu.edu. The signal can be received from Logan to Richfield.
“It’s a highly underused system,” Baylis said. “We could really use FM.”
In the midst of such struggles and aspirations for visibility, Zach Larsen, next school years’ programming vice president for ASUSU, said he looked forward to keeping Aggie Radio on the airwaves, and he would speak on behalf of the station’s cause to stay alive.
“I think the biggest thing is a lot of people have a lot of energy and ideas on how to be more involved with Aggie Radio,” said Larsen, who has listened to the station in the past. “The key is just getting more listeners and more name out there. There’s a lot of energy behind the cause. It’s really great thing they’ve got going, but has been in the past underutilized. Aggie Radio could be really big. After all, it’s for the students.”
Larsen is a proponent of the station playing much of their music and marketing intensely, especially during Week of Welcome, and in making sure they are published in the orientation pamphlets that freshman receive.
“I support it staying around,” he said. “I think if it’s utilized correctly, it could be huge and really beneficial to get words out for them for advertising for clubs an organizations, and to have a central radio that people can pop on. You know, that’s what music is for people.”
– rhett.wilkinson@aggiemail.usu.edu