WKPS jazzes up its programming

For people who enjoy jazz music, commercial radio offers few options. Thanks to WKPS-FM (90.7), the University community is not deprived.

WKPS is a student-run, noncommercial radio station that offers a wide variety of music. Among its programs is "The Jazz Spectrum," broadcast weekdays between 1 and 4 p.m.

Although the local National Public Radio member station WPSU-FM (91.5) offers jazz programming in the evenings, WKPS is the only radio station in the area that offers jazz during the day.

Penn State Jazz Club president Suartcha Prueksaritanond (senior-premedicine) listens to the show on occasion and likes that the show is broadcast during the afternoon.

"When I come home in the evenings, I study," Prueksaritanond said. "I don't have time to listen to the radio."

WKPS first went on the air in October 1995, said Greg Petersen, head of promotion for WPSU. At the time, WPSU was the University's student-run radio station. Gradually, WPSU started offering more NPR programs while expanding its range to reach places such as Altoona.

Before this time, Central Pennsylvania was the largest region in the United States that did not receive NPR, Petersen said. By October 1995, WPSU had expanded and added NPR programs to such a degree that there was a need for a new radio station for University students. This is when WKPS was formed.

In broadcasting jazz, WKPS is "showcasing a richly American genre of music," Black said. In addition, the station is serving the interests of the University community, which strongly appreciates jazz, Black said.

This is evidenced, he said, in the number of people who call in to the program as well as the attendance at various jazz events, both on and off campus.

One of these events was last year's first annual Jazz Evolution Festival, put together entirely by WKPS with funding from the University and local businesses. According to WKPS president Laurie Roth (junior-broadcast journalism), the program was very successful and attracted a large number of people.

"Spectrum" DJ Kelly McCabe (senior-telecommunications) said jazz music has a wide appeal.

"It's just fun music," she said. "When I go to jazz events, I'm often surprised to see friends of mine whom I'd had no idea even liked jazz."

As far as what types of jazz a listener can expect to hear on the program, Black said "the name speaks for itself. We try to represent the whole spectrum of jazz music."

For this reason, a listener can expect to hear not only the more traditional forms of jazz such as swing, Dixieland and straight-ahead jazz, but also some of the less-traditional styles such as jazz-funk fusion and contemporary jazz.

Don't expect to hear any of the "smooth jazz," however, made famous by such performers as Kenny G.

"We don't play that," Black said. "You can get that other places."

Ultimately it is up to the DJs to decide what music gets aired on the program. The program has several DJs throughout the course of the week, which adds to the variety of music heard on the program.

Kristen Lunetta (junior-music) said she occasionally listens to the "Spectrum."

"('Spectrum') is good in that it plays a variety and people can get exposed to different kinds of jazz," she said.

Black believes "Spectrum" can offer listeners music that is hard to find elsewhere. This is because, in addition to its own collection of recordings, WKPS is allowed to borrow recordings from WPSU's library.

"(WPSU has) been saving stuff for years," said "Spectrum" DJ Jon Radwan (graduate-speech communications). WPSU's large library of records gives the "Spectrum" access to some of the great recordings of the past that haven't been re-released on compact disc, Radwan said.