Lobos can growl a little louder this semester with the debut of Lobo Growl, an online radio station made up of student DJs.
The group’s president, Billy Ulibarri, is a graduate student in sociology and was on the board of directors for KUNM.
“I had more of an interest in student access to communication channels,” he said. “We have a station on a college, but it’s not really a college station.”
Ulibarri said Lobo Growl satisfies KUNM’s goal to integrate students into its programming. He said putting the radio station online was the best way to do this.
Ulibarri posted flyers around campus in early 2010 to see if anyone was interested in starting the project.
Tami Lynn, a photography graduate student, was one of the people who saw the fliers. She said she always wanted to do radio as a kid, and joined Lobo Growl as soon as she knew she could.
Lynn hosts the music show “A Damn Fine Cup of Indie Rock.” When Lynn was a kid, she said she would listen to the radio with a blank tape in the cassette player so she could hit ‘record’ any time a DJ played a song she liked.
“With radio, there is a personality and the person is talking to you and sharing, and they give background info about the bands and the songs,” Lynn said. “But there is just something about hearing the people’s voices that makes it very personal.”
Lynn said the format of Lobo Growl gives DJs more freedom to experiment with radio and its content, which is what drew her into Lobo Growl.
“That freedom is really important, because as a student you have all these ideas and you can run with them,” Lynn said. “And we probably won’t turn anybody down (who wants to be a DJ).”
Lynn said she exercised her freedom by altering her show for an episode to reflect what she was going through in her own life: getting married.
“I am getting married in two months,” she said. “And this week is ‘bad wedding song’ theme. It is either things you shouldn’t play at your wedding or songs about bad marriages.”
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Another DJ for Lobo Growl is sociology student Adam Trujillo. Trujillo is a self-professed music geek who has a show called “The Young Alien Types.” Trujillo said music is a passion of his, but radio probably won’t be his profession.
“I honestly don’t think I could go into professional radio,” Trujillo said. “I don’t have a strong radio personality. I just like sequencing songs, and it would be nice to spring into live DJing with this.”
He said that at first he had some trouble getting his show together because he had to learn the new technology. He has now produced and aired three shows, which he and his mom are very proud of, he said.
Ulibarri said any other interested students can go to the website and fill out the DJ application form. After that, the group helps the new DJ put a pilot show together to make sure everything runs smoothly.
He said Lob Growl has a space at KUNM that is only available when KUNM is open and not using it, but he said they are getting a space in the SUB for people to use the equipment.
Once Lobo Growl gets a space in the SUB, student organizations can advertise on the online radio shows free of charge, he said.
Ulibarri said the shows air multiple times during the week, and all students need to do is download a plug-in to stream the music on a computer.
“The whole thing is about ease of access,” he said. “It is student-run and student-managed. No experience is needed if you want to be a show host.”
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For more info on listening and applying, visit_ lobogrowl.com.
