By Victoria Gill
Elm Staff Writer
Tune into the new student-led project forming on the Washington College campus — Radio Free George.
Last year, a survey was sent out to the WC population gauging the interest of an anticipated school radio.
“Over 500 students responded and 99 percent of them said they thought campus should have a station,” Assistant Professor of Communications and Media Studies Alicia Kozma said.
Kozma and Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies Meghan Grosse are the faculty advisors of the station.
According to Kozma, based on the overwhelming interest, there is great optimism that the radio will be well-received.
“We’ve even had faculty pitch us show ideas already,” she said.
According to Kozma, RFG was inspired by a Communications 101 class assignment. The group of students — Jacklyn Russo, Casey Wolhar, Jilly Horaneck, Mark Cooley, Hannah Sauer, and Christian Yosef — launched the project as a special interest group from the Student Government Association last spring.
“We want a getaway for students. We’re so vocal this day in age about what we want, and I feel like the campus wants a new way to be heard and I think radio is that outlet,” said Horaneck.
According to Kozma, as of this month, RFG is being heard; they have just been approved as an official club.
“WC has a number of creative outlets for students on campus—theater, art, music, writing, dance, etc.—but there is no one place where all these creative endeavors come together under one roof. RFG offers that possibility, acting as a central home to creativity on campus,” Kozma said.
Junior Jilly Horaneck, talent manager for the station, discussed the relation of time between the establishment of WC with the innovation of radio and how she found it surprising that the college never had one before.
“We’re a campus that wants everything here because we are a campus of history,” said Horaneck.
The product itself is an online radio station with access to music as its foundation.
However, both Kozma and Horaneck both said that any pitches for talk shows, news, and other segments are up for the students to decide.
There will be an information session in December for any students who have the desire to pitch a show for air.
“It also allows students who are interested in other avenues, like debating, podcasting, interviewing, music journalism, sports broadcasting, movie reviewing, etc.—a place to stretch their creative imaginations,” Kozma said.
According to Kozma, RFG acts as a “home for the voice of WC students, signal boosting—literally and figuratively—the concerns, ideas, creative avenues (and more) of students. RFG is a community voice for all WC students.”
Ideally, RFG hopes to go on air sometime this spring. If there is any further interest, the members of RFG encourage students to follow their Instagram account @radiofreegeorge for additional announcements about info sessions and upcoming auditions.
“We want this to be a tangible thing that can last for as long as the college is here, hopefully forever; where that students can come to this place and escape but also be able to say ‘Hey, I did that. That’s my lasting impact on this school,’ and I think that’s so neat to make an impact on a school that’s been here over 240 years,” said Horaneck.