|
|
|
Blue Springs, MO —
Animal swivels in his chair, reciting the fast phrases that were about to spill out of his mouth and into the microphone.
“Hey, it’s Animal in the Afternoon here at BSSD Radio...”
Another quick swivel and a click on the computer mouse. A glance at the weather report, which updates every few minutes. The song is almost over and it’s getting dark outside.
“You should do the weather report,” a voice says from behind Animal.
Once the song, some bouncy feel-good song, was over, the sounds in the control room fade, and Animal leaned forward. His instructor, the one and only Pete Grigsby, folded his arms across his chest and smiled.
“Hey, this is Animal in the Afternoon. You’re listening to BSSD Radio. The current weather outside is about 37 degrees. Some snow is forecasted possibly tonight and tomorrow...”
Then a quick mention of the upcoming song, and then the pitch – the radio closing that hopefully attracts attention, insight, input.
“Visit us at bssdradio.net or email us at bssdradio@gmail.com,” Animal said and clicks a button, pulls up the volume, sits back, looks at the monitor, and turns and looks at Grigsby.
“Good job.”
At Blue Springs School District Radio, there are few textbooks, only a sound studio full of sound equipment, phones, and those students who desire nothing more than to operate it.
Animal, better known to his parents and friends as Nick Boden, feels at home in the swivel chair. Live mics scare him about as much as a head of lettuce.
“I remember going into the supermarket with my dad when I was little,” the Blue Springs High School senior said. “We’d be doing our thing and I’d just disappear, and he’d find me talking to some old woman. I like talking. I’ve always been outgoing.”
So now Nick talks on the radio as much as he can, playing music, giving weather and traffic updates, lunch news, school news. Until about 3 p.m. each day (except Sundays), the online station pipes out adult contemporary music.
But when students from both Blue Springs High School and Blue Springs South High School arrive, the studio bristles with energy.
“The kids love it,” Grigsby, a former meteorologist for KMBC-TV, said. “It gives the district a media outlet for one, and students can get some good audition tapes to take with them (when they graduate).”
Hired in August 2008, Grigsby teaches earth science courses and meteorology part-time, but he has also been researching a new communications facility for the district. Its aim is simple: give students the opportunity to learn about television broadcasting and radio.
The station, conceptualized and promoted to district officials by Annette Seago, chairman of professional development, is located in the Paul Consiglio Education Center. It broadcasts 24/7, either by students or by automation. From 3-8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, students man the board. On Sundays it’s straight classical, a massive catalog of music donated by Bryan Busby, meteorologist for Channel 9.
Typically there are two students from each high school behind the board. While shows and features are limited right now, Grigsby said he expects the station to carry live audio coverage of local sporting events, play-by-play.
“It’s really endless, the things we could do,” he said.
The station has yet to get a link on the district’s Web site, but that’s coming, Grigsby said. For now, listeners can access the site at www.bssdradio.net.
Not many school districts have their own radio stations – much less their own television station. While the equipment is school bought, the cost of online streaming falls to Rod’s Sports and Apparel, their main sponsor.
The cost of online radio streaming is significantly less than the traditional over-the-air set-up, which is complicated for school districts because that falls under the Federal Communications Commission jurisdiction.
“It would have taken so much time to go that way,” Grigsby said. “We’d always known we wanted to go this way. And one year later it’s up and running.”
The station’s song catalogue is vast, but it’s also regulated by Grigsby, who listens and screens any music a student might bring in.
“They can’t just play anything they want,” he said.
Animal likes a lot of different music – hard and soft – and that’s good because he’s expressed an interest in a radio/television career.
“I want to go into it when I get older, yeah,” Animal said, who added he’d like to have a talk show on Saturday mornings on BSSD Radio.
“Not everyone’s going to like me, but I hope they do,” he said. “But we’re all coming up with ideas for the station.”
Animal swivels in his chair, reciting the fast phrases that were about to spill out of his mouth and into the microphone.
“Hey, it’s Animal in the Afternoon here at BSSD Radio...”
Another quick swivel and a click on the computer mouse. A glance at the weather report, which updates every few minutes. The song is almost over and it’s getting dark outside.
“You should do the weather report,” a voice says from behind Animal.
Once the song, some bouncy feel-good song, was over, the sounds in the control room fade, and Animal leaned forward. His instructor, the one and only Pete Grigsby, folded his arms across his chest and smiled.
“Hey, this is Animal in the Afternoon. You’re listening to BSSD Radio. The current weather outside is about 37 degrees. Some snow is forecasted possibly tonight and tomorrow...”
Then a quick mention of the upcoming song, and then the pitch – the radio closing that hopefully attracts attention, insight, input.
“Visit us at bssdradio.net or email us at bssdradio@gmail.com,” Animal said and clicks a button, pulls up the volume, sits back, looks at the monitor, and turns and looks at Grigsby.
“Good job.”
At Blue Springs School District Radio, there are few textbooks, only a sound studio full of sound equipment, phones, and those students who desire nothing more than to operate it.
Animal, better known to his parents and friends as Nick Boden, feels at home in the swivel chair. Live mics scare him about as much as a head of lettuce.
“I remember going into the supermarket with my dad when I was little,” the Blue Springs High School senior said. “We’d be doing our thing and I’d just disappear, and he’d find me talking to some old woman. I like talking. I’ve always been outgoing.”
So now Nick talks on the radio as much as he can, playing music, giving weather and traffic updates, lunch news, school news. Until about 3 p.m. each day (except Sundays), the online station pipes out adult contemporary music.
But when students from both Blue Springs High School and Blue Springs South High School arrive, the studio bristles with energy.
“The kids love it,” Grigsby, a former meteorologist for KMBC-TV, said. “It gives the district a media outlet for one, and students can get some good audition tapes to take with them (when they graduate).”
Hired in August 2008, Grigsby teaches earth science courses and meteorology part-time, but he has also been researching a new communications facility for the district. Its aim is simple: give students the opportunity to learn about television broadcasting and radio.
The station, conceptualized and promoted to district officials by Annette Seago, chairman of professional development, is located in the Paul Consiglio Education Center. It broadcasts 24/7, either by students or by automation. From 3-8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, students man the board. On Sundays it’s straight classical, a massive catalog of music donated by Bryan Busby, meteorologist for Channel 9.
Typically there are two students from each high school behind the board. While shows and features are limited right now, Grigsby said he expects the station to carry live audio coverage of local sporting events, play-by-play.
“It’s really endless, the things we could do,” he said.
The station has yet to get a link on the district’s Web site, but that’s coming, Grigsby said. For now, listeners can access the site at www.bssdradio.net.
Not many school districts have their own radio stations – much less their own television station. While the equipment is school bought, the cost of online streaming falls to Rod’s Sports and Apparel, their main sponsor.
The cost of online radio streaming is significantly less than the traditional over-the-air set-up, which is complicated for school districts because that falls under the Federal Communications Commission jurisdiction.
“It would have taken so much time to go that way,” Grigsby said. “We’d always known we wanted to go this way. And one year later it’s up and running.”
The station’s song catalogue is vast, but it’s also regulated by Grigsby, who listens and screens any music a student might bring in.
“They can’t just play anything they want,” he said.
Animal likes a lot of different music – hard and soft – and that’s good because he’s expressed an interest in a radio/television career.
“I want to go into it when I get older, yeah,” Animal said, who added he’d like to have a talk show on Saturday mornings on BSSD Radio.
“Not everyone’s going to like me, but I hope they do,” he said. “But we’re all coming up with ideas for the station.”
