"The Feather: Cat-U Radio" is now on the Internet, with some Catawba College students hosting and producing the broadcast and others performing during it.
"The Feather" joins other virtual radio stations that can be tuned in via the Internet. The broadcast is recorded weekly and uploaded to the Internet. It showcases the talents of Catawba College students and provides another media outlet for students in addition to the online student newspaper, "The Pioneer," according to senior Bianca Stokes of Landis, the impetus behind "The Feather."
Stokes, who is majoring in Music with a concentration in Popular Music, says the idea of a radio station originally started when she began thinking of completing a senior practicum in her major."I always wanted a job in music so that's how I came up with broadcasting on the radio – what better job than to sit behind a booth and listen to music all day, right?" she explains and asks with a grin.
Stokes notes that Catawba has not had a campus radio station since 1986, then WNDC. Her plans are "to revive this media outlet and to pass it down so it will continue after I graduate."
Stokes enlisted the aid of some or her fellow students and the radio station soon became a collaboration between two academic departments, Music and Communication Arts. Her fellow students became helpmates in her cause and serve as a way to sustain the station Stokes helped develop even after she graduates in May of this year.
"It was essentially Bianca's inspiration," explains Dr. David Fish, chair and associate professor of Music at Catawba."She's come up with a small tight organization to run the station. We have such a vital and dynamic music program and talent in communication arts, we want prospective students and parents to easily hear what we've got going on wherever they are."
The students helping Stokes prepare her weekly recordings and get her station on the Internet include junior Rashad Brown of Atlantic City, N.J., double-majoring in Communication Arts and Music with a Popular Music concentration; senior Stephanie Cook of Alpharetta, Ga., majoring in Communication Arts; and junior Arsherres Jenkins of Winston-Salem, majoring in Communication Arts and minoring in Music.
"I'm really excited to be a part of such a cool project starting at Catawba," explained Cook, who will help market the station on campus and will help Stokes, the station's on-air host, gather news and content to share."I hope other students will share in our enthusiasm and tune in."
Brown, a talented vocalist, will serve as a producer for the show, soliciting and gathering musical content and even poems from Catawba students. He has developed guidelines to govern submissions. "On our show, we want to share the very best that our students have to offer," he says. "Just because someone submits something doesn't mean it will be aired. We want quality."
Quality, not quantity, will also be a guiding tenet for the "The Feather" which begins its schedule with only one broadcast a week. "We want to make sure we have a full show, not fluff," Stokes notes.
RELATED CONTENT:
Catawba College Students Launch Internet Radio Station (SalisburyPost.com)
Music Department
