Radio is back on campus at the University of Denver.
KXDU, the new radio station at DU, hard-launched its online broadcast on March 4. The broadcast runs Monday through Thursday from noon-10 p.m.
Members of the club create one-hour or two-hour set playlists that then get inserted into the scheduling of the broadcast. The members get to use their passion for music, mood of the day and creativity to replicate what it’s like to be a radio DJ.
The club is exclusively music for now but is open to hosting podcasts, talk shows or any type of dialogue that meets the desires of the student body.
“I would love if the station could be a place where groups who weren’t getting the attention that they needed to, or [having] conversations that weren’t happening on a platform where [conversations] are able to be flushed out,” said April Friesen, the president of KDXU.
The club was founded during the winter quarter of the 2022-23 school year. The radio station had humble beginnings as the club’s constitution was written in a Nagel Hall study room by the two founding members, Friesen and current Vice-President Sabina Benson.
Friesen and Benson founded KXDU to help fill the absence of a radio station at DU. Both founders came to DU expecting there to be a radio station already on campus, but quickly sought to “get the idea out of the groupchat” last year.
“I just realized that if it’s not around, I have a lot of free time and I can get it going. So I started to reach out to all my friends…but April, the president, was the first person that I met who was like, ‘no let’s do this, let’s sit down and get it done,’” said Benson.
Since the initial writing of the constitution, the club has grown exponentially with participation and has expanded into different areas of promoting music at DU.
Since starting a radio station broadcast requires time, lots of money and proper licensing, the club could not get the broadcast up and running as quickly as desired. But, the birth of another area of programming soon became a staple for the club.
Inspired by NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, Production Manager Avery Young came up with the idea to create a series promoting DU’s music scene called Tiny Dorm Concerts. The series has now grown to eight videos over 10 months with their latest release being a “teeny tiny dorms” video featuring KXDU member, Seth Wells.
The masterminds behind the planning and production of the Tiny Dorm Concerts series are Director of Production Teresa Blanco and Sound Tech Director Grady Dionne. Social Media Manager Leksi Schuchman has also played an instrumental role in the production of the series.
The series has evolved greatly since their first video with Paulo’s Flood, a former DU band. From trying out different locations, equipment upgrades, better methods of planning and adding more people, the Tiny Dorm Concerts have come a long way.
“[There’s] a lot of delegating on my side now, whereas before it was just me. So if you saw somebody carrying three cameras and three tripods on campus that was me,” said Blanco. “It definitely went from feeling like it was just me and Grady to this whole new team of people which was really nice, and it’s helped me as an individual realize that I don’t have to do everything.”
Part of the goal of the Tiny Dorm Concerts and KXDU is to promote the lively, diverse and under-the-radar music scene that exists at DU. Dionne studies at the Lamont School of Music and is a part of one of DU’s most well-known bands, Exhaler. Dionne said there is no shortage of bands to play with around DU and the people apart of the scene are good-hearted.
“I think everybody [in the DU music scene] is super kind. One of my favorite things is just that there is nobody trying to put each other down. They love music, they want to share music with other people, they want to play music with other people and that’s great,” said Dionne.
Besides setting up concerts in dorms and playing music on a broadcast, the club creates partnerships with organizations across campus that have a need for music. KXDU has DJ’d several philanthropy events for Chi Omega and Delta Zeta, all at no cost.
Their biggest community outreach event is their annual Spring Sendoff concert event. On June 1, from 5-9 p.m., several DU bands will perform on the DUPB mainstage next to Nelson and Nagel Hall alongside art vendors and clothes for sale from the DU Thrift Store. All proceeds from the event will benefit the DU Food Pantry and a food drive will also happen at the event.
“I’m really excited that it can be a fun event showcasing music, but then also turn around and do some good within our own community,” said Friesen.
The future of KXDU is set with goals of creating a self-sustaining 24-hour FM broadcast, eventually getting a channel number (once Denver’s airwaves open up a spot) and passing the torch to the next group of students.
Radio is still an important medium in the U.S. According to a poll from the Pew Research Center, about 8-in-10 Americans aged 12 or older listen to land-based radio broadcasts. To Benson, the benefits of radio can help combat the hypocrisy that comes with listening to music on streaming services.
“I think specifically with streaming platforms, you have an infinite possibility for music discovery but at least everybody that I know just ends up listening to the same 10 songs that they already know. So I think being able to get that variety and eclectic music styles from people on campus, [radio] is a great way to expand your own music library,” said Benson.
To learn more about KXDU, visit their website and Instagram page.
