School's radio signal picks up big fans in N.Y.

By Nguyen Huy Vu
Seattle Times staff reporter

	BETTY UDESEN / THE SEATTLE TIMES On-air personalities known as Ernie Woods, left, and Cam Johnson work yesterday at KNHC-FM (89.5), which was selected the best high-school radio station in New York by the Village Voice.
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Other links Nathan Hale High School's KNHC-FM (89.5)

The Internet has changed the way music is delivered to the masses. Radio can be streamed anywhere in the world.

Knowing that, students at Nathan Hale High School's KNHC-FM (89.5) radio station were surprised to hear theirs was named best high-school radio station in New York by the Village Voice in its Best of New York issue last month.

According to Josh Goldfein of the Village Voice: "A station that broadcasts hi-NRG disco all day, punctuated by the occasional goth specialty show is automatically the best in New York, especially if it webcasts."

"It was surreal to see we were chosen from a newspaper all the way in New York," said student program director Marian Proctor, 17.

Tucked away in a converted classroom at the end of a red, white and blue hallway, KNHC's unassuming broadcast studio is not easy to find. Inside, students are listening to music, recording shows and fixing computer glitches.

There's classroom instruction for introductory students, but for many advanced students the radio station — known as C-89 — is a way of life.

C-89's 16-year-old co-music director and production manager spends much of the day recording the things heard on the station besides music — promotions, public-service announcements and song introductions.

"I'm fascinated with what I do," said Cam Johnson, who asked to be identified not by his real name but by his on-air name. "I even work on this stuff on my spare time. Yesterday, I was here from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m."

For all its professional sound and national reputation, the station is operated mostly by advanced students under the supervision of four salaried adults.

Judy Rudow, the advanced-radio instructor and C-89's daily operations manager, said 50 students from the advanced and introductory classes earn credits from rewriting news releases to working on public-affairs programs.

"These students are not all going into the radio business and we are clear about this to them," she said. "What we are really teaching here is a job skill and life skills."

	BETTY UDESEN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Cam Johnson, the on-air name of a disc jockey at the Nathan Hale High School radio station, devotes many hours to work at the station.

Program director Jon McDaniel said he and a committee of students listen to hundreds of CDs each week and decide what to add to C-89's hybrid rotation of dance and top 40 music.

"It's about putting music out that we feel that the listener wants to hear," said McDaniel, a 1987 graduate of Nathan Hale.

McDaniel said the station prides itself for routinely breaking new songs that eventually become hits on mainstream radio.

"We are like a testing ground for a lot of record labels," he said. "We can take the chances because we don't have any corporate people breathing down our necks."

But McDaniel, whom the students affectionately refer to as McD, said listeners have much more of an impact on what the station plays. "There's never a shortage of people's reaction to the music, which is nice because people care enough to call into the station," he said.

After its start with a 10-watt transmitter in 1971, C-89 upgraded to 8,500 watts and moved its antennas to Cougar Mountain last summer. It now can be heard all over the Puget Sound area.

The station's approximately $350,000 annual budget comes from school-district money, federal and state grants and fund-raisers. Corporate underwriters sponsor various KNHC programs, the closest thing to commercials on this noncommercial station.

The students raised about $100,000 with an on-air pledge drive last week, with $17,000 coming by way of Internet pledges from California to as far as Pennsylvania and Texas.

Station manager Gregg Neilson took over as station manager in 1983 and has seen many of the graduates go on to careers in broadcasting and other related fields. As schools push for more core classes — such as math and English — as graduation requirements, he wonders aloud about the future of the radio program.

"Three years ago I had two classes in the fall and one class in the spring. This year I only have one class in the fall and no class in the spring," Neilson said. "The enrollment is down because there is not as much flexibility in students' schedules. It makes it tough on electives."

But to beat his frustration Neilson looks to the overwhelming positive listener response on the station's Web site.

"It's ironic that we are the best (high-school) radio station in New York," he said. "But with 40,000 listeners each month by Internet, this is the future and the present in broadcasting."

Nguyen Huy Vu: 206-464-3292 or vnguyen2@seattletimes.com

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