Location Activity

Kjrstin Allen

Introduction to Mass Communication 102

Location Activity

95.9 KISS Radio Station

For one of my research activities I had the opportunity to visit a local radio station, 95.9 KISS FM. While visiting I learned many interesting fact and got a quick insight to life in a radio station. I also had the opportunity to meet many people who play key roles at the station.
















I was given a tour of Woodward Communications by Mike Lyons, a DJ for KISS http://959kissfm.com//943757. In the picture, I am with Mike Lyons in his studio. You can see his different monitors that have his line up and voice recordings playing, and his microphone. Mr. Lyons explained to me that KISS is part of a group of stations in Woodward Communications that includes other stations like 105.7 WAPL, 104.3 The Breeze, WHBY 1150 News/Talk, 1570 the Score, and 94.7 Razor. These stations all have a different genre of music that targets different audiences.

I was surprised when he told me that although these are all different stations they all work together in many aspects. They all have a general manager that keeps all of the stations running. I also found it interesting that the advertisements for all of the different stations are run by the same people who bring in about 300 different advertisers to be run over the six stations each month. Once the different advertisers are brought in advertisements are recorded in a studio and then played on the stations.

During the tour I asked Mr. Lyons about what kind of education is required to work in the radio industry. He explained to me that almost no one in Woodward Communications has the same educational background. They come from all different kinds of places, some right out of high school and some with college degrees. I found this surprising because I figured most would have some kind of a communications education background.

While on the tour, Mr. Lyons was actually the one on air for KISS but he had prerecorded his show for about an hour so that he would have the time to give me the tour. I found this really amazing that technology is so advanced today that you can do such a thing. Most people listening to the show probably thought that Mike Lyons was speaking when they were hearing him, when in all actuality he wasn’t even in the same room that the music and talking was coming from. That is the perfect example of just how much radio has advanced. Twenty years ago that is probably something that was never done. DJs used to have to actually be present and talking while they were on air.

Today, radio is used very differently than it used to be. Radio used to be a primary source of family entertainment. Families would gather around at night to listed to the stories and shows that would play, or they would listen in to find out what is happening in the rest of the world. Today radio is used primarily to listen to music and is also used as a reference to news but not in such a dependent fashion due to other media like TV, internet, and newspapers.

I learned many things at this tour. I learned about how important their advertising, educational backgrounds, and voice recordings. This tour helped me to realize that many people are required to run a radio station. There are a lot of people that are never recognized as they work in the background to pull the station together. After this visit I have learned to appreciate the hard work that goes into running a radio station and am grateful that they work so hard to bring me daily music entertainment.