KWVS to Bring a New Sound to Pepperdine        

KWVS, a radio station for the students of Pepperdine University has made some big changes this year. Student leaders at the station say this semester introduces a new style of leadership for the station; the students will be exercising more control, as opposed to the advisers, on programming and content,and a new focus on business and entertainment content.

“We love working in music and we work hard to bring the music industry to Pepperdine,” said KWVS Station Manager Alyssa Sarti about the mixed group of new and returning directors at the KWVS station. The board of directors has also rallied together to fix some glitches in the station’s system.

        This past summer, Sarti, a senior at Pepperdine University, brainstormed alongside her coworkers and developed new ways for KWVS to change the way the station was being operated. Sarti and the student board of directors saw a separation between the university’s students and the station, so the directors of the station took the initiative and made major changes over the summer as well as adding new shows for this current semester with the way KWVS was being operated.

        “Last year we were approached by Goldenvoice, a huge concert promoter in Los Angeles,” said Sarti about what really sparked the initiative to change the radio station. Goldenvoice was able to give the KWVS station advice on how to fully utilize all of the talent that made up KWVS and how to make improvements in the shows that were in each program, as well as the content that was being released by the station. With the changes in the radio station such as it being more business minded, the station is able to expand into more music business avenues like Goldenvoice.

        Alongside the station becoming more professional to expand into different avenues, the board of directors has gained some fresh faces that, according to Sarti, all have great qualities and abilities to bring to the team. New directors in position for KWVS this year include the following: Programming Director Arthur Puu and Marketing Director Jonathan Shinto. The job of programming director will be to seek new shows and content to stream to KWVS Radio whereas the marketing director will be putting together new media kits to acquire sponsors, such as Goldenvoice.

        One of the returning directors this year is Kellen McGee, the music director, who is a senior at Pepperdine and has high goals of becoming a Hollywood producer. Another returning director is Anthony Boffman, the promotions director who designs all of the KWVS graphics and posters. Kubie Rudd, the website designer and jam session director, is also back at KWVS alongside Alyssa Sarti, the station manager.

        “We love working in music and we work hard to bring the music industry to Pepperdine,” said Sarti about the mixed group of new and returning directors at the KWVS station. The board of directors has also rallied together to fix some glitches in the station’s system.

        “We found a couple of holes in our past automation program or 24/7 streaming program,” said Sarti, about missing out and not fully utilizing the automation programs in the past. “We thought that was something that definitely needed an upgrade.” In addition, the station is in the process of getting a cloud-based streaming software, a new website, and to top it all off, the station is starting a sponsorship and advertising platform that is similar to Pepperdine’s Graphic.  

        There haven’t only been changes to what’s going on behind the scenes of KWVS though; the station is also presenting different and new shows this year such as Paul DiRico’s “Beach Trip,” Amy Kahng’s “Art and Synth Mondays,” “Brittan Blair Monday,” Logan Hick’s “The Fellowship,” and many more.

        “It’s going to be great to launch the station during our first jam session this year,” said Sarti in anticipation for the big release of the newly renovated station. After months of preparation, the radio station is set to launch their new shows on October 19, 2015 in their fall-inspired “Pumpkin Spice Jam.” The event will be taking place at Pepperdine University at 7 p.m. in the Howard A. White Center (or HAWC).