88.9 WQSU-FM "The Pulse"

“You don’t have to keep backing up,” Kristen—that is, DJ K-Ri—tells me.

Sitting in a swivel chair behind the glowing mixing board in the WQSU control room has me feeling a little jumpy, but Kristen seems confident enough.

WQSU-FM is the 12,000-watt radio station in Susquehanna's campus center. The station broadcasts FM music and talk to places as far away as Bloomsburg and Williamsport and also streams its audio online.  I’ve walked past the place plenty of times—it’s got big glass windows that let you look in on the DJ as you walk by—but I’ve never been inside before.

The neon-blue clock in the corner is a reminder that everything has to be perfectly timed out. At the top of the hour, Kristen plays the station ID then the news report—which lasts exactly three minutes—before she goes on the air and gives the weather forecast.

Kristen is a creative writing/religion double major.  Her shifts at the station count as practicum for her broadcasting minor, but the station isn't reserved for communications students. The mic is open to any would-be DJs on campus.

After Kristen puts on “Poison” by Alice Cooper, she pulls off her headphones and turns to me. “Okay, we can talk now.”  The music plays softly through speakers that hang over our heads.

“So how do you make sure the news goes on right at 4:00?”

She smiles, nodding toward the paper and pencil sitting in front of her. “I use math.”

Once the music’s playing, things become more relaxed.  Kristen's friends pop in and out of the station, plopping down on the couch to talk to her for a few mintues before heading out again. 

Kristen mostly fills her two-hour shifts with contemporary, classic, and alternative rock with an occasional request mixed in. The station has two computers loaded with music: 15,000 songs on the one and another 18,000 on the other!

Half way through the Audio Slave track, a small strobe light above the telephone announces a call-in request. Kristen shakes her head as she hangs up the phone.  "I hate Bob Dylan," she says, but she cues up “Isis” anyway on the second Mac.  Bob Dylan is a step up from last week when she got a request for "Total Eclipse of the Heart." 

"Everyone walking by was looking at me like 'What are you doing?' and the song lasts like seven minutes."  Kristen shakes her head.  "It was awful."

Then as the Audio Slave song finishes up, she turns to the mixing board and fades the first computer out as she fades the second computer in.  A seamless transition.

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