DJ violation causes KPSU to seek more student involvement

KPSU is currently in violation of its constitution because 50 percent of its DJs are non-students-30 percent more than is allowed.

Portland State’s student-run radio station, KPSU, is currently broadcasting 50 percent of its programming from community members and 50 percent from students, in violation of the station’s constitutional mandate that only 20 percent of all station programming can be run by community members.

The KPSU constitution states, “There is no limit to the number of community members allowed to join KPSU as volunteers, but no more than 20 percent of KPSU’s programming may be occupied by community members.”

The violation became clear after Judson Randall, PSU’s Student Publications Adviser–who also advises the Vanguard–discovered the names of students who had recently graduated, but still had access to the radio station as community members. At the beginning of this year, KPSU moved from the jurisdiction of Student Activities and Leadership Programs to the Publications Board.

Randall said that through a series of conversations with Station Manager Darren Bridenbeck, he learned that there were several community members that held programming slots with the station.

“The student is first priority,” Randall said. “My mission in life is to promote the student voice. I have stressed the need for students to predominate in the production of the station.”

If KPSU does not hire more student DJs, there may be repercussions involving the station’s student funds, Randall said, but that is up to the Student Fee Committee to decide.

Bridenbeck said he and other station members have started a campaign to recruit more student DJs through posting flyers and providing outreach services to student groups and new training.

“This effort is taken seriously and because of this situation we have taken a critical look at our ability to bring in and train new students,” Bridenbeck said.

Training will consist of weekend and weekday sessions with the KPSU staff and focused training periods on certain tasks, Bridenbeck said.

“It is going to be a concise and supported process,” he said.

Randall has advised KPSU to write a new policy that would allow a student to take over a community member’s time slot. Currently, prospective student DJs can only start a show in an open time slot.

There is a tentative deadline of the next academic year for KPSU to solve the situation about the student to community member ratio. Firing community members if student interest is not increased has not been an option as of yet, according to both Bridenbeck and Randall.

“Currently we are looking into possible solutions, but as this constitutional snafu is still somewhat fresh, we are yet to settle on any one option if student interest is not met,” Bridenbeck said.

KPSU is scheduled to meet with the publications board in late February.

For more information about KPSU and becoming a student DJ, visit kpsu.org.