GOOD NEWS: College students celebrate last day on radio airwaves

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - When scanning local radio stations you may have heard some students on the air with Amarillo College’s FM 90.

Many of those students will not actually move on to pursue a career in radio, but in almost every case the student will leave Amarillo College better equipped for any career they choose.

Amarillo College’s FM 90 Alissa Spangler, and our executive producer, delivered her final show on FM 90 this week and I had the honor of sharing the experience.

“I brought one of my very good friends on with me today, he’s working on Good News with Doppler Dave. Good News with Doppler Dave, hi Dave,” Spangler said during her last FM 90 show.

Already an executive producer at NewsChannel 10, the radio experience adds a new media dimension for Alissa.

“It’s helped me understand the background of what I do at NewsChannel 10 and here,” Spangler said.

“So we are Amarillo College’s FM 90. We have typically about 30 students a semester that come through our program and we put them on the air. We teach them how to be broadcasters and how to basically learn how to talk behind a microphone,” said Amy Hart, FM 90 Program Director.

For many, live radio broadcasting takes them quickly out of their comfort zone.

“On my schedule it said radio and I was like ‘oh no, I’m gonna have to talk on the radio.’ Like ‘what do you mean - I’m not gonna like that,’” said Kenna Moss, a mass media student at AC. “And it actually ended up being one of my favorite things to do.”

“I was at a college beforehand where everything was not hands on, then come to this college where everything is hands on its definitely different,” QC, a mass media radio student said.

The AC program doesn’t emphasize radio as a career, rather it focuses on the communication skills that are developed.

“So the Matney Mass Media Department here in Amarillo College, that’s what we’re trying to do, is give students a lot of tools in their tool belt, you know so journalism skills, and then that will help you find a career,” Hart said.

“Because I mean, you have to talk to people everywhere you go,” Moss aid. “So it’s really important to learn and how to communicate and how to get your point across in a way that is professional or you know, in the way that you want to say it.”

“You know, not just you know, what people think media is whether it’s photography or film, but you know, the music industry, the radio industry, and I feel it’s definitely helped me open up my mind to a lot more possibilities,” QC said.

For Alissa, the radio experience is already proven to be an asset in her career.

“I did get the opportunity to host our Sports Drive show recently and the whole time I was just thinking ‘I’m so glad I’ve got the FM 90 experience with pressing the buttons and turning on the mics and talking and doing all of that stuff,’” Spangler said.

In a way that program has also offered me a new experience as Alissa invited me to broadcast the FM 90 forecast.

What I love best about the program is that regardless of specific career path, students come away with experience, accomplishments, and tools for the future,” Spangler said. “So it’s really helped me out and I know that it’s gonna continue to help me in the future.”

Now that’s some good news.

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