By Cody Molowski
CCC Journalism Program
BLACKWOOD – The radio station at Camden County College, 91.5 WDBK, is not as full functioning as other college radio stations in the area. The radio station at CCC is opened for the student DJs to play their music from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. The rest of the time it is on an automated computer system. Other colleges in South Jersey have more operating hours for live DJs.
Burlington County College radio station Z 88.9 far exceeds that of the Camden County College radio station. Its operating hours with live DJs are from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. but only half the shows listed on the radio station’s website are described as student shows.
Carly Joy, a DJ at WDBK, enjoys working at the radio station and she said, “The hours are convenient, but I would like to see more hours added.” Other students see the same difficulty, such as Jabari Malcolm, who said, “Most of my classes are when the station is opened, making it hard to find air time. I would like to see it expanded a little longer.”
WDBK used to have longer operating hours but those were stopped. Jackie Tenuto, assistant to the dean of students at Camden County College, said it was because “there were a few inappropriate incidents with unsupervised student DJs.” But that isn’t the only reason. Other reasons college officials cut hours was because they wanted to keep it as a club where anyone of any major could join. Tenuto said they are willing to expand the operating hours in the future, but for right now they will stay how they are.
The shorter hours started in the fall of 2009, when Jamie Myerson started as WDBK’s station manager. The new hours were set to accommodate Myerson’s hours and when most of the students are on campus. Myerson said, “The radio station is running smoothly and the hours are convenient for the students, I don’t want to see a change.”
The Camden County College radio station has produced several radio personalities, including Stay Puff from Q102 and Brian Startare from 94.1 WIP. Melissa Friend, who is in her last semester at CCC and plans on going to Rowan University for radio, TV and film, has been a DJ at WDBK for the past two years. She said it was a great learning experience. “I learned a lot more about the workings of a radio station,” she said
Faculty members like Tenuto see the radio station as a great learning tool to help students succeed.
Student DJ Will has fun during his show. By Cody Molowski, CCC Journalism Program