Cerritos College Broadcasting club will open its doors to the public March 28 as it hosts an open house to build awareness of the station and the opportunities it presents to anyone interested in electronic media.
The station will continue operations as usual during the open house. Students, faculty and staff might get to see live broadcasting during their tour of the station.
“We want them to find out how easily they can participate in their station, ” Jamie Rob Flores, WPMD Broadcasting president, said.
“We’re different than other clubs because we are here to serve the other clubs. We want them to get to know us and what we can do for them like public service announcements for campus and club events.”
Visitors and club representatives can enjoy snacks from the fund raiser while they learn about how the station can be used as an effective communication tool for both club members and the general public. Those who are interested can be introduced to the editing and programming software used to announce or cover club events.
Broadcast operation will continue as usual during the open house so guests might get to witness hosts and quests live, on the air. Gildardo Aquino, AKA, D. J. Demo, will be performing a variety of music from the hill right behind the station during the open house.
“It’s exciting and fun, knowing you can get the word out to people,” Aquino said. “in 2001 I was hanging out with friends at another station and met some on-the-air celebrities and got into it (radio) more.”
Radio had a similar effect on German Sanchez, psychology major. “It grew on me. I took the class and it became one of those things. I just love doing it.”
Being on the air and on line expands WPMD’s reach from neighborhood to global. “On Facebook from Texas, Houston was listening,” said Aquino, “ and one time from Boston. To know that not only people here but across the nation are listening to me, becoming fans.”
As host, Sanchez and Aquino often engage in on-the-air conversations with various subject matter experts. Some of the experts bring years of experience to the microphone others, students, bring enthusiasm and a love for the the subject.
“German invited us once to talk about science and I ended up sticking around because I like talking about science with people.” Jared Head, Earth / Science major. Teaming up with Blake Cavert, Theater Major, Head pilots a lively three way conversation about anything that might have anything to do with science.
Cavert who describes himself as a “superhero, comic book, anime type person, sees broadcasting as more than communication.
“I love performing and see radio as another way of performing,” Calvert said. “We just talk or so it seems but there’s more to it We need to keep the audience entertained.
“Yea, I’m a recovering Theater major,” he jokes.
Paul Greer along with co-host Divcoc Singh discuss area sports during their weekly show.
“It’s all about different opinions, the college view-point,” Greer explained. “This is where we get to express how we see things.”
Greer and Singh not only sometimes have area professional sports celebrities and writers as guests they use networking like face book, twitter and more to to keep in touch and up to date with teams and players.
“We can do a lot more for everyone on campus,” Flores said. “I hope we can generate more participation like clubs using out services to get the word out for free.”
