College Radio

Thirty years ago I took broadcasting classes at the community college for basically a lack of anything better to do after High School.  I had big plans to become a professional musician but those plans fell through for reasons I'd mostly resolved with my therapists over the years.  But recently, an event triggered me to revisit those times, in particular, a situation that brought perspective to me when yet again nothing made sense to me in this ever-changing world.  The event occurred when I took to the airwaves for the fifth or sixth time while in the studio with another student.  We'd had a tour of a "real" radio station with highly advanced equipment just before we went On The Air, so when we returned to the college radio station we realized just how badly we wanted to do well in school and get a real job at a real radio station.  When I turned on the microphones for the both of us, we got to dialoguing about our recent journey, which turned into a comparison of college radio versus professional radio.  At first, we slammed college radio for having the worst equipment but it didn't take long for us to realize that even though the equipment was different at both radio stations, they both played good music.  Haven't you ever felt like you wouldn't be able to put out your best performance because you didn't have the best technology?  With all the changes we experience on a daily basis when it comes to technological advances, it would be easy to say we can't give our best because we don't have version 6.0 versus version 5.0.  Me and my friend came to the conclusion after our ranting that day that the college radio station was still way cool and came up with a new motto, one the program director wasn't too fond of, that "We were KEPC where we play the best music on the worst equipment."  You can do this as well.  You may not have all the best technology at your fingertips, but you can still give your best with what you do have.